Red tape costing Aust businesses 'thousands': survey

05/10/2012 - Australian businesses are spending tens of thousands of dollars on red-tape a year and hours a week complying with regulations.

Find related suppliers

A red-tape survey by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry found almost half (44 per cent) of the businesses surveyed spent one to five hours every week trying to meet regulatory requirements.

These tasks include applying for permits and reporting business activity.

Another 12 per cent of respondents spent more than 20 hours a week on compliance.

Red-tape was also costing businesses dearly, with 42 per cent of respondents saying they spent more than $10,000 to comply with government regulation, while 26 per cent spent up to $50,000 on compliance.

ACCI chief executive Peter Anderson said the results of the survey were "not pretty".

"If we are serious as a country in trying to improve our national productivity ... then we need as a collective effort to deal with the dead-weight cost of regulation," Anderson told reporters in Canberra.

He said it was concerning that almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of business owners reported that the problem had become worse over the last two years.

ACCI surveyed 870 mainly small and medium sized businesses from across the country.

Source: AAP

Browse the IndustrySearch directory: Business Services & Solutions

Have your say...

brett | 5/10/2012 10:52 1

Thank you Australian Chamber of Commerce. it is also a breath of fresh air that Peter Anderson has brought this government compliance to the forefront. We are drowning in government paperwork. the most mail that fills our small businesses post box is from governments. The idiotic changes through Fair Work and Harmonisation has created even more. Governments should govern and not interer with business activities that generate the government income. leave us alone. This Fair Work Act rubbish has created so much pain for me personally as my staff now seem to believe they run my business. Also thanks to Mr. Swan with his attacks on the Mining magnates has flowed through to my small business. By this I mean my staff think I am making millions and are making it very difficult. My business pay 13 mortgages and if I seriously look at my income and the hours I work to support them, I could get better returns by just getting a job!!! I used to think the harder I worked the luckier I became, but since the change in federal government this has changed. "the harder I work the more the government takes from me" If small business is the backbone of our wonderful country, then leave us alone and start to reward small business for the risks we take every day and stop penalising us.

Dr Bill Boyd | 5/10/2012 21:30 2

Government red tape is in fact a method of job creation where you pay the wages of people who are otherwise unemployable. This is certainly true in the health sector but also in the not-for-profit, volunteer sector where endless quasi-autonomous, non-government organisations suck off the tit of those thousands of community-minded folks who give of their time to the benefit of others.

We welcome thoughtful comments from readers Comment Guidelines The approval of your comment is at the discretion of this article's publisher. Write your comment with the following in mind to ensure the highest likelihood of it being approved: - No promotional undertones - No use of profanity - Good spelling, grammar and layout - Check punctuation, language and missing words - No use of aggression - No unsubstantiated claims We reserve the right to remove comments at our discretion. Your name is used alongside Comments.
Name:
Email: