House debates

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Bills

Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019; Second Reading

1:22 pm

Photo of Steve IronsSteve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I'd like to thank those members who have contributed to this debate. The government is committed to supporting research and development in Australia and the economic opportunities and jobs it creates. These reforms are a response to the 2016 review into the incentive, chaired by former Treasury Secretary John Fraser; the then Chair of Innovation Australia Bill Ferris; and Australia's Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel. The changes proposed in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019 will improve the tax incentive's effectiveness as well as the sustainability, integrity and administration of the program. Importantly, the reforms will ensure that the incentive is true to its name, providing an incentive to undertake additional R&D rather than subsidising activity that would have been undertaken anyway. Undertaking these reforms to the incentive will ensure it remains an important part of the government's overall support for R&D in Australia. I commend this bill to the House.

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