Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Your generosity and kindness are renown throughout the land. I know this will be the most important thing we do in this House today, not that the galahs up in level 2 will realise that or the media will report it or that this will lead to television news tonight, but the corporate bond market and the retail segment of it remain critical to the future of Australians, of Australian companies, of Australia's economy and for those Australians who are, at this moment, considering retiring. Too many good ideas in our nation are funded by taxpayers through the university system, through R&D grants and concessions in our tax system, and, just as they are getting ready to become commercially viable and successful ventures, they leave our shores for the primary reason of seeking capital in other countries that have access to risk capital. So, when you look at Atlassian for example, it was funded generously by the Australian taxpayer, but, when the point came when they were to become a successful commercial entity, they had to list on the Nasdaq in North America and then list on the London Stock Exchange. The reason for this is we don't have enough risk capital in Australia. The retail corporate bond market can help fix that problem.

Also, when you look at Australia, we have all the necessary blocks in place to be a major global centre for the bond market: we have a large pool of savings; we have a common law system of justice and governance through our court system that is both well-understood and is not biased or discretionary; and, most of all, we have a large number of skilled workers in this country and well-developed market systems, whether it be the Australian Stock Exchange or other market mechanisms that make bond markets so successful in the rest of the world.

Then, there are the demographics. Too many Australians find themselves having to invest as they get to the age of 55-plus—that's really old, Mr Speaker, as you know! Once you reach 55, that becomes a very old age! At that point you start thinking of retirement, you start thinking of how to live out those twilight years of your life, and it is important at that point in time that you have access to investments that can continue to give you a steady stream of income but do not have the downside of, say, bitcoin or the Australian Stock Exchange. So, it is important that we have these sorts of assets available for those Australians who about to commence their retirement years.

What are the blockages? Given that we are so well set up for these things, the blockages are all in the regulators. There is a form of tax that needs to be reformed by this parliament, but ASIC's active disinterest and discouragement in a retail corporate bond market, I think, verges on a derogation of their duty, and Treasury's inability and refusal to look at this area is extremely disappointing and a disservice to the Australian people.

When you look across the ditch in New Zealand, they undertook the reforms that our report is advocating. New Zealand, a much smaller nation than ours and without the structural advantages that our economy has, has a larger, broader, deeper, more liquid bond market than Australia does. This is unacceptable, at any level.

Finally, the chance for us to make this work is long overdue. It gives new meaning to the word 'urgent'.

I would like to thank the secretariat for all their help and assistance on this, especially during COVID when all of the hearings were done online. I'd like to thank the member for Kingsford Smith who came up with a catchy title to this report, which I know will live on long after I've stopped speaking, and, most of all, I would like to thank the parliament for making this investigation possible.

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