The federal government says it already has found $350 million in cuts to red tape on business as it seeks to slash $1 billion over the year.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday launched a new website (www.cuttingredtape.gov.au) to keep track of the coalition’s key election promise on deregulation.

Mr Abbott also has issued guidelines to all government departments and agencies ensuring that all cabinet submissions come with a “regulatory impact statement” (RIS).

“Red tape boosts costs and the higher business costs are, the harder it is to employ and the higher prices are for consumers,” he said.

Australia currently is ranked 128th in the world in terms of the burden of government regulation “sandwiched between Romania and Angola”.

The $350 million figure relates to the business administration costs of the carbon and mining taxes and financial advice changes.

The government has estimated the carbon tax is an $85 million red tape burden on business, with the mining tax costing around $10 million a year.

The first tranche of regulation repeal bills will be introduced to parliament on Wednesday, when Mr Abbott will make a statement, with the aim of passing them the following Wednesday.

Under the new policy, the prime minister will be able to exempt an agency or department from the need to complete an RIS.

Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra he had exercised this power in relation to Qantas, when cabinet made its decision to repeal part of the Qantas Sale Act dealing with a ban on majority foreign ownership.

Parliamentary secretary to the prime minister Josh Frydenberg said the changes would also benefit charities, many of which had high administration costs and burdensome reporting standards.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Labor will adopt a wait-and-see approach.

“If there is common sense repeal of some regulations, then we’re certainly up for it,” he told reporters.

Regulatory impact statements won’t be publicly available, as they will have cabinet confidentiality attached to them.

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said it was farcical to think that 8000 regulations could be repealed in one day without impacting on such issues as the environment and women in the workplace.