Making a difference…

A reduction in Treasury legislation

It is important that legislation that no longer serves its purpose is removed from the statute books. Businesses and citizens should be confident that the legislation on the statute books is both relevant and necessary. In particular, there is a requirement to reduce the amount of unnecessary red tape faced by businesses and citizens, neither of whom should be required to undertake actions or be subject to constraints that serve no useful purpose.

Given the Treasurer's responsibility for the Subordinate Legislation Act 1992, Treasury also needs to set an example to other Government agencies in removing any unnecessary legislation from the statute books.

Treasury is responsible for 67 pieces of legislation, either in whole or in part (see pages 73 and 74). Many of these Acts relate to taxation, public sector accounting and financial management, public sector superannuation, Government business enterprises, competition policy, mutual recognition, gaming, liquor licensing and electricity regulation.

In 1990 we were responsible for 128 of the 746 Acts that constituted the Tasmanian statute books. Since then the amount of legislation administered by Treasury, in terms of the number of Acts for which it is wholly or partly responsible, has decreased by over 48 per cent. This compares with a 20 per cent reduction in the State's primary legislation. In 2008, the legislation administered by Treasury (67 Acts) represents only 11 per cent of the total State legislation (594 Acts), compared with 17 per cent in 1990.