Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

What a terrific speech we just heard from the member for Moreton. I would like to thank her and all those members who have contributed to the debate: the members for Fairfax, Bennelong, Monash, Maribyrnong, New England, Griffith, Mackellar, Curtin, Barton, Ryan, Cowan, Wentworth, Warringah and Chifley. There have been wide-ranging speeches focusing on stories and on policy, and the House has been better for the debate and the important conversation about charities, which too rarely comes to this House.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Financial Systems and Other Measures) Bill 2025 brings together a suite of measures aimed at strengthening confidence in our markets, improving the performance of regulators and supporting long-term economic growth. It covers corporate disclosure, charity regulation, financial oversight, energy market protections and taxation. A standout provision for small business is the extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off until the middle of 2026. By allowing immediate deductions, we lower the barrier to investment and help ensure Australian workers have the tools they need to thrive.

The bill also reinforces the importance of transparency. In the corporate sector, clearer ownership information supports fairer decision-making and better governance. For civil society, empowering the charities regulated to speak publicly when misconduct is suspected helps maintain trust in the sector. In both business and the not-for-profit world, transparency is the oxygen that accountability needs. Additional provisions ensure robust reviews of financial regulators, maintain consumer protections in the energy market and make technical amendments to keep the law operating as intended. Together those reforms promote investment, transparency and accountability, the foundations of stronger productivity and public confidence.

Let me briefly give the House an overview of the schedules. Schedule 1 improves transparency of ownership of some of Australia's biggest and most influential businesses. These amendments close loopholes and disclosure requirements and provide the Australian Securities and Investments Commission with the tools it needs to quickly and efficiently encourage and shore up compliance. They also bring Australia into greater alignment with the corporate ownership disclosure requirements over a number of comparable jurisdictions. The changes will improve market efficiency by reducing information asymmetry and increasing market integrity, improving investors' access to information and supporting a more efficient allocation of resources. They will also better support company directors and other interested stakeholders to identify when a person or group of associates might be building up an influential stake in their company.

Schedule 1 to the bill further supports corporate transparency by providing greater access to beneficial ownership information to interested members of the public, including providing journalists and academics, who play a key role in initiating and encouraging public debate, with fee-free access to tracing notice registers. Overall, a stronger beneficial ownership disclosure regime will assist regulators and law enforcement to address tax evasion, money laundering and other financial crime facilitated by complex ownership arrangements.

Schedule 2 to the bill allows the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to disclose information about new or ongoing investigations where necessary to prevent or minimise the risk of significant harm. This reform will allow the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to assure charities and donors that it is acting on issues of public concern and strengthening compliance to build the necessary public trust and confidence for donors and philanthropists to increase their support for the sector.

Schedule 3 changes the frequency of the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority's review cycles from biannually to every five years. This change will enable the authority to conduct more comprehensive reviews into our financial system regulators and allow the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority sufficient time to respond to recommendations made by the authority.

Schedules 4 and 5 to the bill make minor machinery and other technical amendments to various laws in the Treasury portfolio to ensure those laws operate in accordance with policy intent, improve administrative outcomes, remedy unintended consequences and correct technical and drafting defects.

Schedule 6 to the bill will maintain protections for consumers and constrain market misconduct through extending the sunset date of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Act provisions to 1 January 2031. The amendment supports the ongoing efforts to improve electricity affordability and protect consumers in the energy market and complements other initiatives as part of the energy transition.

Schedule 7 of the bill extends the $20,000 instant asset write-off until 30 June 2026. This will improve cashflow and reduce compliance costs for small businesses.

We are heading now towards votes on two second reading amendments and a substantive amendment. To save the time of the House, let me say that the government will not be supporting those second reading amendments and substantive amendment. I won't go to all of the specifics of those second reading and substantive amendments. But I note that, in the case of the second reading amendment moved by the shadow Treasurer, he is wrong to say that this will reduce the scrutiny of ASIC and APRA. Indeed, this will provide more scrutiny through carrying out better reviews and allowing those organisations the time to respond to the important outcomes of the reviews. To the amendment moved by the member for Wentworth, we share the goals of tax reform, productivity and boosting the uptake of renewable energy, but we prefer other means through which to achieve that. The respect that this side of the House holds for the member for Wentworth was reflected in her important participation in the economic reform roundtable, which took place in the cabinet room recently. I commend the bill to the House.

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