The Federal Government just announced a reform that might not make headlines in neon, but it’s quietly important: they’re streamlining occupational licensing, starting with electrical trade licences.

In simpler terms, electricians will soon be able to work across Australia without needing a fresh license for every state—like collecting gym memberships just to move some wires.

Bran Black, Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia, welcomed the change, noting that we’ll need 30,000 more electricians by 2030 to meet demand, especially with clean energy projects lighting up (literally and figuratively) across the country. Removing red tape doesn’t just save time—it gets people to the job site faster, which matters when you're trying to build a future that runs on something greener than coal.

As a Macquarie student studying economics and finance, I can’t help but see this as a case study in how systems either help or hinder movement. When licensing is a maze, fewer people make it to the other side. When it's a well-lit hallway, more people walk through.

The BCA’s push for a National Productivity Fund supports these kinds of efforts—reforms that don’t grab headlines but quietly improve how we work and live. Streamlining systems isn’t just about convenience. It’s about clarity. Because when a process is too hard to follow, it becomes too easy to misuse.

Hopefully, this is the first brick in a longer road—where people, not just policies, are allowed to move freely. And if we’re lucky, maybe fewer tradespeople will have to carry around more paperwork than tools.