Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties entitled Report 73: Treaties tabled in February 2006 contains a review of the following treaty actions: amendments to appendices I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the bilateral aviation safety agreement and the implementation procedures for airworthiness with the United States of America, the protocol of amendments to the Convention on the International Hydrographic Organisation, the protocol amending the agreement with New Zealand for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and the agreement with the government of Bermuda on the exchange of information with respect to taxes. Amendments to appendices I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species will, as it has been stated, allow Australia to extend its conservation of migratory species to those species added to appendices I and II of the convention. In this case the basking shark will be listed on both appendices to the convention, which will oblige Australia to ensure its protection in Australian waters.

The bilateral aviation safety agreement will reduce barriers for Australian aviation industry entry to the United States of America. In addition, the agreement will reduce costs imposed on the aviation industry by technical inspections, evaluations and testing and will serve to promote aviation safety. The implementation procedures for airworthiness under the agreement provide for cooperation between the US and Australia in areas such as design approval activities, export airworthiness approval activities and technical assistance between authorities. They are the first technical implementation procedures to be developed under the agreement. Whilst there was a concern that aircraft may be flown to America to be serviced, rather than that operation being done in Australia, we were assured that would not be the outcome of this agreement.

The protocol of amendments to the Convention on the International Hydrographic Organisation will serve to improve corporate governance within the organisation. In turn, Australia will benefit from the expected efficiency improvement through a subsequent improvement in internationally accepted nautical charting products beneficial to maritime trade and defence activity in Australia’s area of maritime interest. The protocol amending the agreement with New Zealand for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, as with Australia’s other such tax agreements, will allocate taxing rights between parties so that Australian taxpayers investing offshore will not be subject to double taxation. In addition to the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, this agreement will serve to signify the importance Australia places on closer economic and administrative relations with New Zealand. Under the protocol, Australia is obliged to:

• exchange information relevant for administration or enforcement of domestic law concerning all federal tax laws administered by the Commissioner of Taxation;
• treat information received through exchange as secret in the same manner as information obtained under its own domestic law;
• collect information if requested by New Zealand even where it is not needed for Australia’s own taxation purposes;
• assist New Zealand in the collection of revenue claims where amounts owed in respect of taxes of every kind and description are imposed under New Zealand law;
• where requested by New Zealand, collect a revenue claim owed to New Zealand as if it were an Australian revenue claim.

Either party, in line with OECD model guidelines, may not supply information where a trade or business secret may be disclosed or disclosure of information is contrary to public policy, such as a breach of human rights policy. The agreement paves the way for entering into similar agreements with other jurisdictions that have committed to work with OECD member countries under the auspices of the Global Forum on Taxation. The information exchange model agreement creates a process for establishing a global level playing field with a high standard of transparency in the equitable information exchange on tax matters between OECD member and non-member countries. In relation to the agreement with the government of Bermuda on the exchange of information with respect to taxes, it is a welcome addition that this move will help to clamp down on tax evasion havens. We support this particular agreement. As with the committee chair’s comments, I commend the report to the House and thank the secretariat for their ongoing work for the committee.

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