Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) | Hansard source

I table revised explanatory memoranda relating to the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026. I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

COAL MINING INDUSTRY (LONG SERVICE LEAVE) LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2026

The Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 will deliver fairness and certainty for workers in the black coal mining industry and their employers.

This legislation is designed to ensure eligible workers have a clear pathway to access their hard-earned long service leave entitlements quickly and in full.

This will benefit workers across black coal mining regions, including the Hunter Valley and the New South Wales North Coast, the Illawarra, Central Queensland, and Mackay and the Whitsundays.

For decades, portable Long service Leave has been a vital entitlement for employees in the industry, allowing them to accrue leave as they move between sites and employers. However, disputes about who is covered by the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave Funding) Scheme have meant that many eligible employees are missing out on their lawful entitlements. This issue has particularly impacted employees in mechanical and supply services.

The two recent decisions by the Full Federal Court of Australia on these matters have clarified the Scheme's coverage. Many employees in the black coal mining industry can now access their entitlements under the Scheme and in some cases, employers may have liabilities dating back to 201o, potentially involving debts of millions of dollars in unpaid Levy for long service leave.

The government is taking decisive action through this bill to resolve these legacy issues. The bill provides a practical, time-limited pathway for employers to settle historical levy debts. This pathway will enable employers to pay their levy in a financially sustainable way and connect employees with their entitlements. To ensure fairness, employers that have already begun paying their debts in good faith will also be able to opt into this pathway.

The bill allows employers to set up payment arrangements for outstanding levy debts, to be paid in instalments over 6 years. Once an employer has paid 80% of the amount owed, the remaining 20% will be waived. This represents a balanced approach intended to incentivise employer participation, protecting the viability of the Scheme and supporting employers with significant levy liabilities. Greater employer uptake ultimately benefits their employees who will gain access to their entitlements sooner. Importantly, the 20% debt waiver has no impact on worker entitlements—eligible workers will receive the full entitlements they're owed.

Employers will need to specify the employees and periods covered under their payment arrangements. This upholds a principle that payments should be directly linked to individual workers' entitlements.

The Bill builds in flexibility and support to ensure eligible employees will not miss out on their lawful long service leave entitlement. In response to stakeholder feedback, timeframes will be able to be adjusted so employers can conduct thorough checks and identify all eligible employees. Coal LSL will also engage with employers throughout the process to provide support with establishing their payment arrangements.

The historical nature of these issues will mean that employer records may be incomplete. To prevent this from impacting workers, the bill adopts a fair and workable approach to establishing arrangements and calculating employee entitlements. This includes allowing certain simplified calculations, as well as allowing reasonable assumptions to be made. Such an approach will ensure incomplete records do not stand in the way of connecting employees with their historical entitlements.

Some employers, operating in good faith, have already paid long service leave entitlements directly to employees. To ensure that employers don't pay twice, the bill provides that employers can offset eligible payments against their debt, in certain circumstances.

Alongside supporting the payment of historical debts, the bill also strengthens the Scheme's compliance mechanisms by updating penalty arrangements. The bill links the 'additional levy' rate to the Reserve Bank of Australia's cash rate plus 2%, which ensures the 'additional levy' functions as an effective deterrent to late payments into the Scheme by employers.

This bill represents a fair outcome for employers and employees.

For employees, this bill provides certainty and recognition after many had been previously excluded from the Scheme. Employees who may have previously missed out will have their service recognised and be connected with their lawful entitlements.

For employers, it provides a clear and fair process to resolve debts that, in some cases, go back 15 years. The 20% debt waiver and the ability to pay in instalments will assist employers in paying their debts.

In that spirit, these reforms have been developed in consultation with industry representatives, unions and the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave Funding) Corporation. Broadly, stakeholders have expressed support for the changes as necessary and proportionate to maintain confidence in the Scheme.

The Bill was the subject of a Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee inquiry. The Committee recommended that the Bill be passed, finding it to be practical and balanced.

The Government carefully considered the feedback received through that inquiry and responded to stakeholder submissions by refining certain aspects of the Bill. This included broadening the concept of reasonable assumptions, expanding offsets to also include certain long service leave payments made during employment, and allowing individual employers to request a delayed opt in date where there are reasonable grounds to do so.

I would like to thank stakeholders for their constructive engagement with this issue over a number of years.

This bill is a fair and responsible response to complex legacy issues. It reflects the Government's commitment to supporting employers to pay their debts and connecting employees with their lawful entitlements.

SECRECY PROVISIONS AMENDMENT (REPEALING OFFENCES) BILL 2026

I move that this Bill be read a second time.

Secrecy provisions play a vital role in protecting the integrity and security of Commonwealth information. They safeguard sensitive national security and law enforcement material, protect personal and commercial information that is entrusted to government, and ensure that government can operate effectively in the public interest. These protections are fundamental to maintaining public trust in our institutions.

But secrecy must always be justified.

Transparency is central to the open and accountable government necessary to support public confidence and informed democratic debate. When secrecy provisions are too complex or too broad, they risk jeopardising legitimate information-sharing and undermining the very trust they are meant to protect.

The Secrecy Provisions Amendment (Repealing Offences) Bill will ensure that our secrecy laws protect what truly requires protection, while avoiding unnecessary barriers to public transparency.

Multiple reviews have found that Australia's secrecy framework has evolved into a complex patchwork of provisions—while some are essential, others are outdated and broader than necessary.

This Bill makes comprehensive reforms to our secrecy framework in response to these findings.

Key among these is the repeal or removal of criminal liability from more than 300 secrecy provisions across the statute book, where it is no longer necessary. This represents a reduction of more than a third of Commonwealth secrecy provisions attracting criminal sanction.

Amendments in the Bill will also implement other outstanding recommendations of the 2023 Review of Secrecy Provisions, conducted by my Department, as well as the majority of recommendations agreed or agreed in principle by the Government in its response to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor's Review of secrecy offences at Part

5.6 of the Criminal Code. These amendments will ensure that secrecy provisions are appropriately confined, proportionate and consistent with the rule of law.

The Bill also builds upon the reforms to secrecy laws introduced in the Royal Commissions Legislation Amendment (Protections for Providing Information) Act 2026.

These are significant and meaningful improvements to Australia's secrecy laws.

The Government has undertaken extensive work, since the Secrecy Reviews were released, to ensure secrecy provisions are justifiable and proportionate.

The 2023 Review of Secrecy Provisions identified 168 provisions that no longer required criminal liability. But we have invested further time to get these reforms right. This has required extensive consultation across government, with more than thirteen departments and agencies providing their input. This has been a complex but a necessary task, as a number of these secrecy provisions are found across the statute book and in often unassuming places. I would like to thank all the departments and agencies for their contribution to this critical work.

Because of this work, the Bill will remove criminal liability from almost double the number of provisions identified by the 2023 Review.

Removing criminal liability from these provisions would be achieved through a combination of repeals and amendments to specific legislation, as well as the repeal of section 122.4 of the Criminal Code.

The repeal of section 122.4, which criminalises breaches of non-disclosure duties across the statute book, will ensure that the vast majority of non-disclosure duties are instead subject to more proportionate civil and administrative sanctions.

This would ensure criminal liability only applies where strictly necessary to protect sensitive information.

The Bill will also introduce a new targeted secrecy offence in the Criminal Code.

Where a new secrecy offence is introduced, it is critical that it addresses unauthorised disclosures that have a genuine need for criminal consequence.

The Government considered whether it was necessary for a broader general secrecy offence that criminalised disclosures prejudicial to the working of government, as recommended by the 2023 Secrecy Review. But we have heard the views of stakeholders, who told us that such a broad offence was not warranted. And we agree.

Instead, the Bill seeks to address specific gaps in the secrecy framework that were identified when a former consulting firm partner allegedly shared confidential Commonwealth information. This type of conduct is clearly unacceptable. People who are entrusted with sensitive government information should be met with criminal sanction if they intentionally and improperly use that information for their own benefit or to the detriment of the Commonwealth or others.

The Bill will address this type of conduct by introducing a targeted secrecy offence. This offence would apply where a Commonwealth officer or other person connected to the Commonwealth improperly communicates or uses Commonwealth information to obtain benefit or cause a detriment.

An important part of these amendments is the protection of press freedoms which is integral to the functioning of an effective democracy.

The Bill will also legislate a new requirement that the Attorney-General consent to the prosecution of a journalist for any secrecy offence.

This will operate as an additional safeguard for press freedom, requiring proper scrutiny of a prosecution before it proceeds and complementing the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution's requirement that the prosecution be in the public interest.

The Government undertook significant analysis of secrecy offences to consider whether a public interest journalism defence could be applied to additional offences, beyond those in the Criminal Code. The majority of Commonwealth secrecy offences are targeted at Government employees or those working with Government, and therefore the conduct of journalists is not captured. A defence is not necessary in these circumstances.

For those offences that could apply to journalists, there was a clear necessity for protecting the information subject to each relevant offence. This information includes national security and law enforcement information, highly sensitive commercial and personal information or information that is already subject to tailored mechanisms for disclosures in the public interest.

Rather, the Bill is focused on reducing the number and complexity of secrecy provisions and ensuring that the secrecy offences in the Criminal Code are appropriately calibrated to balance confidentiality and transparency.

Finally, the Bill would make amendments to implement recommendations agreed or agreed in principle in the Government response to the INSLM Secrecy Review. These amendments would ensure the secrecy offences in the Criminal Code are proportionate and consistent with rule of law principles.

Significant amendments will be made to the secrecy offences that apply to non-officials, including journalists. These amendments ensure that non-officials are subject to a higher threshold for criminal culpability than Commonwealth officials. They include increasing thresholds to trigger criminal liability and nearly halving the penalty of imprisonment to ensure these offences are proportionate.

Offences applying to Commonwealth officials will also be amended. These amendments will establish a single material threshold of harm for disclosures that cause harm to Australia's interests and clarify key definitions. They will also ensure that an official is only subject to an aggravated offence where their conduct could cause a higher level of harm or their personal circumstances increase their culpability.

The Bill delivers on the Government's commitment to comprehensive and considered secrecy reform.

Good government means safeguarding what must remain confidential while enabling the public to scrutinise and hold institutions to account. The task before us is not to choose between secrecy and transparency, but to balance them wisely.

The Bill delivers this balance.

I commend the Bill to the Chamber.

SECRECY PROVISIONS AMENDMENT (SUNSETTING PROVISION) BILL 2026

The Secrecy Provisions Amendment (Sunsetting Provision) Bill extends the sunset date of section 122.4 of the Criminal Code until 29 December 2026.

Section 122.4 makes it an offence for a Commonwealth officer, or a person engaged to perform work for a Commonwealth entity, to communicate information in breach of a duty arising elsewhere under the law of the Commonwealth.

The Secrecy Provisions Amendment (Repealing Offences) Bill will make a range of amendments to the secrecy framework that would support the repeal of section 122.4. However, until Parliament has considered these reforms, it is important that section 122.4 continues to apply to the communication of sensitive, confidential information by officials, in breach of their statutory duties.

The limited extension provided by this Bill will ensure the Parliament has sufficient time to consider the broader reforms to the Commonwealth secrecy framework proposed by the Secrecy Provisions Amendment (Repealing Offences) Bill, before section 122.4 sunsets.

The Bill reflects the Government's commitment to ensuring Australia's secrecy laws are clear and fit-for-purpose, while providing Parliament time to comprehensively consider important secrecy reforms.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AMENDMENT (ENHANCING CONSUMER SAFEGUARDS) BILL 2025

The Albanese Government is committed to keeping Australians connected, no matter where they live—from the Pilbara to Palm Island, from Broome to Bendigo.

We believe in a simple principle: no one held back, no one left behind.

To do that, we must crack down on the mistreatment of telecommunications customers.

We know in 2025, connectivity is not a nice-to-have. It's a necessity. It is how people get to work.

It is how kids keep up with their learning.

It is how people can work from home.

It is how older Australians stay in touch with loved ones. And in an emergency—it's how Australians stay safe.

That's why the Albanese Government is continuing to invest in services and infrastructure.

We are investing $1.1 billion in the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia which ensures remote, rural and regional Australians benefit from advances in connectivity—with a pipeline of over 500 projects now funded.

And this will be complemented by the agreement signed between NBN and Amazon to deliver city broadband speeds to the bush through low earth orbit satellites.

We are determined for Australia to be the most connected continent—for telecommunications to be an opportunity equaliser—rather than meander with a Coalition-Copper approach that creates metro haves and rural have nots.

We are determined for Australians to be protected rather than exploited through telecommunications.

That's why earlier this year the Assistant Minister for Social Services and I visited Juno, a respite centre for women experiencing violence to announce mandatory telecommunications industry standard.

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Industry Standard makes lasting change for many victim-survivors who until now were forced to engage their abusers to call family, friends and even triple zero.

This reform means victim-survivors will never be asked to engage with the alleged perpetrator to resolve their telecommunications issues.

Telecommunications are critical to our everyday lives, so it's vital providers meet community expectations in delivering services—or be held to account by the industry regulator—the Australian Communications and Media Authority—or ACMA—if they do not.

That is what this Bill is about.

We want to see telecommunications companies do better.

Earlier this year, the Federal Court ruled that Telstra made false or misleading representations relating to the upload speed of residential broadband internet services to nearly 9,000 of its Belong customers in 2020, off the back of court action by the ACCC.

In June, Optus Mobile acknowledged it engaged in unconscionable conduct when selling telecommunications goods and services to hundreds of consumers, including those experiencing disadvantage and hardship, after court action brought by the ACCC.

At the time, the ACCC Deputy Chair said

"The conduct, which included selling inappropriate, unwanted or unaffordable mobiles and phone plans to people who are vulnerable or experiencing disadvantage is simply unacceptable"

These are just a couple of recent examples, but they are illustrative of the need to drive higher standards in this industry.

Which is why we are bringing this Bill before Parliament—to strengthen the safeguards that protect consumers.

It ensures providers meet community expectations—this is acting in good faith, providing relievable service and supporting customers.

But if that doesn't happen, then Australians need an industry regulator they can rely on that has the power to hold telecommunications companies accountable.

Stronger penalties

This Bill will deliver significantly stronger penalties for misconduct.

Right now, under the current system, the maximum fine for breaching industry codes and standards is $250,000.

This Bill changes that.

It raises the maximum penalty by 40 times: up to $10 million.

It was $250,000, it will be $10 million.

And in serious cases, allows penalties to be calculated as three times the benefit obtained from the breach, or 30 per cent of the company's turnover.

This brings telecommunications in line with other sectors like banking, energy and consumer law.

The Bill also expands and clarifies the Minister for Communications' authority to increase infringement notice penalties that ACMA can issue for breaches of industry codes, industry standards and service provider determinations.

These stronger penalties mean no company will be able to treat fines as a cost of doing business.

Because there continues to be real-world examples of real-world harm.

Like the use of high-pressure sales tactics, misleading representations of service performance or inclusions, unfair billing practices and contract terms or targeting vulnerable customers creating further financial hardship.

Through this bill the Albanese Government sends a signal. Companies that engage in practices that put PROFITS before PEOPLE, will be held to account financially.

It helps our mission for no one to be held back and no one to be left behind.

Faster enforcement

This bill will also deliver faster enforcement of industry codes.

Until now, ACMA has been unable to take direct enforcement action against breaches of industry codes, no matter how serious, without issuing a direction to comply first and then ACMA can only act if the non-compliance continues.

This delays ACMA in taking action and can leave Australians exposed.

This Bill cuts through that. We are removing the two-step process, making industry codes directly enforceable.

Greater visibility

This bill also enables greater visibility of the carrier service market and carrier service providers operating in it.

A carriage service provider is any provider who uses telecommunications carrier facilities—for example transmission infrastructure, cabling or wireless networks—to supply telecommunications services like mobile phone or internet services to the public.

The Bill establishes a Carriage Service Provider registration scheme. This reform gives ACMA visibility of who is operating in the market and the ability to prevent or remove providers who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or cause consumer harm.

It means everyone is playing by the same rules and those who do the right thing are not undermined by dodgy operators.

Supporting fairness and trust

Together, these reforms create a modern compliance framework that is fit for purpose.

They support fairness by making sure consumers are protected.

They build trust by ensuring ACMA has the tools its needs to take quick action. They strengthen the industry by setting clear, consistent standards.

Listening to stakeholders

These reforms have been developed in consultation with industry, regulators and consumer advocates.

I would like to thank the Australian Telecommunications Alliance, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman for their ongoing engagement and support of these reforms, including their feedback following the previous introduction of the Bill earlier in the year.

The feedback from these stakeholders has meant we have improved the bill providing clarity on consumer safeguards and processes for all parties.

Conclusion

This beautiful country we call home is intangibly unique.

Australia is the world's largest island, the sixth biggest country on earth.

Yet this vast nation holds just three and a half people per square kilometre, one of the world's lowest population densities.

This combination ensures connection is an evergreen challenge.

This bill helps meet that challenge, helps keep Australians connected by cracking down on telecommunications providers who mistreat customers.

It will deliver the community the services they need and deserve through a system that is fair and accountable.

So no one is held back and no one is left behind. I commend the Bill to the House.

TREASURY LAWS AMENDMENT (DELIVERING AN EFFICIENT AND TRUSTED TAX SYSTEM) BILL 2026

This Bill amends Treasury legislation to support philanthropic giving and strengthen the integrity of tax administration systems.

Schedule 1 to the Bill removes the requirement that that a donation to a deductible gift recipient be valued at $2 or more before the donor may claim an income tax deduction. Removing this threshold updates the tax treatment of gifts to reflect modern fundraising practices and supports philanthropic giving.

Schedule 2 to the Bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to require trustees of closely held trusts to report in the trust's income tax return the quoted tax file numbers of beneficiaries when they have an entitlement, from 1 July 2026.

These changes are part of modernising tax administration systems to reduce compliance costs for trustees, beneficiaries and their agents. They streamline how trustees report tax file numbers, removing reporting on a separate form.

The amendments will strengthen the integrity of the system, helping to ensure the right amount of tax is being paid by trustees and beneficiaries on trust income.

Schedule 3 to the Bill makes minor and technical amendments to legislation within the Treasury portfolio. These amendments reflect the Government's ongoing commitment to the care and maintenance of Treasury laws.

The amendments ensure that Treasury portfolio legislation remains current, fit for purpose and continues to work for relevant stakeholders and the broader public.

The Legislative and Governance Forum on Corporations was notified in relation to amendments in Schedule 3 of the Bill in accordance with clauses 506 and 507 of the Corporations Agreement 2002.

Schedule 4 to this Bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997to exclude activities related to gambling and tobacco from Research and Development Tax Incentive eligibility.

This will ensure the community is not subsidising this kind of research and development, which can exacerbate serious health risks, addiction and associated harms.

The exclusions will apply broadly, capturing research and development related to all types of gambling and any tobacco, from 1 July 2025.

The Government recognises the importance of minimising the harms from gambling and tobacco. That's why a carve-out applies for research and development activities that are conducted for the sole purpose of harm minimisation, such as stopping addiction. The carve-out is designed to ensure that only truly harm minimising research and development related to gambling and tobacco remains eligible to receive support.

Schedule 5 to this Bill amends the Medicare Levy Act 1986 and A New Tax System (Medicare Levy Surcharge-Fringe Benefits) Act 1999 to increase the Medicare levy low-income thresholds for singles, families, and seniors and pensioners by 2.9 per cent.

These changes ensure low-income households continue to be exempt from paying the Medicare levy or pay a reduced levy rate from 1 July 2025, if their incomes have increased in line with (or less than) recent movements in the consumer price index.

Schedule 6 to this Bill includes changes to better target payment of the Pension Supplement for recipients who travel or live overseas.

The Pension Supplement is an additional amount paid to pensioners and some other income support recipients to assist with certain living costs in Australia. Currently, the Pension Supplement is paid at the full rate while temporarily overseas for six weeks before dropping to the basic amount. For pensioners who move overseas to live, the Pension Supplement drops to the basic amount as soon as they leave Australia.

The Government is doubling the amount of time a pensioner can travel temporarily overseas before their Pension Supplement is affected. For recipients travelling overseas temporarily, the full rate of Pension Supplement will now be paid for 12 weeks instead of the current six weeks. This recognises that these pensioners still have ongoing financial commitments in Australia.

Once a pensioner has been temporarily overseas for more than 12 weeks, the Pension Supplement will cease altogether, instead of reducing to the basic amount.

People who live overseas will also no longer receive the basic amount of Pension Supplement.

The basic amount of Pension Supplement was originally designed to compensate for GST costs. Pensioners who are outside of Australia long-term or who live permanently overseas, are no longer incurring Australian GST-related costs in the same way as someone in Australia. It is not appropriate for Australian taxpayers to continue to fund indefinite assistance for these costs.

However, these pensioners will still receive ongoing support through their base pension. This measure will not change how their base pension is calculated, and the base pension will continue to increase twice a year through indexation.

This measure better targets the Pension Supplement to where it is needed most. It provides increased support for recipients who travel temporarily overseas for short periods but still have ongoing costs in Australia, and ceases that support for those who are absent from Australia long-term or permanently and no longer have those costs.

Full details of the measures are contained in the Explanatory Memorandum.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.