Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure you were also working on this bill! A working party was first established back in 1992 to review the regulatory arrangements and professional standards for tax agents. Since that time a broad range of stakeholders have been involved in developing the new regulatory regime in the bill—in fact, I am sure that there is almost nobody who was not consulted, given the bill has been discussed since 1992. This consultation has included practitioners, professional associations, the state tax agent boards and taxpayers. The extent of the engagement of the industry and the broader community is evidenced by the interest generated in the latest consultation—that is, the Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into the bill. Clearly, stakeholder groups are very keen for the bill to be passed and for it to commence as soon as possible. I am sure that is recognition of what I was saying before—that both agents and taxpayers have an incentive to protect the integrity of the tax base, because when some people behave badly and evade their tax, what that ultimately does is increase the pressure on those taxpayers who have behaved ethically and honestly. The ongoing interest in this bill, as demonstrated by the submissions and by some of the passions that have been stirred up, allows us to see that the overwhelming majority of Australians and practitioners want an ethical and professional approach to taxation issues.

The recommendation of the Senate Standing Committee on Economics was that the Senate pass the bill. The committee noted that many of the matters of detail raised in submissions during the inquiry can and ought to be addressed through guidelines, which may be issued by the new board under the bill. The opposition has also separately made known its support for the bill. I would also like to note that the government continues to recognise the value of the views expressed by the members of the industry and the broader community, through consultation, to this new regulatory regime. Indeed, consistent with the government’s approach to consultation, the government last month released the associated transitional provisions and consequential amendments bill for six weeks of public consultation.

As you can see from that six-week consultation period, this is a government that is committed to consulting the sector. It is committed to getting the best possible advice, the best possible evidence, to ensure that it gets this right. This is not a government that is interested in trying to ram bills through. It is a government that has consulted through, firstly, the Senate inquiry, and now a public consultation process. I am sure senators in the chamber today would welcome the fact that on this sensitive but important matter the government is willing to sit down and continue what has been quite lengthy process. As I said, the process has been going since 1992—but we are now right at the final stage.

I look forward to examining the guidelines which the new board will issue. They are going to be a critical step towards ensuring that the shonky practices of some agents that have gone on are stamped out. So I welcome the support of industry for this bill and I welcome the support for the consultation and for the guidelines that are going to be issued—and I am sure that there will be healthy debate, robust debate, on what these guidelines are. To take on board the desire to publish guidelines which will set out the professional standards for tax agents is going to be a challenge, but I am sure the stakeholders involved in this will take up the opportunity to identify what are breaches of the code. They are going to be specifying misconduct. This is not a challenge that should be underestimated. Professional associations take their jobs very seriously and they are going to take this process very seriously. It is important that the parliament have confidence that the professional associations take ethical misconduct seriously, and that is why we will be watching the debate and watching when these guidelines are issued. We want to give support to the new board so that they know that the weight of parliament is behind them, that we are in a situation where they can act with the support of, as it appears, the whole parliament and that all of the differing groups—the government, the opposition and the minor parties—are committed to getting the outcome that this bill deserves.

So the Tax Agent Services Bill 2008 provides significant improvements to the existing regulatory regime. For the agents it provides appropriate, flexible regulation of the provision of taxation services and will improve consistency and registration. For taxpayers, the consumers of tax agent services, it will enhance the protection of those taxpayers, thereby reducing their uncertainty and the risk they face. For the broader system, the bill will strengthen the integrity of the tax system and the tax industry. With the economic pressure that we are currently facing, we need to be able to have confidence that no-one is paying more tax than they need to, and we can ensure that by putting pressure on and driving out of the industry the fly-by-nighters—those who have perhaps less than ethical standards and who promote schemes which are clearly about tax evasion. As I said earlier, everyone else pays when a few smart alecs get to rort the system. So having an industry sector that is committed to driving the shonks out of that system is very, very welcome.

We want to be able to say that these guidelines—this new regulation, this new flexibility—will protect not just the integrity of the tax base but also taxpayers and reputable, ethical agents. That is what is at the heart of this legislation. Senator Coonan has worked on it, many predecessors appear to have worked on it, and it is timely that in a time of economic difficulties we are striving to ensure that the tax burden continues to be reduced where appropriate. That is why it is important that the Henry review continue its work—so that we are in a position where, when we make changes to the tax system, we do not have tax agents out there with the sole intention of creating evasion, because that would undermine the integrity of the tax system. So already we are going through the process of the Henry tax review, which is designed to protect and enhance the integrity of the tax system, and at the same time we have this complementary reform, which has the entire support of the industry and is designed to ensure that the good work being done by the Henry tax review is not undermined from within. That is an important thing, and the industry deserve congratulations on it.

So, Madam Acting Deputy President Troeth—I know you will be barracking for Collingwood on Friday night because you are that sort of fair-minded person and you can share around the premiership cups!—the government is committed to implementing these regulatory reforms to the provision of tax agent services, and I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.