Red Tape in Local Government

The war on red tape has now been taken up by local government.

Thirteen metropolitan and regional councils have joined a red-tape reduction pilot to improve interactions with business and the community.

A joint venture between the Local Government Association (LGA) and Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the program has already identified various ways to cut red tape, including:

• A reduction of multiple lengthy processes for obtaining road rent permits
• A communication forum to assist streamlining development
• Reducing time-consuming and costly tendering processes
• Cutting the number of processes required for outdoor dining permits

Councils involved in the pilot are sharing information on current initiatives and being given the opportunity to develop feasibility studies and implementation strategies for new red tape programs.

A key focus area has been greater use of online technology for applications and payments to reduce the need for paper-based manual processing.