The economics of deregulation is supposed to be straightforward: business groups support it, community groups oppose it, and governments “get the balance right”. The recent push to streamline state and federal environmental and planning laws has followed exactly that script. The push to remove so-called “green tape” has the appearance of a philosophical position based on the libertarian position that less regulation is socially and economically preferable to more. But the reality is that most industries in Australia love regulation and fight hard both to retain existing regulation and accumulate even more profitable amendments.