Thirty Victorian Councils are participating in a project led by Whittlesea City Council that will allow small and home based businesses to identify and understand the need for various Local Government licenses, permits and registrations. Due to be launched in April, EasyBiz will provide information in the areas of land management, health, food handling and safety, local laws, planning and building.
Depending how each Council implements, EasyBiz, businesses will also be able to complete and submit up to 25 application transactions online, as well as pay their application fees. Councils will receive this information and determine whether the license, permit or registration will be granted.
City of Whittlesea’s Director Infrastructure and Technology, Neill Hocking, said EasyBiz will reduce the time and effort required by small and home based businesses to comply with Local Government regulations.
“Businesses will be able discover the licence, permit or registration they need, and prepare and submit applications 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without visiting Council,” he said. “Users can also reuse data across forms, which further reduces the time and effort required. This means more time to actually run their business.”
EasyBiz also provides significant benefits to Council. Better quality applications are produced as businesses are more likely to provide complete applications, particularly with online forms that can be instantly validated to ensure all essential information is provided.
Neill Hocking said this will free up staff resources, with less time spent following up applications for corrections and further information.
“The problem of unreadable handwriting will also be eliminated,” he said.
EasyBiz was funded by the Commonwealth Government’s Regulation Reduction Incentive Fund. This is the first step towards the vision of a one stop shop for all government compliance. The project has been set up so that once launched, all Victorian Councils will be able to participate.
For further information contact Neill Hocking on (03) 9217 2335 or visit www.easybiz.vic.gov.au
