Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the range of measures contained in the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 5) Bill 2009. Mr Deputy Speaker Andrews, I know you are particularly interested in this legislation. The bill implements a number of improvements to Australian tax law. I will move quickly through the first few amendments, which are largely to close loopholes and address unintended consequences in our tax system. I will then discuss the amendments which will have a real and direct impact on all Australians and on some special sectors that I am particularly sympathetic to—and that I think member for Werriwa will be particularly interested in, in light of his earlier comments about autism.

Firstly, this bill retrospectively amends GST law to ensure that a representative of a failed company is liable for GST transactions. In December last year, the Federal Court determined, in Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v PM Developments Pty Ltd, that a liquidator is not liable for the GST on transactions that occur during the liquidator’s appointment. The court said that the GST liability is with the company in liquidation. The court decision is at odds with the policy and administration of tax law since July 2000 and it puts at risk around $655 million of GST revenue. The bill amends the GST law from 1 July 2000 to ensure that the law achieves what was intended and what is logical. The change to the law will not affect taxpayers but will protect the government’s GST revenue. Obviously incapacitated companies would generally be unable to pay GST. The intention of the law has always been that liquidators are liable for the GST collected during the period of their appointment.

Secondly, this bill reverses the changes to the PAYG instalments system. It overturns recent changes to the taxation of financial arrangements which had the unintended consequence of potentially reducing PAYG instalments paid. These amendments address this unintended outcome. The government will develop a more appropriate method for dealing with PAYG and TOFA in consultation with industry. The bill also amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to extend eligibility for exemption from interest withholding tax to debt issued by the Commonwealth.

This brings me to the aspects of the bill that will improve tax outcomes for some Australians, many of whom, I imagine, are doing it particularly tough. As the member for Werriwa said, people are often going to face extra costs if they have a child with autism. This first measure will deliver a better outcome for regional and remote Australian families who have a child with autism spectrum disorder. I declare a particular interest in that my great-nephews Leroy and Jamie Doran, from Roxby Downs in South Australia, and their parents Christine and Sean Doran; Christine is my niece. I am sure that Leroy and Jamie will be particularly keen to look at Hansard and see their names mentioned. They are the closest I have come to family members with autism, although in my 11 years as a school teacher I definitely taught kids with autism. Perhaps, early on, kids were not diagnosed because the DSM-IV, as I think it then was, did not list autism spectrum disorder and it was not as well-known, certainly in the teaching area.

The bill before the House will exempt payments made under the Helping Children with Autism package from income-tax. The payments help families access early intervention and education services for children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. It is important to exclude these payments from income tax to ensure that these families receive the full benefit for their children. It also ensures that they will not receive an unexpected tax bill when they lodge their return.

In a similar way, this bill also supports those who receive payments under the Continence Aids Payment Scheme. This bill will ensure that payments made under this scheme are exempt from income tax. This scheme helps individuals with the costs of continence products and ensures recipients have the flexibility they need to choose the products that suit them best. In a former life as a health adviser I had quite a lot to do with the medical aid subsidy scheme, which is the state-based equivalent of this. It is amazing how a little bit of support can change someone’s life, provide dignity and allow them to be a member of the mainstream community with just a little bit of help and support. With an ageing society this will become even more of a problem. I note that the first baby boomers will be retiring next year; they will be hitting 65 years. I think I am either at the end of the baby boomers or at the start of the next generation. We need to do what we can to ensure that as many people as possible have dignity when it comes to incontinence.

Finally, this bill ensures that the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund Independent Advisory Panel has greater scope to support rebuilding efforts. Currently the panel is doing great work but is limited to spending appeal funds in a way that is restricted to what the law considers charitable—based on the legal precedents on the definition of charity from cases under tax law. The Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund Independent Advisory Panel and all charitable organisations need to adhere to these strict criteria when administering appeal funds, to uphold the integrity of the system. However, the Victorian bushfires were unprecedented in their damage and devastation and the panel needs greater flexibility to adequately support affected communities. This bill will allow the Red Cross to transfer donations to the appeal fund without losing its charitable status. As a Red Cross convener, a regular Red Cross blood donor and having close connections with the Australian Red Cross—its CEO, Robert Tickner, is a respected former member of this House and its General Manager, International Operations, Donna McSkimming, happens to be my cousin, this is just a coincidence—I am very supportive of this initiative to make sure that the Red Cross is able to do as much as possible in the areas affected by the Victorian bushfires. This bill will allow the funds in the appeal fund to be used for a broader range of purposes and will also ensure that charitable donations are used appropriately.

These allowable purposes include any purpose that is currently allowed under the Australian disaster relief category, any public benefit purpose that meets certain criteria and other allowable purposes, including: providing long-term assistance to orphan minors; reimbursing individuals or organisations who have paid for disaster relief or public benefit activities; providing support to individuals who have lived in transitional housing because of the bushfires; and assisting individuals who are primary producers. The appeal fund will be able to make grants of up to $10,000 to farmers to repair their farms. The appeal fund will also be able to provide assistance to families whose owner-occupied principal residence has been destroyed or damaged.

I can still recall my disbelief at the magnitude of the destruction I saw, safely in Queensland, as I watched footage of the Victorian bushfires beamed into my lounge room in February this year. I am sure that you as a Victorian, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker Andrews, would have experienced the horror so much more. The Red Cross bushfire appeal fund raised more than $380 million to support individuals and communities in towns and suburbs affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires. It showed that all Australians are able to dig into our pockets when times are tough. The Victorian bushfire appeal fund independent advisory panel has done a remarkable job in helping to rebuild communities and will do much more. Obviously there is much more to be done. This bill will ensure that they can do what needs to be done while ensuring the integrity of the charitable donations that have been received through the Red Cross.

On a related note, I want to thank the Assistant Treasurer for his efforts to ensure that donations made to support relief efforts following the typhoon in Taiwan are tax deductible. I know you have a particular interest in that country. I know the Taiwanese community in my electorate have given generously to this relief effort, and tax-deductible donations ensure that this generosity goes that bit further. I support the range of the amendments in this bill and commend it to the House.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 5) Bill 2009. While there are a number of provisions being put forward in this legislation, such as clarifying the GST law and extending the exemption on interest withholding tax to debt issued by the Commonwealth, today I want to give particular focus, as other speakers have, to the amendments made in relation to the Helping Children with Autism package. Why? Because it is a program I advocated and supported in government and one that makes a considerable difference in addressing the special developmental needs of autistic children, supporting their families and reinforcing the proven fact that early intervention produces the best possible outcome for diagnosis in children. It cannot be stressed enough that early intervention is crucial to children with this autism condition.

As we have heard, this legislation makes tax-free the outer regional and remote payment under the Helping Children with Autism package. This one-off $2,000 payment assists families living in regional areas to manage the additional costs of accessing early intervention services, including travel and accommodation. Schedule 3 makes payments made under the package exempt from income tax, applying retrospectively to payments made in the last financial year. This is an important amendment and one that makes the difficult lives of our families coping with a child with autism slightly easier. I must at this point point out why this is important. In the past autism has not received the attention it should have because it was a not recognised as a syndrome but more as a condition and it did not get the funding or attention it deserved. This is actually promoting it to the status it should have.

The Helping Children with Autism package was an important coalition initiative and it is not surprising the Rudd government had the sense to carry it on. Autism is not a partisan issue, as we have heard here this morning. It is about giving children the best opportunities, addressing their special needs and supporting the different developmental needs. No party at all has a trademark on this epidemic. It is a national issue that needs national support. Autism spectrum disorders include autism, obviously, Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder. It is characterised by impaired social skills, poor communication and restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests. The distress of parents realising these early signs is heartbreaking.

Autism has grown to astonishing levels in the last 15 years. Around one in 160 children in Australia are now diagnosed with some level of autism spectrum disorder. An American bureau of statistics study showed that autism has increased by 870 per cent in the last 10 years. Parents of children with autism face immense challenges. Aside from the care of their child, the resulting stress is enormous, and studies show that up to 80 per cent of marriages where there is an autistic child fail. I myself have seen many times the pressure it puts on marriages and relationships. Unfortunately, there is no cure, so we must continue to invest in support and research to make sure families and children cope the best they can.

At the cornerstone of the package is, as I said, early intervention. Funding to assist children up to the age of six and their families gain access to better support, education and early intervention services is crucial. Autism-specific playgroups encourage learning and development, and childhood autism advisers help families find the best services to meet the needs of their particular child. Assistance is also provided in the form of Medicare funded services to diagnose autism; workshops and information sessions for parents with school-age children with autism; and professional development for teachers, schools and staff. It is so important that teachers, schools and staff are now getting workshops to help them cope. They play a vital role.

Securing additional services to assist autistic children has long been on my agenda. It was as a special needs teacher at a school in Perth, the Gladys Newton School in Balga, that I saw firsthand the impact autism has on children and their families and the difficulty many children have in coping in everyday surroundings. In fact, as a young school teacher at the Gladys Newton School my first impressions of autism—I can picture him now, one autistic boy—were that it was quite strange; I had never seen anything like it before. My heart went out to that boy’s mother in those days because I knew the difficulty she was having. She had just been abandoned by her husband as a result of the stress placed on their marriage.

Over a number of years I have supported a group in my electorate of Canning called the Unique Group of Mothers, a support group of families with autistic children. I will take this opportunity to talk about my friend Dermott Barnard, who adopted me through the Adopt a Politician scheme. Dermott is now 11 and was diagnosed with autism at three. In fact, if this program had been in place he might have been diagnosed much earlier. Since then, his mother, Lynne, has battled to make sure that her son’s needs are met. Most of the time she must feel as though it is a constant uphill battle but you never hear her complain. In fact, Lynne is a very brave and courageous lady.

I do not want to go into all the details, but Lynne has suffered so much sickness and ill health herself that we thought we had lost her several times. I suspect what keeps her going is the fact that she needs to care for Dermott and his sister. She has had constant surgery, including muscle transplants. As a single mother—who by the way is fighting to get family payments from her ex-partner—she really does it hard. I know what a tough and strong lady she is and I congratulate her for fighting through all this.

Dermott’s autism is relatively severe and, like many autistic children, he has several other conditions. He has dysphagia, intellectual disability, asthma, serious behavioural problems, as well as epilepsy. I have not caught up with Dermott as often as I should but I have watched him grow up over the years. Dermott is great with electronics, putting things together and taking them apart. That is part of his repetitive behaviour. We actually sat down and set up a car track and a computer together. Lynne does an outstanding job of coping as a single mother, as I have said. Obviously, Dermott’s condition puts great strain on her. Just to make matters more difficult, along with her poor health of late, she also has a younger daughter who suffers from several conditions herself. So she has two children with huge issues.

Lynne has fought battle after battle but always puts a smile on her face. There have been ongoing clashes over Dermott’s entitlement, for example, to aid time at school, and I am pleased to say that I have been able to help. Ensuring that Dermott has adequate and intensive support at school is imperative to his progress. Dermott requires assistance in the classroom and supervision due to fears for his safety. He requires monitoring at mealtimes, because if he did not have that he would choke because he has trouble swallowing, and at bathroom breaks

Lynne was among the thousands of parents who welcomed the program, particularly relating to early intervention. At the time, she said:

It’s a great package because it is designed to integrate autistic children into general schools and programs. We don’t want to return to the days of ‘special’ centres.

In fact, it is not that long ago that they used to call the centres for these children ‘slow-learning centres’, and they were isolated from the rest of the school population. Now they are integrated into the school program, as they should be because it helps their development progress and it also helps the other children in the classroom to show compassion and understanding for children less fortunate than themselves.

The sooner a diagnosis is made the sooner early intervention can get underway, so this program is outstanding. In Perth, a new early-learning and care centre for children with autism spectrum disorder is underway. In a partnership with the Autism Association of Western Australia, Curtin University and Jellybeans Child Care Centres, the centre will be staffed by trained professionals and will help children to develop structured social skills. In turn, this will give them confidence and make the transition to school significantly easier. These centres will also provide parents with greater peace of mind and support and will leave them feeling less isolated and frustrated.

One of the things that have not been addressed yet, and I know that parents are desperate for it, is respite care. The ability to organise respite care at short notice is crucial to these parents. If you book a child in for, say, a fortnight’s time that is one thing, but when the parent or the carer is absolutely at their wit’s end they need immediate respite. We have heard of tragedies in this country where some parents have not coped and they have done away with their child. It is a fact of life and it is very sad. That is why they need emergency respite. That is not being done yet but, hopefully, this is something we can build on after this program is initiated.

There is a lot more I could say about this issue but I will move on. I briefly note a couple of other important provisions in this legislation. Giving greater flexibility to the distribution of Victorian bushfire appeal funds can only help the rebuilding process. Schedule 6 of the bill allows the Victorian Bushfires Appeal Fund to use donations in ways that would not generally be deemed as being for a charitable purpose. The amendment means that the Australian Red Cross Society will not risk losing its charitable status as a result of undertaking this wider variety of work. This is a practical amendment and it makes sense. When it comes to rebuilding towns, you are  basically starting from scratch. People have donated money for this purpose and agencies should not be restricted by bureaucratic red tape. No-one can question the motives behind this amendment to give long-term assistance to orphans, provide assistance to individuals whose homes were destroyed by bushfires, provide up to $15,000 to individuals living in transitional housing and provide up to $10,000 in financial assistance to primary producers. I am sure that many Canning schoolchildren and families who generously donated to the appeal would support their money going to any of those purposes.

This past weekend I was in Dwellingup to celebrate the centenary of the pegging of the town. I mention this because the devastating Dwellingup fires of 1961 virtually destroyed the town and brought its thriving timber and milling industry to a complete standstill. Everything was burnt to the ground except—can you believe it?—the local pub. As I understand it, this happened in Marysville or one of those towns recently. As I said on the weekend, somebody has a rare sense of priority.

For Dwellingup residents the memories of the fires remain, and they sympathise with the victims of the Victorian fires. Out of the ashes of Dwellingup they banded together and started again. The fires burnt out 1.8 million hectares and 160 buildings and cost $35 million in lost homes, businesses and livestock. Today Dwellingup is a picturesque town which thrives on being a very enviable destination for tourists, so it has moved from being a timber town. It still has a couple of smaller boutique timber mills, but it is moving towards being a tourism town, including for ecotourism.

Finally, I am pleased that the legislation also provides an income tax exemption for payments made under the Continence Aids Payment Scheme. The coalition invested heavily in the program, doubling it in 2007, because it provides financial support at a basic level for thousands of Australians with incontinence due to neurological conditions, such as paraplegia, multiple sclerosis or spina bifida, and also the parents of disabled children. Incontinence has physical, social and economic ramifications for people of all ages, for carers and for the community as a whole. I want to mention a certain multiple sclerosis sufferer, athlete et cetera. I particularly want to mention the MS Society champion Betty Cuthbert, who lives in my electorate. I know that she has been a big advocate for this scheme because it has been extremely expensive and her carer has come to me on a number of occasions regarding the incontinence pad situation for Betty. With all that, I commend the bill to this House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank those members who have contributed to the debate on the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 5) Bill 2009. Schedule 1, the GST and representatives of incapacitated entities measure, will protect GST revenue in the light of the Federal Court decision which found that the representatives of an incapacitated entity are not liable for the GST consequences that arise during their appointment. This measure will amend the GST law with effect from 1 July 2000 to restore the policy intent stated in the explanatory memorandum to the law introducing the GST. In particular, it will ensure that the representatives of incapacitated entities are liable for GST on postappointment transactions that are within the scope of their authority. This measure will also address the uncertainty faced by insolvency practitioners in the application of the law following the Federal Court decision.

Schedule 2 amends the Pay-As-You-Go instalment provisions to address unintended consequences arising out of the amendments to those provisions contained in the Tax Laws Amendment (Taxation of Financial Arrangements) Act 2009, the TOFA Act. Consultation on a more appropriate method for dealing with the interactions between the Pay-As-You-Go instalment system and the TOFA Act will be undertaken.

Schedule 3 exempts from income tax the outer regional and remote payment made under the Helping Children with Autism package. This is a payment of $2,000 to assist parents of children with a diagnosis of autism who live in outer regional and remote Australian areas to be able to access services which might not be present in their immediate vicinity by assistance with costs. This exemption will ensure and provide the recipients of this payment with certainty as to the tax status of these payments. The payments, as I said, are for families with children and are to assist with their costs, not create circumstances where they have to pay tax.

The Helping Children with Autism package is the first attempt by any federal government to fund early intervention services for children diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s syndrome along the spectrum. We know that early intervention and quality therapies provided by psychologists, occupational therapists and speech therapists can improve a child’s wellbeing and their ability to benefit from learning and education throughout the course of their schooling life. As members would realise, raising a child with an ASD is a challenging and often isolating experience for parents. I am pleased to say the package has helped 4,104 families with the cost of therapies and 460 of those are living in regional and remote areas. The payment acknowledges the difficulties that families can face when there are not the qualified health professionals available in remote and outer regional Australia.

Schedule 4 exempts from income tax the payments made under the Continence Aids Payment Scheme. These payments assist eligible recipients with permanent and severe incontinence to meet some of the costs of their continence products and allow recipients greater choice in the range of products. This replaces the existing Continence Aids Assistance Scheme, which currently provides subsidised continence products to eligible recipients. Providing an income tax exemption for the receipt of this payment will ensure that no recipients are disadvantaged under the new scheme. Schedule 5 will help improve the neutrality of the tax system and bring Australia’s tax treatment of Commonwealth government securities into line with the treatment of government securities in other nations by the removal of interest-withholding tax on Commonwealth government securities. This important measure will increase the attractiveness of Commonwealth government securities in global financial markets.

Finally, as we all know, after the Victorian bushfires devastated communities on 7 February—and there were other fires in that month—a joint appeal fund was established by the Australian Red Cross Society, supported by the Victorian government and the federal government, to help fire affected communities. I am pleased to say the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund has received donations in excess of $386 million. Recognising the extraordinary and tragic circumstances and the quite remarkable and unprecedented generosity of Australians and indeed people from overseas, the amendments in schedule 6 permit the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund independent advisory panel to use the donations in the fund for a broader range of purposes than the tax law traditionally considers charitable, without jeopardising the charitable status of the Red Cross.

As I have said, the February bushfires generated a wave of generosity almost unprecedented in Australian history. I believe, through working with the bushfire appeal fund directly in my responsibilities as Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction, that those who gave to the fund—and this is in excess of 600,000 people—had an expectation their donations could be used to help all of those genuinely in need as a result of the fires. These changes will allow the fund to fund a wider range of community projects and broaden the number of people eligible for assistance. Some of the changes which have been underway since the minister announced these amendments have seen farmers being able to receive payments for fencing and seen destroyed community projects and community infrastructure able to be replaced with funds from the Red Cross.

These changes have been requested by the fund, first chaired by former Governor Landy and now chaired by Mr Patrick McNamara, former Deputy Premier of Victoria. The fund has done a great job. In fact, it has done an exceptional job in wisely distributing the donations it has received. I place on record my congratulations to all the directors of the fund. The allowable purposes for which donations made may be expended are, however, restricted to provide assurance to donors that their charitable gifts will be used appropriately. I commend this bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.