This Productivity Commission report - Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Business and Consumer Services Sector - identifies ways to reduce the regulatory burdens on businesses in the finance and insurance, accommodation and food services, professional, scientific and technical...

A report released by the Productivity Commission — Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation: Occupational Health and Safety — has identified significant differences in regulation and in the actions of regulators across the jurisdictions that are hard to justify. <p> While OHS...</p>

The Productivity Commission was asked to examine the effects of bilateral and regional trade agreements, including on trade and investment barriers, regional integration and Australia's economy generally. The Commission concluded the benefits of these agreements have been oversold and the...

The increased use of information and communications technology (ICT) has helped to raise Australia’s productivity growth, according to a new Commission study. It has enabled firms to innovate in what they do and how they do it. ICT Use and Productivity: A Synthesis from Studies of Australian...

On 9 July 1997 the Treasurer referred the international competitiveness of the Australian black coal industry to the Commission for inquiry and report within 12 months. The Commission is to identify ways of improving the international competitiveness of the Australian black coal industry which...

In April 2005, the research paper into Assistance to Tourism: Exploratory Estimates, was released. It is the first comprehensive attempt to quantify the extent of assistance to tourism on a comparable basis to that for other industries in Australia. While care is needed in interpreting the...

On 24 August 1998 the Treasurer referred the implementation of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) by Commonwealth departments and agencies to the Commission for inquiry and report within nine months of receipt of the reference.

There are significant differences in the way water rights are defined, allocated and administered in Australia and overseas. This paper includes comparisons of the arrangements for managing water rights against accepted best practice principles for South Au stralia, Queensland, NSW, Victoria...

On 25 August 1998 the Treasurer referred Australia’s gambling industries for inquiry and the provision of an information report within 12 months of receiving the reference.The Commission was requested to provide an information report on the economic and social impacts of Australia’s gambling...

This study draws together and builds on previous research by the Commission on the role of the private sector in the conservation of biodiversity. With more than 60 per cent of Australia's land area under private management, conservation cannot be adequately addressed without private sector...