Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We're not rushing. This is a measure that's actually been in various budgets and updates for a little while now. The purpose of it is to make sure that we are not providing additional tax breaks that are not enjoyed by Australians. When it comes to the transitional arrangements referred to by the honourable member, it's all about recognising that the transitional arrangements are necessary to make sure that we protect some of these investments in clean energy. I know that that's in the interest of the honourable member, as it is in the interests of a lot of people here.

The budget that we handed down took further steps to transform our energy system, making it easier to build and easier to invest. We've got the generational reforms to the National Electricity Market. I pay tribute to the energy minister for the work he does with the state colleagues on some of those transformational recommendations in the NEM. We're investing another $500 million to accelerate environmental approvals. That's important too, when it comes to building more clean energy. And we're strengthening the super performance test to make sure that there aren't any unintended barriers to investments in areas, like renewable energy, that can still deliver strong returns for members.

When it comes to these tax arrangements for foreign investors, we've been consulting on legislation which is all about ensuring foreign residents pay a fair share of tax in Australia. Our land and natural resources belong to all Australians, and what this recognises is that there's an area of longstanding uncertainty. Some of these court cases which have been playing out, costing the Commonwealth money, are because there is an ambiguity between the intersection of the state arrangements and the Commonwealth arrangements. The ATO has made it clear they're not going to go back a long period and revisit all of these decisions, but, where there have been court cases, we have to responsibly step in and clarify the law and make sure that it's working as it's intended to. That's what that element of that is.

We've heard a lot about the significance of these reforms for investments which are already in train. That's why we've got this proposed time limited targeted concession for clean energy investments, which will support the sorts of developments that the honourable member wants to see in our economy, as I do. So I welcome her question. We are currently completing a second round of consultation on the draft legislation. I've been doing some of that myself, and also Treasury has, and we're considering all of those submissions. Overall, I assure the honourable member that we are focused on making Australians big beneficiaries of this energy transformation, and unlocking investment in Australia's energy system is a really important part of that work.

See this speech in context