Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will support this bill. Labor's priority has always been to ensure the right support and assistance is provided to bushfire affected communities. As the leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, has consistently said, 'Labor stands ready to provide bipartisan support to the government to measures that will help these impacted communities and to ensure expedited passage of appropriate legislation for these measures through this place.' The bill before the Senate now is one example of that appropriate legislation.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2019-20 Bushfire Tax Assistance) Bill 2020 ensures that all relief and recovery payments and benefits provided by the Australian government in relation to the bushfires are exempt from tax. This includes the Disaster Recovery Allowance and payments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The bill will also ensure that payments provided to compensate for the loss of income for volunteer firefighters are tax-exempt. This will apply for those who are self-employed or work for small and medium businesses and who have been called out for more than 10 days. As announced by the Prime Minister late last year, these payments are meant to provide for lost income of up to $300 per day, for a total of $6,000 per person. This recognises the extraordinary and exemplary work that these volunteers have undertaken in the last few months.

The bill will also provide deductable gift recipient status to two trusts: the Australian Volunteer Support Trust, which will support families of volunteers who have died fighting these bushfires and in future disasters, and the Community Rebuilding Initiative, which is aimed at helping businesses and communities impacted by the bushfires. I recommend the bill to the Senate.