Think, revive and thrive: a state vision
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday March 11, 2010
The NSW Business Chamber's 10 proposals aimed at reviving the state's economy. 1Proposal: Establish a Commission of Audit to review government spending and find savings of 2 per cent by 2014-15, a cumulative saving of $3 billion.Current situation: Responsibility split across individual departments, Treasury, IPART and the Audit Office of NSW on an ad-hoc basis.Comment: The proposal is similar to the efficiency drive carried out by the Rudd government after it was elected and the ongoing work of the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission. The former federal treasury official and director of Allen Consulting Group, Kerry Barwise, said it was a good idea, provided the commission was transparent and accountable to Parliament. "The evidence is that cohesive, well-structured and broadly independent processes can work wonders ... and it is clear that NSW does need something. But you can't take it completely out of politics." JI2Proposal: Encourage businesses to employ more people by cutting payroll tax by about 5 per cent. All business tax would be brought under the administration of the Australian Tax Office to avoid the red tape involved with multiple tax agencies.Current: NSW businesses pay $1870 in payroll tax per employee, about $400 more than in Victoria. Businesses must deal with both the ATO and the Office of State Revenue which have different tax collection methods, definitions, and return dates.Comment: Tom Murphy, chief executive of the Western Research Institute at Charles Sturt University: "Not a bad idea at this point. It would be particularly good for lower paid areas where there is more supply to meet the increased demand for new workers. The state government would not lose the full 5 per cent because some of that would come back in the form of tax from new employees. PB3Proposal: Win NSW a larger share of GST revenue.Achieved: The Commonwealth Grants Commission recently awarded NSW an extra $1 billion a year following a review of the GST split, reversing its initial plan to take revenue away from NSW. BR4Proposal: Transfer control of the state's hospitals to the federal government.Current: The federal government recently outlined plans to take control of public hospitals, but the state government is calling for all of the details of the proposal to be put on the table so it can be assessed fully.Comment: "There is no doubt we need change but we also have to manage it properly," said the NSW Nurses' Association general secretary, Brett Holmes. BR5Proposal: Establish a new Department of Business Growth, accountable to the Treasurer, to remove red tape, attract new businesses and support existing NSW businesses. It would also include a new Small Business Commissioner.Current: Responsibility for business split between the Department of State and Regional Development, the Office of Fair Trading and the Better Regulation Office.Comment: Allen Consulting's Mr Barwise said it was a good idea to have an agency acting as a "gatekeeper" against new onerous regulation. However, a department focused solely on business growth for growth's sake could put at risk other goals of promoting business efficiency. "In NSW an agency like that could quickly turn into a subsidies factory." JI6Proposal: Give businesses money to relocate operations to regional NSW or to establish new facilities in the bush. The money would come from a $250 million government-run regional development fund, with companies selected according to the long-term economic benefits they bring to a region.Current: The government has 12 regional business growth plans geared towards increasing business investment in regional NSW through infrastructure development, and land use and planning needs. There are also incentives for professionals such as teachers and doctors to work in the bush.Comment: Fariborz Moshirian, professor of finance at UNSW school of banking and finance: "This would not only boost employment in regional NSW but also take pressure off groaning infrastructure in Sydney. Yes, it would benefit these companies but that would also flow back to the government in tax revenue and benefit NSW by ensuring companies stay here rather than going interstate. PB7Proposal: A single body to be responsible for infrastructure, removing politics from the process.Current: Present responsibility for infrastructure spending is spread across all ministries, although largely managed by Treasury.Comment: This would be advantageous as it would remove the impact of changes of premier and also State elections on the priority attached to projects, said Jamie Shelton of the Association of Consulting Engineers. BR8Proposal: Appoint a transport tsar to take charge of Sydney traffic. This would involve creating a body to integrate traffic and a range of different transport authorities. It also includes ideas such as staggering starting times for public servants and schools to help reduce peak-hour traffic congestion.Current: Transport authorities for buses, ferries and trains are not overseen by a single body. Most jobs are scheduled to start at 9am and finish at 5pm and most schools start the day between 8.30 and 9am.Comment: In a report into public transport, the Auditor General in 2007 said the Ministry for Transport needs "to assign responsibility for the co-ordination and oversight of inter-modal operations to an entity resourced for the purpose. Without this it will continue to be very difficult to identify and address unmet needs, seek and resource stakeholder funding, and monitor and evaluate system performance". AP9Proposal: Amalgamate Sydney's councils into 10 'strong' local councils.Current: There are 41 local councils spread across the Sydney region.Comment: The president of the Shires Association, Bruce Miller, said this change would undermine the advantage of local government: its closeness to its communities. "Larger councils would inevitably distance local government, single-handedly destroying one of its key strengths," Cr Miller said. "As elected community representatives councillors understand the unique needs of their community, and make decisions based on this." BR10Proposal: Better prepare students who do not attend university for the workforce.Current: Students can complete vocational subjects in the Higher School Certificate, but greater recognition is given to students who complete academic subjects through the Universities Admissions Centre which issues the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank.Comment: NSW Board of Studies president, Tom Alegounarias, said a third of all Year 12 students gained a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification as part of their HSC. "The Board of Studies awards VET courses the same status as its other HSC subjects, unlike some other states where VET may be treated as a separate level of schooling." Mr Alegounarias said proposed streaming could lock people into different paths at an earlier age. "Vocational training is accorded high importance in the HSC qualification - the question of how such courses are treated in university entry rankings should be addressed to the Universities Admissions Centre," he said. APBrian Robins (BR), Jessica Irvine (JI), Paul Bibby (PB) and Anna Patty (AP).
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