PERTH (miningweekly.com) – While complimenting the Tony Abbott-led government on its policy reforms aimed at reducing the red tape burden on Australian businesses, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) on Wednesday called for even greater reform.

On the Spring Repeal Day, the Abbott government introduced legislation to repeal nearly 1 000 unnecessary pieces of legislation and regulations and 7 210 pages of legislation and regulation.

The Prime Minister said on Wednesday that these repeal measures would more than double the government’s initial A$1-billlion-a-year cut to red tape costs.

“The repeal measures announced today will save individuals, businesses and the not-for-profit sector over $2.1-billion in compliance costs,” Abbott said in a statement.

Some of the federal government’s measures included the repeal of the carbon tax and the minerals resource rent tax, as well as the introduction of a one-stop-shop for environmental approvals.

However, MCA acting CEO John Kunkel said on Wednesday that there was still an enormous reform agenda essential to boost productivity and living standards in Australia.

In a paper presented to Parliament, the MCA made a number of recommendations regarding policy reform, including that the Australian government should benchmark the nation’s regulatory performance in areas like trade, energy policy, environmental approvals and labour market regulation.

The MCA believed that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasury and the Productivity Commission should be charged with driving and coordinating this agenda.

More specific to the minerals industry, the MCA identified 12 regulatory reform policies to bring relief to the industry, including that approval of bilateral agreements between the Commonwealth and states and territories be completed and that the Commonwealth Parliament pass the EPBC (Bilateral Agreement Implementation) Amendment Bill which provides for the operation of approval bilaterals

The MCA has also recommended that the government outline the terms of reference for the forthcoming Productivity Commission inquiry into the Fair Work Act, and that the government move to repeal the Coastal Trading Act and ensure open market access to coastal trade by all vessels.

Furthermore, the MCA suggested that the federal government should repeal the Australian Jobs Act 2013 with its unnecessary and complex reporting requirements on resource project purchasing decisions, and that the government look to reform the renewable-energy target in line with recommendations made by the expert panel review.

“Too often, rhetoric has not matched reality. Indeed, this gap has widened to a chasm in recent years with reform 'backsliding' in areas such as environmental approvals, workplace relations and coastal shipping,” Kunkel said on Wednesday.

“Australia’s minerals industry is a 'price taker' in highly competitive global markets. Investments are high risk and span decades, while people, capital and technology are all globally mobile. Our largest exporter earner cannot simply pass on unnecessary costs to customers.

"For these reasons, efficient, stable and risk-based regulatory systems are vital to the industry’s global competitiveness and growth prospects.”