An opposition attempt to call on the ACT government to review compliance costs and regulatory burdens for small businesses, targeted at the construction industry, has been dismissed.
Instead, the government has agreed to convene a roundtable with industry groups, unions and construction companies to identify the causes of financial stress in the sector.
The government also said a recent string of insolvencies from Canberra construction companies reflected a wider trend of rising insolvencies across the Australian economy.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, calling on the government to implement "comprehensive regulatory impact statements for all new legislation which involve compliance costs for businesses".
The Liberals leader also wanted all current regulation referred to the government's better regulation taskforce to assess the current compliance costs and regulatory burden on small businesses. The opposition wanted this completed by the end of June.
But Regulatory Reform Minister Tara Cheyne said this would significantly slow down the government as there were 7000 acts and instruments.
"Putting aside the absurdity, let's imagine we did take this seriously ... [it] will result in a mammoth, mammoth diversion of resources across government," she said.
"It would slow significant parts of government down and imagine what would happen then. An extraordinarily perverse impact and not just on the construction industry."
There has been a string of building company collapses in the territory recently, with four businesses going bust within the space of a month. The companies are Project Coordination, Rork Projects, Cubitt's Granny Flats and Home Extensions and Voyager Projects.
Well-established company, PBS Building, also entered into administration last year.
Ms Cheyne said the government was working hard to ensure the policy settings were right. She said while the short-term insolvencies data was concerning, the longer term data was better.
She said a number of companies had entered insolvencies as COVID-era stimulus payments had stopped.
"Yes, absolutely in and of themselves in the last few months are concerning. You can never gloss over the human and community impact, let alone the economic one," Ms Cheyne said.
"But what we're actually seeing is insolvency levels returning to levels akin to what was being experienced in pre-COVID times. Rather, pandemic insolvencies have been very subdued, largely thanks to government support that was offered."
The motion was amended to call on the government to continue to promote a service offering business advice and support and services including the Small Business Debt Helpline.
The amendments also included that the government convene a roundtable "to identify the causes of financial stress in the sector and what opportunities exist to support a thriving construction industry in the immediate situation and over the longer term".
