Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some brief remarks about the Treasury Laws Amendment (Refining and Improving Our Tax System) Bill 2023. In doing so, I would like to draw the chamber's attention to schedule 2, which deals with the Future Fund. The Future Fund is one of the most significant achievements of Australian Liberalism. It has set up a structure which allows for Commonwealth governments to offset the liabilities of public servants' superannuation schemes, which are a significant liability on the Commonwealth. That sort of long-sighted policy is rare in our national life, and it has been well managed over the time.

Of course, one of the quirks of the Future Fund's management is that it's a sovereign wealth fund, and the convention is that sovereign wealth funds don't pay tax. So effectively these changes clarify that, when the fund is investing into certain investments, its subsidiaries also do not pay taxation. Effectively, it puts a level of certainty on the Future Fund's operations, which I think is highly desirable, given the fund's mandate has been expanded by successive governments. It has been expanded, I think, by governments of both persuasions because it has a track record of success and its governance is sound, so it has been entrusted to do more and more things. It has not been afraid to invest into different asset classes, as to which, perhaps, in another time and place, a government agency may not have been so bold.

So providing the certainty on the tax treatment is desirable. That's what this bill does.

I note the long-standing bipartisan support we now have for the Future Fund, and, of course, we hope that, in future, the liabilities are reduced and that there are efforts made to try and improve the long-run budget position, because the Future Fund, of course, can only do so much here. It can only do so much in carrying the burden of our long-term fiscal position.

Now, that is something that has taken the Labor Party some time to arrive at. At various times, I think there have been threats that the Future Fund could be opened up. But my sense is that now there is a political consensus that the idea is sound. So we welcome the government's intervention here to provide this tax certainty for the Future Fund, and we look forward to supporting this bill.