Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I thank those members who've contributed to this debate. I haven't had the opportunity to listen to all contributions, but I have had the benefit of listening to the last two speakers and to think deeply about the issues that they've raised in the course of this debate—more of that later.

Schedule 1 of the bill, just to remind members, amends the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to expand the application of promoter penalty laws, to increase the maximum penalty amounts and to extend the time the Commissioner of Taxation has to bring civil penalty proceedings to the Federal Court of Australia for the promotion of tax exploitation schemes. As members would know, this measure improves the ability of the tax office to target tax promoters. It ensures promoters face material consequences for their actions, deterring them from promoting tax exploitation schemes and protecting their clients from the risk of tax shortfalls, penalties and interests.

Schedule 2 extends the tax whistleblower protections in the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to whistleblowers who wish to disclose information to the Tax Practitioners Board, where they believe the information may assist that board to perform its functions and duties under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. It also expands the scope of professional assistance available to whistleblowers in making a disclosure and aligns the burden-of-proof requirements with those contained within the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013. Together, the amendments will ensure that whistleblowers can disclose potential misconduct to the Tax Practitioners Board, which will strengthen integrity within the regulatory frameworks and systems related to tax intermediaries.

The related schedule 3 amends the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 to increase the information published on the Tax Practitioners Board's public register. It removes the 12-month time limit for certain information to remain on the register and extends the time frame that the Tax Practitioners Board has to conduct an investigation. It also better targets the Tax Practitioners Board's delegation powers. The measure enables the Tax Practitioners Board to conduct better investigations into potential misconduct by practitioners, and improves transparency in the tax profession by expanding the utility and functions of the important board which regulates these activities, the Tax Practitioners Board public register.

Schedule 4 amends the secrecy provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 to remove the limitations in the tax secrecy laws that were, obviously, a barrier to regulators acting in response to the PwC breach of confidence—something that has occupied this parliament's and this chamber's attention mightily over the last few months. This schedule allows taxation officers and Tax Practitioners Board officials to share protected information with Treasury about misconduct arising out of suspected breaches of confidence so that the Treasury can then take necessary action to respond to the breach properly and quickly. This schedule also allows the tax office and the practitioners board to refer misconduct to prescribed professional bodies, enabling them to perform their disciplinary functions. Taken together, these proposed amendments will enable any misconduct similar to the horrendous affair involved with PwC's breach of confidence to be reported and acted on in a timely way, and it will act as a deterrent to future misconduct by intermediaries engaging with the Commonwealth.

I'll turn to schedule 5, which amends the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Act 1987 to deliver a fairer return to the Australian community from their natural resources. These changes will mean the offshore liquefied natural gas industry pays more tax sooner, and it will provide industry and investors policy certainty to allow sufficient supply of domestic gas and will ensure Australia remains a reliable international energy supplier and, importantly, investment partner. The petroleum industry makes an important contribution to the economy, including through investment jobs and, critically, energy supply, as we manage our transition to a renewable economy. Its contribution to corporate and other taxes are critical, and the changes in this schedule will ensure that this continues.

I note the comments that have been made in the course of the second reading debate about the packaging of this bill, and I want to say a few things about that. Treasury laws amendment bills routinely contain measures relating to different issues within the Treasury portfolio. I've observed, publicly and privately, that about a third of the legislation that moves its way through this parliament emanates from the Treasury portfolio. The approach of bundling these measures is common. It's efficient and it's something that has occurred for many, many years. To put it in context, this year alone, the parliament has dealt with 11 treasury laws amendment bills. Each of those bills, collectively, have contained a total of 58 schedules. If we were to deal with each of those schedules separately, parliament would deal with nothing else. And, of course, as much as I care about the bills that come forward from the Treasury portfolio, I have to yield to other colleagues who also have important parliamentary and reform measures to bring before this parliament. It's simply a matter of the efficient use of parliamentary time.

In this instance, we have joined several measures related to the tax system and combined them. We'll continue looking for ways to support the parliament to make the process more efficient, saving both time and resources—but also carefully listening to the issues and concerns that are raised by all members of parliament, including members of the crossbench. In this instance, we're proceeding as we have moved the bill. Each of the measures in this bill relate to our taxation system and make a substantial improvement to it. With these comments, I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context