Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3645 together:

(1) Clause 2, Page 2 (at the end of the table), add:

(2) Page 18 (after line 9), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 7 — Animal welfare gift deductibility expansion

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

1 Subsection 30-45(1) (cell at table item 4.1.6, column headed "Fund, authority or institution")

Repeal the cell, substitute:

2 Application of amendments

The amendments of item 4.1.6 of the table in subsection 30-45(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 made by this Schedule apply in relation to gifts or contributions made on or after the first 1 July to occur after the commencement of this item.

These amendments broaden the definition of 'animal welfare work' to ensure that any person who donates to an animal welfare charity is able to receive the tax benefits that they should. Currently, the Income Tax Assessment Act only covers organisations who work on behalf of native wildlife or provide direct animal-care services. What this means in reality is that too many activities of animal welfare charities then become not eligible for deductable gift recipient status.

Excluded from this benefit are organisations that work on preventing animal cruelty; providing community education and disaster and crisis emergency response; advocating for improved animal welfare standards; and providing expertise and advice to governments and industry stakeholders. That is a huge, huge amount of work that charities and volunteers do to stop animal cruelty or to advocate for animals to be protected in this country. It is an atrocity for them to not have DGR status. People in this country care deeply about animals. We have seen that again and again. There has been a massive movement for decades to end the cruelty that is greyhound racing, and I do hope that that ends next month in Tasmania. But there is other animal cruelty that happens in this country, whether it be on companion animals or whether it be the live sheep export, and it is because of the work of the community and these volunteers and these charities that, finally, we are going to see an end to live sheep export. Their work needs to be supported, and they should have that DGR status.

Animal welfare charities are also consistently in the top 3 causes Australian donors support. I think a lot of them actually wouldn't know that this is going on. It is an issue that is so near and so dear to the hearts of so many people who live in this country, and it is wholly unfair that they do not receive the same benefits as others for contributing to a cause so close to their heart and a cause that is really important in protecting sentient living beings.

Independent reviews by the Productivity Commission and the Department of Social Services have actually recommended expanding tax-deductable gift recipient status to include animal welfare advocacy charities, but, at the moment, hundreds of animal rescue shelters and many others just do not receive this status. Labor have previously said that they would consider recommendations from the Productivity Commission to ensure DGR rules support the charitable purposes that most Australians support, but these recommendations were made almost two years ago, and, still, there is no action from the government.

The current laws severely limit access to major fundraising platforms, restrict donor choice and discourage the important work that addresses animal cruelty at its source. There are literally thousands of volunteers working for these charities who put their blood, sweat and tears into actually rehabilitating and supporting the animals which have had cruelty so severely dealt on them. That is just not acceptable. These people put their hearts and souls into looking after the animals that come out so scarred and so damaged from these cruel industries, like horseracing and like greyhound racing, and they still do not have the ability to get these tax deductions.

The Labor government today have a perfect opportunity to support these amendments and show that they care about animals and the really important work done by so many outstanding animal welfare organisations and the volunteers within those organisations across the country. It would be really deeply disappointing for so many of them if this did not happen today. These amendments are a critical step forward for animal welfare organisations that respond—and they do. These amendments do respond to a very long-running campaign from the animal welfare community, and they would make a massive, very significant difference to organisations who do so much to care for animals. So I do commend these amendments to the Senate, and I hope that the Labor government can support these amendments.