Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Blair for his understanding of small business in Queensland and in Australia. He is dead right when he says that nothing frustrates business more than the impacts that governments sometimes have on their operations. At this time it is important that we do as much as we can to reduce those impacts. The Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 2) Bill 2009 helps in a number of instances. The CGT changes are certainly valuable. The changes to the Australian Business Register help. The amendments to the Fuel Tax Act on fuel tax credits will be useful. And, for small business involved in the clean-up and restoration in Victoria after the bushfires, the exemption from tax on those grants will certainly be well received.

I am particularly supportive of the changes in relation to the urban water tax offset. Water supply is just so critically important these days. As the government tries to improve the security of water supplies to our major cities and the impact of this particular measure, the refundable tax offsets for eligible projects, in schedule 4, will in fact very much help both small and large businesses in making sure that these projects proceed as we would want to see them proceed.

I have a number of young Australians who give me advice, particularly on this National Urban Water and Desalination Plan and the refundable tax offsets. I am indebted to Nicholas Stanton, who has given me engineering and business advice on that particular matter. I also thank Keegan Sard on ETS and environment, Ella Bauman on higher education and Murray Bruce, particularly, on international relations. The opposition will certainly be supporting this bill and I thank the House for its attention.

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