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Regulations rocket

19 comments

A really neat illustration of the growth of Australian regulations illustrated by the IPA’s Chris Berg in this short video.

Written by Alan Moran

July 20th, 2012 at 11:06 am

Posted in Uncategorized

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19 Responses to 'Regulations rocket'

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  1. Is there a comparable image for the US?

    Rafe

    20 Jul 12 at 11:54 am

  2. Useful demonstration.

    Anyone who considers themselves “a law abiding citizen” is deluded.

    P.S. Almost 8,000 pages of utterly petty, restrictive gibberish apparently constitutes the dullard gubberment’s greatest achievement and proves that minority gubberment ‘is working’.

    No, it bloody well doesn’t.

    Rabz

    20 Jul 12 at 11:54 am

  3. This is a well used argument in the US. The same massive increase in regulatory bloat has occurred there.

    The IPA deserves credit for picking up on it. Let’s hope it gains some traction.

    DavidLeyonhjelm

    20 Jul 12 at 12:10 pm

  4. Ah, but the HR department will be most pleased – politicians scoring well on their KPI statistic.

    That is what we pay them to do isn’t it?

    Louis Hissink

    20 Jul 12 at 12:34 pm

  5. I want bloopers and outakes next time guys…?

    a Friday funny clip would suffice…

    selena 1234

    20 Jul 12 at 1:30 pm

  6. Well done Chris, what you forgot to mention is who the Laws are legislated for.
    Certainly not for politicians, they are unaccountable, and the standards and morals they present to this nation is nothing but a disgrace.
    Lord grant the people longer pockets, and politicians with shorter arms.

    macca

    20 Jul 12 at 1:40 pm

  7. If there is a God, then Abbot will rip this off shamelessly and promise to cut the existing laws and regulation by 2/3 and pass bugger all legislation.

    How would it not be popular?

    You only need to see the 8 foot high tower of tax legislation to see the stupidity of passing more and more laws. It’s got mass appeal.

    .

    20 Jul 12 at 1:45 pm

  8. It looks like there’s a fair chance I’ve broken a few laws today – on a stochastic basis of course.

    I better start reading. Ignorance is no excuse after all.

    Keith

    20 Jul 12 at 2:19 pm

  9. US Tax Code Growth

    Some years back a speaker was demonstrating the size of the US Tax Code in a speech before Congress. As a viual aid he had assistants walk in and stack successive printed portions of the code on a table. All went swimmingly until the table broke under the weight of all that paper.

    Speakers trick or not it was extremely effective!

    Zatara

    20 Jul 12 at 3:47 pm

  10. “All of which …”? Did you remove the appropriation acts and other pieces of legislation that relate only to the operation of government? Didn’t think so

    The pages of legislation/regulation is a pretty poor measure of the level of regulatory burden.

    Nonsense

    20 Jul 12 at 4:10 pm

  11. Its well past time pollies had their own dedicated compliance officer following them around 24/7.

    EVERY infringement they comitted to be immediately acted upon, mecilessly and to the fullest possible extent of the statutes they themselves wrote of agreed to pass.
    After all they see fit to inflict it on others, they need to feel the full force of it.EVERY TIME.

    There would be such a culling of legislation after 6 months it would be incredible.

    thefrollickingmole

    20 Jul 12 at 4:50 pm

  12. This is how they justify their salaries and staff. It really steams my beans when I hear them brag about how much legislation they’ve been able to pass; as though that’s a good thing!

    Anne

    20 Jul 12 at 6:44 pm

  13. In today’s Australian, which I read in the evening, in paper form :
    Susan Ley, opposition childcare spokeswoman,
    re Family Day Care:
    “Today I heard an example of someone who was assessed in NSW who was told there was not enough compost in the bin, which means you are not meeting your sustainability requirements”
    and
    re Childcare Centre and ratios for under two yr olds”
    “Your ratio is not in place because you’ve got someone in the next room doing the nappy” – I gather this means they have gone next door to change a nappy, one supposes they have to stay in the same room as the other babies to do so, to keep the satff ratio correct.

    Today I had a 14 hr a week, very good, retail worker resign because her child care had gone up enough to negate her childcare needs – one morning pre school and one evening post school for 2 primary aged kids.

    Maybe I have hijacked this thread, but this illustrates to me in my daily life the gross over-reach of regulation.

    hzhousewife

    20 Jul 12 at 7:56 pm

  14. The pages of legislation/regulation is a pretty poor measure of the level of regulatory burden.

    Regulation correlates with regulatory burden.
    At the very minimum, the number of pages is a crude measure of the amount of regulation. What’s more, the clearly excessive amount is a sign of poor governance and out-of-control bureaucracy.

    daddy dave

    20 Jul 12 at 8:20 pm

  15. Well done Chris, what you forgot to mention is who the Laws are legislated for.

    let me guess, wouldn’t be for the LAWYERS would it !

    hzhousewife

    20 Jul 12 at 8:27 pm

  16. hzhousewife, all the government wants is affordable early childcare for all with a rich learning experience including cutting-edge developmental techniques, administered by childcare staff of at least university qualification (preferably grad qualifications) with a staff:child ratio of about one to four.

    IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK???

    wreckage

    20 Jul 12 at 8:40 pm

  17. The pages of legislation/regulation is a pretty poor measure of the level of regulatory burden.

    It should correlate quite well.

    wreckage

    20 Jul 12 at 8:47 pm

  18. hahaha, wreckage. Then why doesn’t the government expect
    all parents to provide the above via certification before they even breed ? – or is this the next step !!
    hahaha

    hzhousewife

    20 Jul 12 at 9:13 pm

  19. The pages of legislation/regulation is a pretty poor measure of the level of regulatory burden

    Pages of legislation may be a pretty poor measure of regulatory burden, but it is one of the few measures that we have. Even the better cost/benefit analysis find it hard to make a good assessment of the costs of regulatory burden.

    Chris’ clip is useful in highlighting the problem, but there needs to be a better understanding of the underlying causes of regulation and how it can be beaten.

    Take the child care example. This sector is being regulated to death because the government has decided that child care is too important for the nations future to be left to mere parents and providers to work out the best arrangements.

    Howard decided to ramp up the funding. That further displaced parents as the main clients of the providers with government. The service being offered is the service being demanded by the major client,the Comonwealth government, and the parents have to take whatever they can get.

    The rise in regulation has come about with the rise in the faith that government central planning is better at delivering basic services than markets. Until people realise that government failure is a bigger problem than so called market failure, we will continue to be strangled by regulation.

    johno

    21 Jul 12 at 8:41 am

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