Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

No, issued to the public for comment. That comment has taken place and the government is considering that comment. The shadow Assistant Treasurer is asking me: ‘On the basis of the government’s announcement that you would sit down with industry and work through the issues, was that enough for companies to lift their moratorium?’ Of course it wasn’t. Nobody could suggest that it would be. They wanted to see where the government would end up, and I imagine a number of them are still waiting to see where the government ends up and where the government finally lands on the detail encapsulated in the paper. That is singularly unsurprising. So my friend the shadow Assistant Treasurer is being quite disingenuous. Good luck to him; that is his job, but I am not going to engage in his efforts to try and get me to say that business responded to the government’s announcements that we would consult further as being enough to change their view on the efficacy of their employee share schemes under the new arrangements. Of course it would not be, because not until this was issued was it clear to industry that the measures would not apply till 1 July. That was when the government made that announcement.

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