Page 751 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 17 March 2015
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Access Canberra will actively support our business community across the full range of regulatory approvals processes, starting with Access Canberra shopfronts, online service portals and call centres, through to our regulators. No longer will people be left to navigate the processes on their own. Access Canberra will take a lead role in coordinating regulatory approval processes to provide a seamless approach for people when dealing with the government. If business or event organisers come up with an idea for something new in the territory, Access Canberra will work with these organisations to make things happen. Access Canberra will be an enabler of innovative and economic activity, not a barrier, while still ensuring that public safety and protection are enforced.
Access Canberra is engaging with the business community to learn how Canberra can do better to streamline services. But we are already making a difference. For example, cafes, bars and restaurants can now obtain information about and apply for an outdoor dining permit through a single web page.
Access Canberra became the single point of contact for organisers of the Art, Not Apart festival this weekend just gone. This was a significant cultural event for the territory, but a complex one for organisers to arrange. Access Canberra not only worked across the ACT government; it also advocated on behalf of the event organisers with external bodies such as the commonwealth National Capital Authority. This is the benchmark for governments supporting businesses and events to get across the line.
Bringing most of our regulators of business together also creates the opportunity to consider developing a streamlined, risk-based regulatory framework for our regulators. A consistent regulatory framework will create certainty for business and let them know where the benchmark for their industry is. This will also foster confidence for the public, in knowing there will be consistency in decision making. When our regulators walk through the door, businesses will know what to expect.
Not only does a single regulatory service approach benefit businesses; there are significant benefits to the broader community from doing business with government. The future vision for Access Canberra customer service shopfronts is to provide a single customer experience that will enable businesses, community organisations and individuals to complete government transactions in one location. As a first step to achieving this goal, the Access Canberra shopfront in Gungahlin, which will be opened in the near future, will offer a number of expanded services that are not currently offered in the Canberra Connect shopfronts. Over time, these services will be rolled out to all the shopfronts across the ACT.
Having all the regulatory approval processes in one place also provides government with a clear picture of the breadth of regulation applied to a particular sector and allows us to quickly identify inefficient regulations and make changes in a timely manner. This will feed into the government deregulation and red tape reduction agenda.
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