Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to be introducing this supporting bill, the Radiocommunications (Transmitter Licence Tax) Amendment Bill 2020, as part of the government's spectrum management reforms.

This bill is a companion bill to the Radiocommunications Legislation Amendment (Reform and Modernisation) Bill 2020. That bill extends the maximum licence terms for apparatus licences (including transmitter licences) and spectrum licences to 20 years.

As a consequence of those amendments, this bill seeks to align some of the arrangements for the payments licensees make for the value of the spectrum that they use under their licences. The Radiocommunications (Transmitter Licence Tax) Act 1983 provides the licensees of a transmitter licence of more than 12 months duration with a choice in whether tax is imposed as a full amount on their licence being issued, or as annual instalment payments. In comparison, the arrangements for spectrum licensees include paying a spectrum access charge at a time specified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Recognising that long-term, high-value transmitter licences would become more available under the government's spectrum management reforms, the amendments in this bill will enable ACMA to determine whether the holder of specified classes of transmitter licences pay tax upfront or in annual instalments. This will include ACMA being able to specify that all licences for a particular use or of a particular duration need to pay upfront, consistent with general practice for spectrum licences, to avoid causing a distortion in the demand for different licence types.

These amendments will only apply to licences issued after commencement, and will not make changes to how the amount of tax that licensees pay for their licence will be calculated.

The amendments in this bill will support the reforms of spectrum management proposed by the Radiocommunications Legislation Amendment (Reform and Modernisation) Bill 2020, to provide for a more flexible framework for a longer-term investment horizon.

Debate adjourned.

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