Mystery surrounds the Government's much-heralded regulatory review but the business community is clear on one thing - the less regulation the better.
A full review of business regulation was foreshadowed in the Budget on Thursday, with Finance Minister Michael Cullen saying it would focus on the views of business owners.
But the Government remained silent about any implications yesterday, with a spokeswoman for Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel declining to comment before the official unveiling on Monday.
Cullen said the Government would look at issues of regulation that might "unnecessarily constrain business development and economic transformation".
The Small Business Advisory Group, which provides policy feedback to the Government, has already advised it to streamline regulation.
Group member Lachlan McKenzie said yesterday that compliance costs were on top of the list for business.
He hoped regulation such as the Holiday's Act, health and safety rules and minimum wages would also be addressed.
"Those are the sorts of things that impact quite severely on small businesses," he said.
John Pask, an economist for Business New Zealand, thought there was a case for a regulatory responsibility act, to ensure more transparency in Government regulation.
Alasdair Thompson, chief executive at the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern), believed regulation around competition was one area that the review would address.
He said: "Where a company operates in the tradeable sector and is subject to genuine foreign competition, then we think we should be far more relaxed about allowing such businesses to take one another over so they can achieve economies of scale and compete with their competitors in the global market."
Thompson was concerned the review could bring more "heavy-handed" regulation.
"Until we see what they're proposing, we would be more concerned that it's going to cause more compliance costs, cause more intervention in market forces and not bring about more competitiveness or greater investment."
National Party economic development spokeswoman Katherine Rich said businesses were suffering from "review fatigue".
"In the last six years we have had review after review in business-related areas which have amounted to very little.
"The issue is the Government isn't following the advice it receives."
