National partnership agreement to deliver a seamless national economy: report on performance 2008-09

• COAG Reform Council

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24 February 2010The report presents the council‘s assessment of progress against 2008–09 milestones as at 30 September 2009.

The National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy sets out an ambitious and complex array of microeconomic reforms. Positively, the COAG Reform Council has found that there has been good or generally satisfactory progress against 18 of the 27 deregulation priorities and four of the eight competition reforms. Much has been achieved by governments over the course of 2008–09. However, constant effort will be required over the next two years to ensure that key implementation milestones are achieved, particularly in those reform areas identified by the council as most at risk.

The report makes four recommendations to COAG, including that COAG should aim to clarify its energy reform agenda, and reinvigorate its competition reform agenda in the key areas of transport and infrastructure. The council also recommends ways in which the implementation plan could be refined to provide a more robust and transparent basis for the ongoing performance reporting process.