GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs: "Opportunities for Business"

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GAP hosts high level conferences, seminars, briefings, online forums and business missions, both internationally and within Australia.

See below the summary of the following initiatives:
• GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs 2008
• Regulating in Technology Rich Environments Task Force 2008
• Creating a Better Regulatory Environment for Innovation 2007

GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs 2008

Executive Summary •
^new! Congress Report •
Key Findings •
Regulatory Blogs •
Partners & Sponsors •

The GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs: "Opportunities for Business", held at Parliament House of Victoria on 26 September 2008, brought government, business and industry experts together to discuss how companies can best adapt and respond to new regulation by embracing the commercial opportunities it provides.

The Congress championed a forward thinking approach to how Australian businesses can use regulation to their advantage. The need for government to rationalise overlapping and outdated regulation and examine the cumulative effect and cost of new laws was also highlighted.

Prominent Australian and international keynote speakers outlined how a flexible regulatory environment and the active participation of industry and citizenry in the pre-legislative consultation process can contribute to a stronger, more productive economy and a more informed and innovative society.

<< Download The GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs Report ^NEW! [PDF 1MB]

Key points arising from the Congress included:

1. Technological innovation and the dissolving of national boundaries in cyberspace render traditional approaches to its regulation irrelevant. Despite the problems this raises, technology offers great benefits in citizen-centric service delivery which should not be stymied by the hyping of privacy concerns not shared by the majority of citizens.

2. 'Cloud computing' has the ability to revolutionise business computing, but requires safeguards and incentives to promote its adoption. Web 2.0 social networks and their ubiquitous adoption by 'Generation Y' create new challenges for businesses in controlling the dissemination of sensitive information.

3. Telecommunications regulation requires radical reform to encourage the major investment necessary to modernise Australia's inadequate broadband provision.

4. 'Responsive' regulation, which seeks to deal with issues at a low level before they develop into serious problems, should be employed to prevent crises which inevitably invite heavy-handed over-regulation. Self-regulated standards can be used as an effective alternative to 'black letter' legislation in many areas.

5. Regulatory reform can encourage investment and economic activity by reducing the burden of 'red tape' on businesses and individuals. The 'Second Track' process has a useful role to play in fostering novel solutions to regulatory problems, and the current government is committed to a process of continual regulatory reform with a view to increasing economic efficiency and national harmony.

In the lead up to the Congress, GAP launched an online discussion forum on 'Regulation as a Business Opportunity and Driver of Innovation' on the Open Forum website and published a number of blogs by the Congress speakers and delegates.

Post-Congress, Open Forum was chosen by the Hon. Lindsay Tanner MP, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, as a platform for his Better Regulation 'live blog' on 13-17 October 2008.

The GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs 2008 was sponsored by:

   • Standard Business Reporting - An Australian Government Initiative
   • Victorian Government
   • Queensland Government
   • Symantec Australia
   • Telstra Corporation
   • Citrix Systems Australia & New Zealand
   • Open Forum

The GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs was held on 25 and 26 September 2008 in Melbourne, Australia.

Regulating in Technology Rich Environments Task Force 2008

Background •
Task Force Report •
Outcomes •

The Task Force on Regulating in Technology Rich Environments is a group of senior business executives, government officials and academics, established by GAP in 2008 to address issues and challenges in the

current regulatory regime. The task force hopes to fill the policy vacuum which seems to exist at the moment in the area of telecommunications regulation.

<< Download the Task Force report [PDF 283KB]

Australia's telecommunications network suffers from a chronic lack of investment, leaving Australia disadvantaged in the modern information economy. An overbearing regulatory framework has deterred the necessary investment, focusing on the distribution of wealth in the current network, rather than fostering the creation of wealth and new assets. The regulatory framework requires fundamental reform. Evidence from other regulatory frameworks, such as energy, shows the benefits of separating powers between bodies tasked with setting policy, framing rules and implementing them in practice. Furthermore, the process should be subject to an independent system of review.

At their three meetings held in February, May and July 2008 in Sydney and Melbourne, the Task Force discussed the need to embrace reform, and a policy paper "Directions for Reform of Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1997 was put forward as a possible framework for moving the process forward. It was agreed reform should encourage more and better competition and innovation, as well as much needed increased investment in the telecommunications sector.

The findings of the Task Force were presented at the GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs: "Opportunities for Business", held in Parliament House of Victoria in Melbourne in September 2008.

Creating a Better Regulatory Environment for Innovation 2007

Forum Report •
Guest Speaker •
Outcomes •

The Forum on Victoria's National Innovation Agenda "Creating a Better Regulatory Environment for Innovation" was held on 28 August 2007 in Melbourne at the Investment Centre. Convened by GAP in partnership

with the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Victoria, the Forum brought together a select group of top level government and business executives to explore priorities and actions which may be pursued through the proposed National Innovation Agenda. The need for a better regulatory environment for business innovation is one of five themes identified in the proposal.

<< Download the Forum report [PDF 1.01MB]

The Forum featured Dr Nicholas Gruen, Chief Executive Officer of Lateral Economics, as the keynote speaker. A leading Australian economist, Dr Gruen chairs National Forum which is the holding company for Online Opinion. Previously he was Director of the Business Council of Australia's New Directions economic reform project and before that was on the Productivity Commission, where he was Presiding Commissioner on one inquiry and an industry study and Associate Commissioner on five inquiries.

The Forum advocated urgency in reconsidering the approach to regulation in order to become more responsive to stakeholder needs. Australia needs to become a "regulatory pacesetter" to compete in the global market.

The Forum on "Creating a Better Regulatory Environment for Innovation" was held on 28 August 2007 in Melbourne, Australia, as part of the GAP Congress on Regulatory Affairs initiative.

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