John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I rise today to discuss a disparate collection of issues included in this Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 6) Bill 2021. I must apologise for the chaos of the upcoming speech finding a narrative thread through the topics of renewable energy, industry codes of conduct, superannuation and family law. It's not an easy process. But this is the joy of treasury law amendments. I suppose there is a certain comfort to know that, as the delta variant threatens the world, half our population remains in lockdown and uncertainty is spreading faster than COVID, tweaks to treasury laws continue. That's the ultimate sign that democracy is plugging along; we are reforming processes and making things imperceptibly better. While I'm a fan of vision and broad, sweeping plans for this great nation, we know that it is evolution—not revolution—that provides the most sustainable changes. Consider the Porsche 911, for instance. These amendments today will probably be pushed off the front page by the opening of the Paralympics, but without them this country doesn't work as smoothly or as well in the future.

In these amendments are some really important reforms. Take schedule 2, which protects franchisees against franchisors and ups the penalty from $133,000 for breaches of the code of conduct to a maximum penalty of $500,000. When corporations breach the code, the maximum civil penalty available will be the greater of $10 million, three times the benefit obtained from contravention of the code or 10 per cent of annual turnover. This is not small change. These enhanced penalties are important to combat the significant harm that can be caused to small businesses and franchises by overbearing franchisors. Sufficient penalties allow the ACCC to protect prospective or vulnerable franchisees against exploitative behaviour by franchisors. The last 18 months have brought unprecedented difficulty for our small and medium businesses through bushfire, disease and lockdown. To face pressure from franchisors at this time would be terrible, not to mention unethical. This reform here strengthens the support for small businesses at a time when they need all the support they can get.

Schedule 1 also sounds Byzantine but will offer huge benefits to this country. As has always been the case with renewable energy target schemes, energy retailers and other liable entities are required to surrender large-scale generation to pay a shortfall charge. Should businesses later surrender outstanding certificates within the allowable time frame, they receive a refund of the shortfall charge. This was intended to provide flexibility to help these businesses manage the costs of complying with the scheme. Today, we're ensuring that energy businesses will not be taxed on the amount of shortfall charges refunded. It will cost $70 million over the forward estimates, but for this we will get simplicity in tax treatment, which will encourage investment. This will ensure the market for large-scale generation certificates works as intended, meeting targets for clean energy while minimising costs for consumers.

We know we have a long way to go to ensure we have a fully renewable future. It won't happen by wishful thinking. But we also know that huge leaps have been made in renewable energy sources over the past few decades, many of which—especially in the field of solar panels—have happened here in Australia. We have the technological prowess to curb our emissions strategy, and further breakthroughs are made every day. Outside of the CSIRO, it is not the government that makes these breakthroughs. What we can do here in government is facilitate these breakthroughs and incentivise their adoption. Inventing solar panels and batteries is far more interesting than facilitating the tax laws to incentivise their take-up, but the former is not as successful without the latter. This amendment today is one of the many steps we will take that will never be seen and will never be celebrated but without which this country would not see the climate reforms that we need to see if we're going to succeed in our fight against climate change.

Schedule 5 represents another small change, with huge implications. This schedule implements the improving the visibility of superannuation assets in family law proceedings, a measure that was announced as part of the government's Women's economic security statement 2018. These amendments 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 superannuation information of the other party that is held by the Australian Taxation Office. Parties will then be able to use this information from the ATO to seek superannuation information from their former partner's superannuation fund.

These amendments will make it harder for parties to hide or not disclose their superannuation assets in family law proceedings by reducing the time, cost and complexity for a party seeking information about their former partner's superannuation. Improving the accessibility of superannuation information will support more separated couples to divide their property on a just and equitable basis. This underreporting has been going on for decades and often impacts women more than men, meaning they are locked into financial hardship after they leave a relationship. We also know that financial uncertainty is one of the many factors that can keep women in abusive relationships longer than they should be. These changes will hopefully go some way to alleviating this fear in some cases.

This schedule also goes to a broader problem about women's superannuation. It has been well reported that many women have far less superannuation than men—a product of lower wages and time taken off for family reasons. Separations with inadequate division of superannuation can compound this problem and can lead to real poverty for women in later life. This bill will not solve the problem of women's lower levels of super. That is a massive problem, with resolutions that lie across corporate Australia and in cultural norms about family. But this amendment will provide a small change that will make a start towards evening up this ledger.

Schedule 3 tackles the red tape in superannuation funds, removing the redundant requirement for trustees to obtain an actuarial certificate when calculating exempt current pension income where the fund is fully in the retirement phase and for all the income year. This measure benefits self-managed superannuation funds and small APRA regulated funds.

Finally, schedule 4 will strengthen the industry codes framework and provide legal certainty around the conferring of powers between industry participants. This one sounds particularly arcane, so I'll leave it at that.

What do each of these have in common? Each of these schedules represents a small change against a big problem. None of them will be a total solution, but each of them is a part of an answer. And when these small changes meet others that have happened, and the two come together, big things will happen.

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