About the Consultation

The Australian Treasury invited submissions to inform development of the 2026–27 Federal Budget, with a focus on lifting productivity, improving regulatory efficiency, strengthening competitiveness and supporting long-term economic resilience.

Submissions were encouraged to identify practical, evidence-based reforms that reduce cost and complexity for business while enabling digital transformation, trade facilitation and sustainable growth.

For many sectors, these challenges increasingly relate to how product, business and supply-chain data is regulated, exchanged and reused across government and industry systems.

Why this matters for GS1 members and Australian industry

Australia’s productivity challenge is increasingly a data and digital supply-chain challenge.

Global markets are moving rapidly toward:

• Digital labelling and 2D barcodes

• Product passports - Interoperable product and location information

• Paperless trade and digital documentation - simplifying

• Traceability, sustainability and regulatory reporting

Australian Industry use of global, interoperable supply-chain data standards already delivers $19–27 billion in annual economic value to Australia, with a further $36–50 billion in potential productivity uplift available through broader adoption across the economy.

Without coordinated national action, fragmented regulation and bespoke systems risk increasing compliance costs, slowing digital adoption and reducing Australia’s global competitiveness.

Mapping GS1 Australia’s Key Messages to Treasury Productivity Pillars

Digital and Data Productivity - Digital Government, interoperability, “collect once, use many times”

• Recognise supply-chain data standards and registries as foundational digital infrastructure

• Enable discoverable, reusable product, location and certification data

• Support automation, RegTech and paperless trade through standards-based regulation

Competition, Regulation and Regulatory Efficiency - Reducing burden, improving consistency, supporting compliance at lower cost

• Leverage global standards already embedded in industry rather than creating bespoke systems

• Harmonise regulatory requirements across jurisdictions using common data foundations

• Enable flexible, risk-based compliance approaches that scale across sectors

Industry Capability, Innovation and Skills - Future Made in Australia, capability uplift, innovation readiness

• Treat standards as pre-competitive infrastructure that enables innovation rather than constraining it

• Support industry adoption through clarity, consistency and alignment across policy frameworks

• Build public-sector capability on standards, data and digital supply-chain design

Trade, Resilience and Global Competitiveness - digital trade, supply-chain resilience, market access

• Align domestic regulation with internationally recognised standards to reduce trade friction

• Support paperless trade, traceability and trusted data exchange across borders

• Ensure Australian producers, manufacturers and exporters remain competitive in digitising global markets

Key Documents & Links

• Treasury – 2026–27 Pre-Budget Submissions

• GS1 Australia – 2026–27 Pre-Budget Submission (PDF)

• Centre for International Economics – Economic Value of Supply-Chain Data Standards

• GS1 Australia – Submission to the Australian Productivity Commission