Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 52 standing in my name today proposing the establishment of a select committee on new taxes.

Leave granted.

I amend the motion by adding after paragraph (11) the following:

(12)

That the committee provide an interim report by 8 June 2011.

I ask that the amended notion be taken as formal.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there any objection to the motion as amended being taken as formal? There being no objection, I call Senator Cormann.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move the motion as amended:

(1)

That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on New Taxes, be appointed to inquire into and report by 30 November 2011, on the following matters:

(a)

new taxes proposed for Australia, including:

(i)

the minerals resource rent tax and expanded petroleum resource rent tax,

(ii)

a carbon tax, or any other mechanism to put a price on carbon, and

(iii)

any other new taxes proposed by Government, including significant changes to existing tax arrangements;

(b)

the short and long term impact of those new taxes on the economy, industry, trade, jobs, investment, the cost of living, electricity prices and the Federation;

(c)

estimated revenue from those new taxes and any related spending commitments;

(d)

the likely effectiveness of these taxes and related policies in achieving their stated policy objectives;

(e)

any administrative implementation issues at a Commonwealth, state and territory level;

(f)

an international comparison of relevant taxation arrangements;

(g)

alternatives to any proposed new taxes, including direct action alternatives; and

(h)

any other related matter.

(2)

That the committee consist of 7 senators, 2 nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, 4 nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and 1 nominated by any minority group or independent senator.

(3)

That:

(a)

participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator;

(b)

participating members may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee; and

(c)

a participating member shall be taken to be a member of the committee for the purpose of forming a quorum of the committee if a majority of members of the committee is not present.

(4)

That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that not all members have been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

(5)

That the committee elect an Opposition member as its chair.

(6)

That the chair of the committee may, from time to time, appoint another member of the committee to be deputy chair of the committee, and that the member so appointed act as chair at any time when there is no chair or the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee.

(7)

That, in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.

(8)

That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 4 or more of its members and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to examine.

(9)

That the committee and any subcommittee have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives, and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings, the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(10)

That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President.

(11)

That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such documents and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.

(12)

That the committee provide an interim report by 8 June 2011.

Question agreed to.

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to the motion, I note that the government opposed the motion. However, we recognise that the coalition had the support of Senator Xenophon and therefore had the majority. So we did not seek a division.