Article courtesy of CITY BEAT with Glen Norris and the Courier Mail.
Toowoomba business owner Michael Briggs is drowning in red tape. Briggs says his manufacturing firm Six Wheeler Conversions, which converts four wheel vehicles to six wheels, has spent $300,000 on regulations in the past three years meeting state and federal certification requirements.
Briggs says new vehicle conversions require federal certification while modifications on preregistered vehicles require state certification. He says a new federal application system was implemented for second stage vehicle manufacturing approvals three years ago, quadrupling the approval process, typically taking more than five months per vehicle model.
“It has cost me about $300,000 over the past three years in consultancy costs, plus the missed opportunity cost considering how long the application process takes,” Briggs says. “I have spent more on certification in the past three years then I did in the (previous) 10 years.”
Briggs is not alone, with a survey released this week by Business Chamber Queensland finding the cost of red tape has doubled for Queensland businesses over the past couple of years.
The peak body says the median financial cost of regulation to businesses was $50,000. That is twice the cost reported in 2021.
BCQ chief executive Heidi Cooper says businesses reported regulatory burden was an ongoing business issue and had considerable impact on their operations and ability to grow long-term.
“We saw this significant business impact across the whole business community from sole traders and micro businesses to medium and large businesses,” Cooper says.
“We know through our data that reducing red tape and regulatory burden is a major issue for Queensland businesses and one they look to governments to prioritise.”
