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Action two: Cut red tape

Making it simpler to do business in Victoria. Good regulation is good for both businesses and communities.

But as we heard from industry – onerous and outdated regulation creates headaches for business, stifles innovation and slows growth.

By removing unnecessary red tape and simplifying government processes, the Government will enable businesses to focus on what they do best: creating jobs, fostering innovation, and driving economic growth.

Initiatives

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We’ll cut the number of business regulators by half – combining regulators and streamlining systems for industry. Victoria currently has 37 regulators – we’ll reduce it to at least 18 meaning Victoria will have the lowest number of business regulators of any state.

This will make it easier for businesses to interact with government by offering clearer points of contact, fewer processes and forms to deal with, and fewer interactions with regulators.

The Government will start by focusing on regulators that businesses in the construction and food industries interact with.

A roadmap showing the path to halving the number of business regulators by 2030 will be published next year.

More than half of all assessments exceed this timeframe, holding up projects and slowing down our state. It’s why we’ll give investors certainty, with an answer in 18 months or less.

Our faster EES process will be achieved by sharper assessment scopes; better utilisation of Environmental Reports as a quicker alternative to a full EES process; providing extra support to proponents where they are responsible for delays; and speeding up the public engagement process by facilitating online engagement and more focused public inquiries and engagement phases.

Together, these and other reforms will ensure that assessments are efficient, transparent and focused on supporting statutory decision making for projects in a timely way.

Making the EES system faster, cheaper and more predictable will encourage investment and shorten development time for windfarms, mines, gas projects, water projects, road and rail, and other projects important to the Victorian economy, while continuing to protect Victoria’s environment.

From early 2025, we’ll establish priority assessment teams within key regulators to provide dedicated support for high value, higher complexity projects.

These teams will chaperone applications – and applicants – through the assessment process. The placement of these assessment teams will be announced in the coming months.

Victoria’s digital regulatory system is fragmented, with more than 30 separate regulator portals, as well as individual portals for each of the 79 councils.

It’s why we’ll launch a new digitisation and AI program with a focus on replacing paper-based or outdated digital processes, streamlining licensing and other approvals, and addressing regulatory pain points for business – making it easier, faster and cheaper for industry.

Past digitisation investments delivered for every one-off $1 invested by the government, a return of $4 each and every year to business.

Right now, hospitality businesses are required to apply for both a planning permit and a liquor licence to serve alcohol. We’ll do away with the double-up, so they’ll only need a liquor licence to serve alcohol.

This initiative will save businesses up to $7,000 and allow them to open up to six months earlier.

Introduced temporarily as a measure during the pandemic, we will permanently remove the need for a planning permit for outdoor dining on public land.

This will make expanded outdoor dining a permanent fixture – and make it easier for cafes and restaurants to grow their businesses and attract foot traffic.

This $500 million target will be achieved by reducing regulatory duplication, speeding up and digitising application processes, removing unnecessary permits, and updating regulations to be smarter and simpler – all of which saves businesses time and money.

Updated 10 December 2024

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