This report resulted from a request by the Council of Australian Governments to conduct a preliminary high-level review of sixteen areas of policy reform, aimed at improving productivity.

The paper was provided on 29 June 2012 to the cross jurisdictional Taskforce established to advise Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on the development of a National Productivity Compact between governments and business associations.

This review covers 16 topics nominated by COAG spanning an assortment of activities, markets, processes and practices.

The nominated reform topics span several broad reform streams, including reducing regulatory burdens on business, reducing government administration costs, improving productivity, enhancing regulatory processes and guarding against backsliding of reforms already achieved. Reflecting this, the topics also vary considerably in scope. Best practice regulation (avi), for example, could affect most of the Australian economy, whereas the inclusion of gas fitting in the National Construction Code is of a different order of magnitude.