Barry Wakelin (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am somewhat dismayed at the previous speaker’s comments about the lack of enterprise capital. The government’s record over the last 11½ years is this remarkable economy which is comparable with anything in the world. The Tax Laws Amendment (2007 Measures No. 5) Bill 2007 contains 12 measures that, as has been well discussed in the House, change the tax laws regarding the treatment of leasing, similar arrangements between taxpayers and tax-exempt entities, the definition of ‘excluded equity interest’ for the purposes of the thin capitalisation rules in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and the authorised deposit-taking institutions, known as specialist credit card institutions, which may in certain circumstances be treated as financial entities and not ADIs. It also alters the capital gains tax, the marriage breakdown rollover and the tax treatment of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

Schedule 7 concerns the capital gains provisions that apply to holders of statutory licences. Schedule 8 allows a stapled group of entities to restructure with an interposed head trust without triggering certain taxation consequences. Schedule 9 updates the list of deductible gift recipients, which I think will be very welcome. Schedule 10 introduces tax incentives to support the Australian film industry, which is very much part of our national culture and very important to our national view of ourselves. Schedule 11 extends the premium 175 per cent of R&D concession to Australian subsidiaries of multinational enterprises that choose to hold the resulting intellectual property outside of Australia, which broadens the law for that purpose. Schedule 12 establishes a new board, Innovation Australia, to administer and oversight the industry portfolio’s innovation and venture capital programs. It is a comprehensive list.

The government is to be congratulated on this, as the previous speaker acknowledged. It is a measure that will encourage our infrastructure and it is an incentive for innovation. The great irony of all of this is that to criticise this government for its lack of incentives for innovation, as the previous speaker did, is quite remarkable when you look at its many achievements over the last 11½ years.

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