Gladys Liu (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 6) Bill 2021. This bill implements a number of streamlining and integrity measures across a range of areas.

Schedule 1 to the bill amends the income tax law to ensure that no tax is payable on refunds of large-scale generation certificate shortfall charges. This will clarify the operation of the tax treatment of such charges and ensure the market for large-scale generation certificates works as intended, meeting targets for clean energy while minimising costs for consumers.

Schedule 2 to the bill will establish a more effective enforcement regime to encourage greater compliance with industry codes of conduct. In recent times especially we have seen instances of really bad behaviour from a range of large multinational franchisors. Appropriate penalties in the franchising code are necessary to provide a strong deterrent against breaches of the code across the franchising sector, and this bill will increase the maximum civil pecuniary penalty amount from 300 to 600 penalty units.

Schedule 3 will remove a redundant requirement for superannuation trustees to obtain an actuarial certificate when calculating exempt current pension income, where all members of the fund are fully in retirement phase for the entire income year. This delivers on the Morrison government's commitment in the 2019 budget to reduce red tape and cost for affected funds in this way.

Schedule 4 of the bill will amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to strengthen the industry codes framework and provide legal certainty that industry codes of conduct can confer powers and functions on third parties to the commercial relationship between industry participants. This will reduce legal risks for the Commonwealth and will address unintended ambiguity.

All of these measures are important; however, schedule 5 of this bill really caught my attention. Should it pass the parliament, this part of the bill will have the effect of improving the visibility of superannuation assets during family law proceedings. This measure was announced as part of the government's Women's Economic Security Statement in 2018 and will provide the legislative basis for an information-sharing mechanism to allow separated couples undergoing family law proceedings to apply to the Family Court registries to request the superannuation information of the other party held by the ATO. This amendment will make it harder for parties to hide or underdisclose their superannuation assets in family law proceedings.

Divorce is a traumatic time for many Australians. I know this personally and all too well. Separation is hard enough without even taking into account the financial aspects of it. When the issues of money and family become intertwined, it can be unbearable and have wide-reaching and unintended consequences, including on children. It is a truly awful time in one's life, and this measure will make it just a little bit easier by reducing the time, cost and complexity for parties seeking information about their former partner's superannuation and by helping separated couples to divide their property on a just and equitable basis. I believe it is a significant step forward in alleviating the financial hardship and negative impact on retirement incomes that women, in particular, can experience after separation. This government has promised to deliver for Australian women, and this is a sensible move in the right direction. So I commend this bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.

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