Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 7) Bill 2011. In doing so I will outline that there are nine schedules to this bill. The bill is a very significant piece of legislation and I am pleased to see that the opposition supports it. The schedule that I would like to particularly comment on is schedule 1, which relates to disability trusts. When disability trusts were established I do not think that proper mechanisms were put in place. Schedule 1 removes the income tax barriers that impede families from making financial contributions to disability trusts. These changes include extending the capital gains tax main residence exemption to SDTs and provide a CGT exemption for assets transferred into the special disability trust for no consideration. By removing these barriers, special disability trusts become more attractive for families looking to provide long-term care for family members with severe disabilities. In my electorate, I have been working with a constituent who had set up a special disability trust to care for her disabled son and who had made her other son the trustee in charge of this special disability trust. The more she looked at it the more she found that it would not work and would have enormous implications for his financial security into the future. Therefore, it was not achieving what she wanted for her son with a disability. I would like to put on record my thanks to the minister for this change that he has made to schedule 1. It will benefit a number of families throughout Australia. I commend the legislation to the House.

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