Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to speak in support of the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 5) Bill 2009. I am pleased to speak in support of it because it makes some very important changes to our tax law which go to the heart of helping people who are suffering from disability and disadvantage for reasons that are not their own fault: parents, particularly, who have children with autism or men who are suffering from prostate cancer and have the shame and embarrassment of incontinence. It is sorting out a system whereby the taxpayers are not disadvantaged by the seemingly inexplicable decision by Justice Logan in the case of Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v PM Developments Pty Ltd, commonly known as the PMD decision. Another irregularity that needs to be changed results from the amendments made in the Tax Laws Amendment (Taxation of Financial Arrangements) Act 2009. The final thing is a very sensible change that gives greater scope to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund Independent Advisory Panel to support communities affected by the devastation in Victoria from the bushfires earlier this year, which claimed the lives of so many Australians and which devastated the communities and family life of rural Victoria.

These amendments by way of schedule, whilst seemingly unglamorous in many ways, really make a difference in the lives of so many Australians. Many times people listen to parliament or watch TV and see politicians speak or be interviewed but do not realise that we often work together to achieve good outcomes which make an appreciable difference in family and community life. Whilst this legislation, on the surface, seems to have a strange and very uninteresting title, the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 5) Bill, it really goes to making a big difference in the lives of so many people.

The first thing that I want to talk about is schedule 1. Schedule 1 arises out of a decision that was made in relation to GST and how it should be treated in terms of a debt arrangement in circumstances where a company goes belly up and creditors are chasing funds. Having been a lawyer for a long time, I was involved in winding up lots of companies over the years. Certainly, the commercial lawyers in the firm were often amazed that I actually knew something about commercial law, having practised extensively in it when I was much younger. I am aware of the travails and difficulties for creditors and liquidators, if not the receivers and managers as well, who look after companies in these circumstances where the creditors are trying to knock down the doors, particularly the artificial barriers of incorporation.

The decision made by Justice Logan in the circumstances is contrary to the stated policy of the government. It is a strange decision; I had a look at it and it really is a situation where he has declared that GST is a post-liquidation debt, and in the circumstances it really results in not enjoying the kind of priority we would hope it would get. As a result of that decision, if debts are owed to the Commonwealth government that money would not come back to the Commonwealth government and the taxpayers’ hands—into consolidated revenue, if you know what I mean. It would really be at the mercy of creditors. The decision there means that hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds could not be taken out of the winding up and given back to consolidated revenue. It is not a revenue debt that gets the priority that it should. It is a strange decision, and I am puzzled how he came to that decision in the circumstance, but I am pleased that we are changing it. In a media announcement in February this year, the Assistant Treasurer made that point.

Many times when companies go belly up the result is debts owed to many people. I strongly believe there should be a priority in relation to taxpayers’ funds so that the integrity of our tax system is maintained and money comes back for redistribution amongst the Australian community. I think there is a need for priority in these cases, so I am pleased to support that. I think it is important and I think that the PMD decision, where it found the liquidators not liable for the GST arising from the transaction occurring during the period of the liquidator’s appointment is simply a wrong decision, and I am pleased we are overturning it. This is changing the GST law, effectively retrospectively backdating it to 1 July 2000 to make sure it has achieved what we think is our objective.

There are other changes I want to talk briefly about—and I will not really go into the bushfire one—particularly the autism changes. Schedule 3 exempts from income tax the assistance we give to families, particularly to those who are struggling with having a child suffering from autism. This was brought home, starkly, to me not long ago at a mobile office I did at Karalee Shopping Centre. A woman came up to me with her 12-year-old daughter, who suffered from autism. She shared with me, with tears in her eyes, the difficulties that she faced with integrating her child into the education system and the difficulties she faced looking after that child. I invited her to a disability forum in Ipswich, where the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services and Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction was present. She came, and very eloquently and passionately, talked about the challenges that she faced and how hard it was for parents. I commend her for doing so, and I could see by the look on people’s faces that she really touched people in that forum at the University of Queensland Ipswich campus last Friday.

Schedule 3 makes changes which are important. The government is contributing a lot of money and assistance to children and families suffering from autism. The Australian government is committing $190 million for four years up to June 2012 to help families under its Helping Children with Autism package. Following diagnosis they can get access to an autism adviser in their state or territory. Schedule 3 exempts from income tax the $2,000 payment which can be given to them if they live in outer regional or remote areas. My electorate of Blair has a very large rural component, so those people who unfortunately have a child who suffers from autism will with this amendment legislation have extra money in their pockets because we are exempting the payment from tax. We are saying to those people, ‘We want to help you.’ We are saying to them, ‘We understand the difficulties that you face every day.’ We want to show a degree of compassion and humanity towards them and help them

Schedule 4 deals with the assistance we are giving in exempting from income tax those payments made under the Continence Aids Payment Scheme. The difficulties of this were brought home to me by my own father’s personal circumstances. He suffers from prostate cancer and cannot walk, he is in a nursing home in south-west Brisbane and his own personal circumstances are very difficult. I applaud the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia who have made much of the need for men’s health to be given a strong focus. Incontinence is often a consequence of the kind of treatment that men absolutely need in the circumstances. I was bewildered and amazed by Catalyst on the ABC recently in relation to this issue which seemed to, by implication, advise men that they really did not have to do much about it in some circumstances.

Men who experience incontinence following their treatment suffer distress, worry, anxiety, embarrassment and shame. Giving men who get, by virtue of this payment scheme, extra dollars in their pocket to help them is really a fair and just thing to do and it is a compassionate and humanitarian thing to do. There is a minister of religion in my community who has talked to me on numerous occasions about the travails and troubles that he personally has experienced in relation to incontinence and I commend him and so many other men in the Ipswich and West Moreton communities for their determination.

There is a Prostate Cancer Foundation support group in my community, Len Lamprecht is the chair, and he does a great job in trying to get men to get their PSA checked, trying to get men to see doctors in the first place and trying to help men who have gone through this process to share their experiences and get counsel and assistance. The changes that we are making in exempting from income tax those payments made under the Continence Aids Payment Scheme is important because men who suffer from these problems need continence products. They need a greater degree of discretion, not simply being told that this is the product that they have to use but income to have the freedom to choose the products that they want to use so that they can live a life of abundance, fulfilment, joy and happiness.

There are other changes in the amendments in this legislation. There is a change in schedule 2 which simply amends the PAYG instalment provisions to address a problem that arose from amendments in the Tax Laws Amendment (Taxation of Financial Arrangements) Act. It is not a particularly big change but it is going to remedy the situation that has arisen by virtue of that amendment bill. There is another change, as I say, in relation to the bushfire situation and I will get on to that in a minute, but schedule 5 does make a change in relation to Commonwealth issued debt to make sure they are exempt from interest withholding tax.

The Assistant Treasurer has on many occasions talked about the fact that we want Australia to be a financial hub. We want investment from overseas. The exemption here will provide Commonwealth debt, state debt and private sector debt with the same kind of exemption from interest withholding tax. It will mean that Commonwealth debentures, effectively Commonwealth issued securities, will be more attractive. It will mean that in all likelihood we will have more people purchasing those investments; it will mean that we treat our Commonwealth government securities as other Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom do, and that is important if we want to make sure that we are a financial hub in Asia and compete with the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore.

The changes in relation to the Bushfire Appeal Fund are sensible. The member for Canning said it overcame bureaucracy, and I agree. There is rigidity and eccentricity in relation to this and it overcomes the problems. It means that money may be expended for allowable purposes, broadening the scope for which the money can be used. It is clear that community projects can be undertaken and local people can effectively have more of a say in what happens with respect to the local reconstruction. I support this legislation. It will make a difference in the life of my community, to individuals in my community and in Victoria as well.

See this speech in context