Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, in relation to the questions about how the Australia-US free trade agreement works in the other direction, I think that well and truly takes us beyond the scope of this bill. In an abundance of helpfulness, I will seek to obtain the information, but I might have to provide that information outside the context of this debate.

As I have already indicated in answer to a question by Senator Wong, the government is not intending and does not propose to reopen any of the existing free trade agreements that we have with various countries around the world. The specific factual question that he is asking me there—about the matter relating to the trade relationship between Australia and the US—I will have to refer to Minister Robb. But it is, of course, not relevant to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 that we are dealing with here.

Will there be additional resources? Yes, there will be. This is all reported in the budget, so it is public information. This is not new information. It is openly and transparently out in the public domain. The government has allocated 10 to 15 additional staffing positions to Treasury for this purpose and about 50 to 60 additional staffing positions to the Australian Taxation Office in order to manage these arrangements.

In relation to the other matters that he has raised, these are matters, obviously, for the Treasurer to consider and to make comment on if that is warranted. It is not, again, directly relevant to this legislation and I am not proposing to go there today.