Immediate regulatory and tech improvements, not 'multi-year programs', needed to support small businesses
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)’s pledge to slash red tape and enhance its technology platforms has garnered little praise from the Finance Broking Association of Australia (FBAA).
Last Wednesday, ASIC revealed that it has cut 9,240 pages of regulation since the start of the year amid calls for regulatory simplification for small businesses.
ASIC also plans to consolidate and simplify 23 legislative instruments through input from leaders across business, industry and consumer groups, while working towards a streamlined digital lodgement service.
“We have embarked on a comprehensive, multi-year program to simplify regulation and improve the experience of interacting with us,” said ASIC.
“This long-term approach will allow us to make meaningful changes in stages, prioritising what matters most while testing and learning, to ensure each step is embedded sustainably,” added the regulator.
But FBAA managing director Peter White (pictured), was less than impressed by ASIC’s plans, calling them “too little, too late” for many brokers and small businesses that are grappling with Australia’s productivity crisis.
White called for immediate improvements, not multi-year programs, to support the country’s 22,000 brokers.
“Governments and regulators have been talking for decades about cutting red tape and yet we are still singing the same old song, but that’s no substitute for meaningful action,” he said.
“Brokers and small businesses often find it exceptionally difficult to navigate meeting their compliance requirements online because of poorly designed websites,” White continued. “The ASIC and ATO websites might make sense to regulators, but users find them confusing and impenetrable.
“We need better websites based on current technology and operating platforms, and far clearer and ‘plain English’ communication now, not years into the future. They still don’t seem to grasp the basic issues.”
Productivity has emerged as a cornerstone issue for the Labor Government, prompting last month’s Economic Reform Roundtable.
According to the Productivity Commission’s 2025 Annual Productivity Bulletin, multifactor productivity (MFP) growth in the market sector was just 0.1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24, well below the 20-year average of 0.3% and far beneath the 1.6% annual rate seen during the 1990s productivity boom.
Reducing regulatory clutter was identified as one of the 10 key reform priorities at the roundtable, though the government has provided few details on how it plans to accomplish this.
