Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to sum up the debate of the Commonwealth Entities (Payment Surcharges) Bill 2024, the Commonwealth Entities (Payment Surcharges) Tax (Imposition) Bill 2024 and the Commonwealth Entities (Payment Surcharges) (Consequential Provisions and Other Matters) Bill 2024. I thank those members who've contributed to this debate. These three bills formalise longstanding Commonwealth practices by providing express, modernised and consistent legislative authority for Commonwealth entities to continue to charge and collect payments surcharges where the entity has legislative authority to collect a payment.

The package of bills does not impose new surcharges on those interacting with the Commonwealth but instead formalises the existing practices of Commonwealth entities under a new, modernised whole-of-government framework. To that end, the bills authorise the collection of surcharges by Commonwealth entities from 1 January 2003 to align with when the Reserve Bank of Australia first regulated payment surcharging as part of the then broader payments reforms. The bills will also enable the responsible minister to make Commonwealth surcharging policies by legislative instrument, to support moving forward a consistent whole-of-government approach to surcharging, including ensuring that any surcharging is applied on a cost recovery basis only. This will also facilitate adoption of any changes to whole-of-government surcharging policy by Commonwealth entities quickly and efficiently.

This package of bills supports the government's broader commitment to reviewing and reforming the imposition of card payment surcharges. The government is prepared to permanently ban all surcharges on debit cards from 1 January 2026, subject to further work by the Reserve Bank of Australia and safeguards to ensure both small business and consumers can benefit from lower costs. While the Reserve Bank of Australia completes its important work on the surcharging review on how payment fees can be reduced economy wide, we will stop passing on debit surcharges from the Australian Taxation Office and Services Australia from 1 January 2025. I commend these bills to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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