Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Capital markets in Australia need to be reformed. The Australian stock exchange is rigged to suit the big end of town, insiders and foreign investors. I call on the federal government to make three changes that will level the playing field with regard to ensuring that the risk-reward paradigm is upheld. The first of these is to stop the 15 per cent accelerated capital raising rules. These rules allow company executives to issue up to 15 per cent of the company's capital in new shares at a substantial discount to their insider mates. Existing shareholders who aren't a part of the insiders club miss out on their equitable entitlement. The second is to remove the rules that say foreign investors in shares don't have to pay capital gains tax. How can the government justify given foreigners a capital gains tax break when low-income Australians have to pay tax on their wages? The third is to reintroduce the stamp duty of 1.5 per cent to remove speculators from the market. Many of these speculators are foreign owned, have access to vast sums of capital to manipulate the share price and often engage in naked short-selling to sell down before a capital raising. The funds raised by the stamp duty levy could be used to abolish payroll tax, reduce red tape and make Australian companies more competitive.