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

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens will also support this bill. We've all had the chance in here to reflect on the truly heroic efforts of volunteer firefighters and the sacrifices that they've made, including, tragically, for some, the ultimate sacrifice. Making payments to volunteer firefighters tax-exempt is a simple and logical thing to do that will provide a little bit of extra support for the brave men and women who have given us so much.

The Greens also support the granting of deductable gift recipient status to the Australian Volunteer Support Trust and the Community Rebuilding Initiative. The Greens acknowledge the efforts of the Business Council of Australia in having established these trusts so quickly, in encouraging the business community to donate and in directing donations to families of people who have died or been seriously injured and to communities who face the enormous task of rebuilding in the face of these devastating fires.

I also wanted to just quickly put on record that I hope the Business Council of Australia's concern for bushfire victims, and the victims of future disasters, will signal a shift in their policies and their rhetoric around climate change. Right now, the Business Council of Australia are amongst the most powerful forces in this country, and in this place, stopping climate action. This summer's bushfires are the direct result of climate change. The evidence is clear and undisputable. So, and I say this genuinely, if the Business Council really care about the victims of bushfires and of other natural disasters that we know are being exacerbated by climate change—and I suspect many of their members do care deeply about these issues—the most effective thing they can do now is support phasing out fossil fuels as quickly as possible. They say they support a price on carbon, but then opposed a successful one that was legislated in this place by the Greens in the previous Gillard Labor government. They've cheered as loudly as anyone when the political wrecking ball that was Tony Abbott repealed the carbon tax. And, not content with having knocked out a first-class carbon price and a clean energy package, they waged war against the Turnbull government's fourth-rate National Energy Guarantee, calling for a 45 per cent reduction in CO2 by 2030 and labelled it as 'economy wrecking'—a catchphrase that quickly caught on with many on the other side of this chamber.

So the Greens hope that the establishment of the Australian Volunteer Support Trust and the Community Rebuilding Trust are signs that the BCA recognises that we are in a climate emergency and that we need to take action now to completely transition our economy to being 100 per cent renewable. In fact, we'd love to see a public declaration from the Business Council of Australia to that effect. I think that would be greatly appreciated by many in the Australian community, as well as their efforts to quickly get these initiatives up and running. I certainly hope that especially the executives in the fossil fuel companies that are members of the BCA share the sentiments that many Australians share—that what we're seeing now is devastating, that the impacts have been devastating and all-pervading through communities right around Australia, whether they be directly impacted or whether they be witnessing this, and that we are likely to see a future of more extreme weather events, more tragedies and more catastrophes if we don't make the transition as quickly as possible, listen to the science and get out of coal, oil and gas.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank all senators for their contribution to the debate and for their support. This bushfire season Australia has faced devastating fires which have disrupted the lives of communities around the nation. The government is supporting volunteer firefighters involved in the firefighting effort as well as ensuring that communities and businesses affected by the bushfires can get back up and running as soon as possible. The government is making the support tax free.

On 29 December 2019, the Prime Minister announced that the payments being made to eligible volunteer firefighters will be free from tax. Further to that, given the exceptional circumstances of these bushfires, on 8 January 2020 the government announced that the disaster payments in response to the 2019-20 bushfires will be free from tax. Schedule 1 to the bill gives effect to the announced tax treatment. Schedule 2 to the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to include the Australian Volunteer Support Trust and the Community Rebuilding Trust on the list of deductible gift recipients. Deductible gift recipient status allows members of the public to receive income tax deductions for gifts of $2 or more made to these organisations.

I want to thank the opposition and other senators for their constructive engagement on this important bill and their support for its swift passage through parliament. I commend it to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.