The Challenge:
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Deregulation Taskforce needed to undertake public consultation on new legislation to amend the Mutual Recognition Act 1992 to provide a new scheme for automatic mutual recognition (AMR).
At a high level, AMR allows a person who is licenced or registered for an occupation in one jurisdiction to be deemed registered to perform the same activities in another jurisdiction, without the need to go through further application processes or pay additional registration fees. Occupational registrations or licences are required for a range of occupations across the economy such as electricians, plumbers and gasfitters, teachers, real estate agents and security workers.
With draft legislation released in December 2020 with the aim of commencing 1 July 2021, timely public consultation was a critical requirement.
What we did:
Ensuring stakeholders had an opportunity to inform and refine the draft legislation, Astrolabe Group developed and facilitated a series of nine roundtables in early 2021 with a diverse range of national peak body associations.
The focus of the insights sought from the national industry roundtables was received through four themed discussion areas:
- The intent and benefits of AMR
- Challenges and considerations of implementation
- Consumer, health and safety protection
- Specific Industry considerations and experiences
Astrolabe worked with PM&C to develop invitation lists and coordinated stakeholder involvement to promote a high level of participation and meaningful insights. We provided the digital platforms to host the roundtables and facilitated each session to ensure all participants views were captured.
Results:
- Delivered nine digital roundtables with Industry peak bodies
- Delivery of an Engagement Insights Report used to inform the progress of the draft legislation by the Australian Government
- New automatic mutual recognition laws came into effect on the 1 July 2021