Unmasking the Regulatory Burden for Individual Australian Residents

The legislation defines the roles that individuals play, but it causes confusion when a role has different definitions in the same jurisdiction. In Australia, the welfare. taxation and immigration legislation each provide a different definition of an Australian resident. This paper applies the GovUI-Onto, a new method developed to conceptualise and model the implementation of legislation using government user interfaces, to compare the regulatory burden for individual Australian residents in different settings. Not surprisingly, the research indicates that there may be a higher regulatory burden for individuals seeking benefits and services from the government, than those who will be required to pay money to the government. The paper also demonstrates how a whole-of-government view of a role, such as an Australian resident, can be developed and be used to harmonise and simplify the legislation for all.