Single Economic Market

Hon Heather Roy presentation to the Ministerial Council of Consumer Affairs (MCCA); Perth, Australia; Friday, December 4 2009.

In August this year Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and John Key held their fourth bi-lateral meeting in Canberra and agreed on the importance of continued strong growth and co-ordinated international action to restore confidence and global economic growth.

Mr Key and Mr Rudd agreed that stronger economic integration between Australia and New Zealand is critical to ensuring the achievement of these goals for both our countries.  This integration - including through the Single Economic Market work programme - would better enable New Zealand and Australia to endure the current global economic situation, increase our respective national productivity, create jobs, nurture international competitiveness and improve the environment for business in both Australia and New Zealand.

The announcement made by our Prime Ministers in August is a commitment on behalf of the Australian Commonwealth Government and the New Zealand Government to working towards a trans-Tasman Single Economic Market (SEM).

The vision for the Single Economic Market is to establish a streamlined environment that facilitates business opportunities and competitiveness, and delivers practical benefits to both consumers and businesses through the removal of trans-Tasman obstacles to trade and the improvement of regulatory effectiveness.

The vision is also to strengthen our collective ability to influence the course of wider regional integration and broader global responses.

As part of the August announcement Mr Key and Mr Rudd released the Outcomes Framework, which supports an aspirational Single Economic Market agenda.  This framework focuses on the delivery of a number of practical outcomes, including several related to the delivery of consumer benefits - harmonised or co-ordinated approaches to the enforcement of consumer law, harmonised labelling of consumer products, and mutual recognition of product safety bans.

The MCCA paper notes that the framework is based on seven key principles.  I draw your attention to the first and fifth principles:

• Persons in Australia or New Zealand should not have to engage in the same process or provide the same information twice.
• Products and services supplied in one jurisdiction should be able to be supplied in the other.

A key element of the framework is a deliberate move from consideration of purely national benefits in policy development, to consideration of the net trans-Tasman benefit - rather than considering what the advantage will be to Australia or New Zealand, we are now looking at how we can both benefit.

The Single Economic Market Agenda complements the action already underway across Australia to have greater harmonisation - including with respect to consumer law, product safety and consumer credit.

The Ministerial Council of Consumer Affairs has shown ongoing commitment to the Single Economic Market agenda - a commitment reflected in the receptiveness to including a trans-Tasman element in our work programme, and the receptiveness to including a trans-Tasman clause in the Australian Consumer Law Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA).

Flowing from the IGA is the Australian Consumer Law - National Memorandum of Understanding.  As the MOU - to which New Zealand consumer agencies are being included as a Party - to the MOU, is one of the deliverables recognised in the Outcomes Framework agenda, it is clear that we are on track to deliver.

New Zealand's active participation on MCCA and the Standing Committee of Officials of Consumer Affairs (SCOCA), also contributes to the closer economic relations between Australia and New Zealand and to the progression of the Single Economic Market.

SEM is not about governing trans-Tasman markets; it is about identifying and nurturing innovative actions to reduce discrimination and cutting costs related to different, conflicting or duplicate regulatory requirements.

By accelerating the SEM Agenda we can ensure that trans-Tasman markets for goods, services, labour and capital work effectively and efficiently and support economic growth on both sides of the Tasman.

What we have before us is an opportunity: an opportunity to deliver the benefits and outcomes of a seamless trans-Tasman economy for the good of Australian and New Zealand consumers and businesses.

Thank you.