IBSA - Innovation & Business Skills Australia

COAG Reform Agenda: Reforming and Investing for the Future

On March 26, all Governments made an historic commitment to a comprehensive new microeconomic reform agenda for Australia, with a particular focus on health, water, regulatory reform and the broader productivity agenda. There are many issues raised that will affect the IBSA industries. For the full report, please click here .

Here is a summary of the meeting outcomes:

The Commonwealth agreed to commit an immediate allocation of $1 billion to relieve pressure for 2008-09 on public hospitals. Overall this means an increase in Commonwealth funding for public hospitals for 2008-09 of 10.2 per cent. This decision reverses the national trend of Commonwealth cutbacks to hospital funding over the past five years. COAG also agreed that in developing the new health care agreement there would be a review of the indexation formulas for the years ahead. COAG also agreed that the new Australian Health Agreement should move to a proper long-term share of Commonwealth funding for the public hospital system.

COAG agreed that the new health care agreement would be signed in December 2008 with a commencement date for the new funding arrangements of 1 July 2009.

COAG also agreed for jurisdictions, as appropriate, to move to a more nationally-consistent approach to activity-based funding for services provided in public hospitals - but one which also reflects the Community Service Obligations required for the maintenance of small and regional hospital services.

COAG agreed to the introduction of a national registration and accreditation system for health professionals and steps to address health workforce skills shortages.

COAG also made a major breakthrough on water with the agreement to a Memorandum of Understanding on Murray-Darling Basin Reform. This agreement will now enable the necessary action to address over allocation, improve environmental outcomes, and enhance the efficiency of irrigation in a concerted effort to achieve an environmentally-sustainable future for the Basin.

COAG has agreed a far reaching and accelerated business regulation reform agenda across 27 areas of regulatory reform, to enhance productivity and workforce mobility by cutting the costs of regulation.

On the broader productivity agenda, COAG has today for the first time ever embraced significant, long-term and ongoing reforms across all aspects of education - early childhood development, schooling and vocational education and training.

Sweeping reforms to the architecture for Commonwealth-State funding arrangements will enable the States to deploy Commonwealth specific purpose payments (SPPs) more effectively and creatively, enhance public accountability and sharpen the incentives for reform through new National Partnerships (NP) agreements.

Other agreements include:

• COAG is working to ensure sustainable water supply and has expanded the CSIRO assessments of Sustainable Yields so that for the first time Australia will have a comprehensive scientific assessment of sustainable water yield in all major river systems across the country;
• COAG has for the first time embraced a new national approach to addressing climate change through a national emissions trading scheme and complementary policies and measures that achieve emission reductions at least cost;
• COAG has also agreed a nationally-coordinated approach to planning for, and facilitating, Australia’s infrastructure needs;
• COAG is well on track in delivering vital initiatives to assist housing affordability and reduce the number of homeless people; and
• COAG has set practical goals and agreed more than 23 specific actions across its agenda, aimed at closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.

The COAG Reform Agenda will boost productivity, workforce participation and geographic mobility, and support wider objectives of better services for the community, social inclusion, closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage and environmental sustainability.

This new platform for cooperative reforms and investments - to strengthen our economy, empower more Australians to participate in, and contribute to, our economy, and make efficient and sustainable use of our natural resources - will deliver real benefits for Australian families and their communities, not only today but over a generation. The COAG Reform Agenda is underpinned by a common commitment to clear goals, genuine partnership and the governance and funding arrangements needed to deliver real reform.

A fresh spirit of goodwill has delivered breakthrough agreements in areas unresolved by COAG for too long.

It will move on from the blame game to make federalism again work to deliver real outcomes in the national interest.