Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

The short answer for Senator Dastyari in terms of the proposal as I understand—

Senator Dastyari interjecting—

I am giving the short answer first! It is a multipronged approach that I am taking and I will do my utmost to assist you in the undertaking that you have here, Senator Dastyari, to move us forward in a constructive manner, but one that takes us, appropriately, to 7.20 pm! The short answer is that the different time frames, I am advised, relate to the OECD agreement that was struck and that the legislation introduced, which provides for the different time frames, is consistent with the terms of those OECD discussions and arose out of that agreement.

Obviously, the government has seen the amendment that you propose to move in that regard during the committee stage of this debate. I am advised that that amendment is similar in form to one that was tabled by the shadow Assistant Treasurer, Dr Leigh, during the debate in the House of Representatives. The government has sought some clarification of the purpose of that amendment, as it was not clear from Dr Leigh's speech in the second reading debate exactly what the intention of that was. However, having had the chance to reflect upon that and understand the intent behind it—and the substitution of '2019' with '2018' that is proposed—it is the government's intention to agree to the Labor Party's amendment to bring forward the deadline from 31 July 2019 to the new date of 31 July 2018 for the reviewing of entity accounts to be finalised. That will of course, as you outlined in your question, bring this into line with the time frame in the bill for high-value individual accounts.

It may also be of use to the chamber at this time if I give a quick understanding of the government amendments for which I tabled the explanatory memorandum previously. We are introducing those amendments to ensure that the provisions operate as intended upon the introduction of this bill. In particular, the amendments will correct a technical anomaly in the original bill so that statements relating to pre-existing individual accounts that are high-value accounts as of 30 June 2017 must be reported to the tax commissioner by 31 July 2018. These amendments help to ensure that this deadline is met, regardless of whether the reporting financial institution conducts its due diligence procedures on these accounts between 1 July 2017 and 31 December 2017 or between 1 January 2018 and 31 July 2018.

While I am by no means pretending to be an expert on these processes, I assume that that distinction between those two six-monthly periods has some relationship to the question you asked previously, Senator Dastyari, about some of the approaches to time frames under the legislation and that it will hopefully provide additional clarity in that regard.

It is important to appreciate that the timing provisions in the bill have been carefully crafted to ensure that they are aligned with OECD guidance on collection, review and exchange of information. The government are certainly eager to see this legislation successfully passed, which is why we have brought to the chamber some of these amendments that will aid in its operation and why, perhaps more importantly, we are cooperating with the opposition in relation to some of their amendments, which we have now had time to properly consider and reflect upon and which, overall, we believe will help to achieve and enhance the implementation of the common reporting standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information.