ABC Online...The Gillard Government has moved to improve its...

ABC Online...
The Gillard Government has moved to improve its relations with the business sector by setting up a formal advisory group to help cut red tape.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced she will chair a new Business Advisory Forum to work with state and territory leaders.

About 25 business representatives will attend the inaugural meeting next month.

Ms Gillard says she wants business to work directly with federal, state and territory leaders through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) - the nation's peak intergovernmental forum.

"We want them to be at the drawing board as we contemplate the next round of reform," she said.

"We want leaders of the nation as they meet at COAG to hear directly from Australian businesses about what would make them more productive and what regulation challenges they face."

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) says the forum is a great opportunity to "reset the agenda".

"Businesses big and small deal daily with the dead hand of red tape and inefficiency in our federal system," BCA president Tony Shepherd said.

"The different rules and regulations in our nine federal, state and territory jurisdictions are a major drag on our economy and a huge cost to business and consumers.

"[The forum] will bring all the parties to the table and it'll enable business to give case examples to premiers of what we are seeking and the advantages to the economy and to each of the states for making these reforms."

Peter Andersen, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says business leaders have a responsibility to work with government.

"If this forum operates as proposed, it holds the potential of adding significantly to the social infrastructure in Australia in the form of dialogue between our private and public sectors on matters of national economic regulation and that is a good thing," he said.

Trade licensing
The Prime Minister cited the issue of trade licensing as a particularly important area of deregulation, pointing out the difficulty tradespeople have moving between states.

Ms Gillard says she expects the issue to trigger some debate in the forum.

"If in that room there's some things said about the need to deliver on the trade licensing agenda, then that will be a welcome contribution but I expect there will be some challenging things said in that room for all of us and that's a good thing," she said.

The Government has had a series of public stoushes with the business community over issues such as the carbon pricing scheme, industrial relations and the mining tax.

The BCA's Tony Shepherd says the forum is a "great step forward".

"We've enjoyed a very robust, good working relationship," he said.

"This is an example of the sort of relationship that both parties would like.

"We see this as a great step forward and we will continue to, we trust, to have a good working relationship with this Government and particularly the ministers that we engage with in business."

The Productivity Commission has estimated that acting on deregulation could lower business costs by $4 billion a year and increase GDP by $6 billion.

Dave R.