PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION DRAFT REPORT REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS: BENCHMARKING A SUBMISSION BY THE NORTHERN TERRITORY GOVERNMENT OCTOBER 2012 Introduction The Northern Territory Government welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Commission’s Draft Report on the Benchmarking of Regulatory Impact Analysis. Concerns with references to the Northern Territory (NT) Page no and Section NT Reference in Report Comments on Accuracy Page 16: RIS Content COAG-agreed best practice of nominating the option which generates the greatest net benefit for the community, is an important element of sound analysis, increasing the usefulness of RISs to decision makers. This practice has been adopted in all jurisdictions except the Commonwealth, South Australia and the Northern Territory. The RMF process requires analysis of costs and benefits of all options. While not explicit, if the nominated option does not produce the greatest net benefit then clear justification is required for nominating that option (page 13 of RMF guidelines). Furthermore the criteria for assessing RIS’ by the committee expressly includes ‘..whether it is demonstrated that the proposed regulatory response is the most efficient approach.’ Page 82: Potential areas for improvement in the NT Guidance material does not accord with current practice and does not include sufficient information on: Exceptions/exemptions No consultation RIS No RISs are published No compliance reporting No public ministerial statement of reasons for non-compliance or Apart from from budget and tax measures there are no exemptions from or exceptions to the NT Regulation Making Framework requirements. All regulatory proposals are required to be subject to a Preliminary Regulation Impact Analysis. Unless the Preliminary Regulation Impact analysis is able to demonstrate a
Page 93: Pages 231 & 47 Regulation Impact Unit (RIU) in the Department of Treasury advises agencies and provides administrative support to the Regulation Impact Committee (RIC). The RIC assesses and certifies the adequacy of RISs. It is chaired by a Treasury officer with additional officers from the Department of the Chief Minister, the Department of Justice and the Department of Business and Employment. Since the publication of the draft report there have been amendments to the Territory’s Administrative Arrangement Orders. Northern Territory Treasury is now the Department of Treasury and Finance. The Department of Justice is now the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice The Department of Business and Employment is now the Department of Business. The Department of the Chief Minister has not changed its name. Update names as above Page 106: Cabinet Offices with a formal RIA Gatekeeping Role In the Northern Territory, proposals with an inadequate RIS can proceed to decision makers with approval from the proponent minister: The Cabinet Office will not proceed with regulatory proposals in the absence of certification from the Regulatory Impact Committee. Ministerial approval is required if regulation is to proceed to Cabinet or Executive Council in the absence of RIS certification or with certification indicating that the regulation does not comply with regulation-making principles. (NT Government 2007, p. 16) Cabinet acts as gatekeeper as no regulatory proposals may proceed to Cabinet without a PRIS/RIS certificate. Note that notwithstanding the RMF Guideline, the NTG Cabinet Handbook (2007) provides: “Regulation Making Framework Submissions seeking approval to prepare draft legislation and to present a draft Bill in the Legislative Assembly must be accompanied by a statement from the Economic Policy and Frameworks Unit in Northern Territory Treasury with regard to whether the new legislative proposal complies with Regulation Making Framework requirements.” It is also necessary to
community, and therefore whether a full RIS or exemption is warranted. process’, the Regulation Impact Committee may determine that a further full Regulatory Impact Statement is not necessary. Furthermore a secondary function of the PRIS process is for early policy consideration to take place. Page 136: Categories of Exceptions In the Northern Territory, specific exception categories are not identified, but the exceptions are granted on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Regulation Impact Committee. A mentioned above, we do not have any exemptions or exceptions from the RMF process apart from budget and tax measures. However, based on the assessment of impacts and the level of analysis contained in the Preliminary Regulation Impact Analysis, the Regulation Impact Committee may determine that a further full Regulatory Impact Statement is not necessary. Page 137 Table 5.1 : Exceptions to state and territory RIA NT’s column is labelled as unknown There should be a tick for taxation ( an exemption from the RIA process) and crosses for the remainder categories. Page 139: Categories of Exceptions In this regard, the Commission notes that the Northern Territory RIA system provides the Regulation Impact Committee with a very high level of discretion in the determination of exceptions. Same comment as above Page 140: Proposals that have been subjected to prior analysis (see also page 141) In certain cases, the RIA process may have effectively been satisfied through earlier policy development processes, This quote from our guidelines is referring to national reforms that are subject to the