Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table revised explanatory memoranda relating to the Age Discrimination Amendment Bill 2006 and the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2006 and 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—

AGE DISCRIMINATION AMENDMENT BILL 2006

The Age Discrimination Act 2004 implemented the Government’s 2001 election commitment to develop legislation to prohibit age discrimination which would eliminate, as far as possible, age discrimination in key areas of public life.

The Act is working well.

The Government believes that the Act is playing an important role in addressing negative stereotypes, particularly assumptions about older workers.

All anti-discrimination laws must strike the right balance between prohibiting unfair discrimination and allowing legitimate differential treatment.

When the Age Discrimination Act commenced, it included various exemptions for Commonwealth laws.

One of these was a general exemption for all Commonwealth Acts and regulations for a period of two years.

The purpose of this general exemption was to present an opportunity for any further legitimate exemptions to be identified.

The general exemption will expire on 23 June 2006.

The general exemption for all Commonwealth laws will be replaced by a much more limited number of exemptions that will continue to protect justifiable age-related provisions in Acts and regulations.

The bill is the result of a comprehensive assessment of Commonwealth laws and programs that examined their consistency with the Age Discrimination Act.

As well as Acts and regulations, this assessment identified other instruments, schemes and programs that use age-based criteria for sound policy reasons.

It also identified areas where the scope of the existing exemptions is uncertain or needs to be adjusted.

The bill addresses these additional issues.

The scope of the new exemptions has been limited by exempting only part of a law if that is sufficient to protect the age-related provisions.

A new Schedule will list Acts, regulations and other instruments and specify which provisions are exempted.

The Government will continue to review the appropriate scope of exemptions so that the Act applies to as wide a field of public activity as possible.

Many of the amendments will provide certainty for measures that are targeted for the benefit of particular age groups.

For example, the bill will ensure that senior citizens can choose to apply for a less expensive passport, and can receive a higher rebate for private health insurance.

It will also help maintain the classification scheme which protects our children from objectionable content in films, computer games and literature.

Other provisions in the bill address Australia’s international obligations in aviation and shipping.

One of the most important objectives of the Age Discrimination Act is to reduce discrimination in employment and remove barriers to workforce participation.

The bill inserts an exemption for some Commonwealth employment programs, to ensure that programs can continue to be designed in the most appropriate way to meet the needs and circumstances of different groups, including different age groups.

To be exempted, an employment program will need to meet certain conditions. 

Providing these conditions are met, an employment program will be able to be designed so that effort is targeted to where it will do the most good.

This bill is a carefully considered package of measures that will further the goal of eliminating age discrimination while allowing genuine age-related needs to be met.

AUSTRALIAN TRADE COMMISSION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2006

This bill amends the Australian Trade Commission Act 1985 by making changes to the governance arrangements of Austrade that will establish an executive management structure with a CEO directly accountable to me, and bring the agency under coverage of the Financial Management and Accountability Act and Public Service Act.

Austrade is responsible for the delivery of valuable assistance to Australian business efforts to export and develop international business. Austrade plays a key role in promoting opportunities to business arising from the Government’s trade negotiations, including Australia’s Free Trade Agreements, and administers the Export Market Development Grant scheme, which last year delivered over 3,200 grants valued at $124 million to small and medium exporters.

The changes introduced in this bill form part of the implementation of the Government’s response to the Review of Corporate Governance of Statutory Authorities and Office Holders that was conducted by Mr John Uhrig. The Government is reviewing all Statutory Agencies in the context of the review recommendations, to ensure that we have the most effective accountability and governance structures across the whole of government.

The Government has assessed Austrade’s existing governance structure against the recommendations and principles of the Uhrig Review and identified that the executive management template is more suitable to Austrade’s role as the Government’s trade facilitation agency.

The changes are of an operational and enabling nature. The amendments do not impact Austrade’s functions, nor Austrade’s delivery of export promotion and facilitation services to Australian business. Austrade will continue to be focussed on assisting Australian businesses to enter and develop export markets.

On behalf of the Government I would like to thank the current and previous Austrade Boards. I am grateful for their time and expertise. The views and interests of Australian business will continue to inform the government’s trade promotion activities. I will be ensuring that appropriate mechanisms exist to ensure that the best possible assistance is provided to Australian business.

ELECTORAL AND REFERENDUM AMENDMENT (ELECTORAL INTEGRITY AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2006

The Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2006 (the bill) contains reform measures arising from some of the Government-supported recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ report on the 2004 federal election, which was tabled in the Parliament in October 2005, and additional reform measures considered a priority by the Government. The bill amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act), the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

The amendments cover a number of broad areas including enrolment and timing of the close of rolls, provisional voting, financial disclosure requirements in non-election periods, access to the electoral roll and its use, political party registration and the disclosure of political donations. The most notable amendments in the bill include those that will:

• increase a number of the disclosure thresholds to above $10,000 (with legislated Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases) with effect from date of introduction of this bill;
• reduce the close of rolls period to provide that, in general, the roll will close at 8.00 pm on the third working day after the issue of the writ. However, persons who are not on the roll (with two exceptions, set out below) will not be added to the roll in the period between 8.00 pm on the day of the issue of the writ and polling day. The exceptions are for persons who are not on the roll who are either: 17 year olds who will turn 18 between the day the writ is issued and polling day; or who will be granted citizenship between the issue of the writ and polling day. Persons in these categories can apply for enrolment up until the close of rolls at 8.00 pm three working days after the day on which the writ is issued;
• introduce a proof of identity requirement for people enrolling or updating their enrolment by requiring that they provide their driver’s licence number on their enrolment application. If they do not have a driver’s licence, the elector can show a prescribed identity document to a person who is in a prescribed class of electors and who can attest to the identity of the applicant. If an elector does not have a driver’s licence or a prescribed identity document, then they must have their enrolment application signed by two electors who can confirm the applicant’s name and who have known the applicant for at least one month;
• establish a proof of identity requirement for provisional voting. An elector (other than a silent elector) who wants to cast a provisional vote on polling day will need to show either their driver’s licence or a prescribed identity document (of the same type required for enrolment proof of identity) to an officer either at the time of casting the provisional vote or by close of business on the Friday following polling day. If the elector cannot show the document in person, they may post, fax or email an attested copy to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Ballot papers will only be admitted to the count if the provisional voter has provided suitable identification and, if they were not enrolled, if their omission from the roll was the result of an AEC error;
• abolish the requirement for broadcasters and publishers to lodge disclosure returns;
• require that paid electoral advertising on the Internet be authorised in the same manner as printed electoral advertisements;
• require third parties (people other than registered political parties, candidates, Members of the House of Representatives, Senators, Senate groups and Commonwealth departments and agencies) to complete annual disclosure returns if they incurred expenditure for a political purpose, or received gifts to enable expenditure to be incurred for that purpose. This includes expressing public views by any means on specified participants in the political process, namely a political party, a candidate in an election or a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate;
• increase nomination deposits for election candidates to $500 for candidates for the House of Representatives and $1,000 for Senate candidates with the threshold for returning the nomination deposit remaining at four per cent;
• provide for access to the roll by persons and organisations that verify, or contribute to the verification of the identity of persons for the purposes of the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 and provide that such use is not subject to the commercial use prohibition;
• require that, in the future, divisional offices must be located within divisional boundaries unless otherwise authorised by the Minister;
• provide for the automatic deregistration of all currently registered political parties six months after Royal Assent, with exceptions for parliamentary parties and parties with past representation in the Federal Parliament. Any political party that is deregistered will be required to re-apply for registration, and must comply with the current requirements in the Electoral Act, including the existing naming provisions. Political parties that re-apply for registration within 12 months of deregistration under this scheme will not be required to pay the $500 application fee;
• extend the definition of ‘associated entity’ to include entities with financial membership of a registered political party and entities on whose behalf a person exercises voting rights in a registered political party;
• amend the voting entitlement provisions so that all prisoners serving a sentence of full-time detention will not be entitled to vote, but may remain on the roll, or if not enrolled, apply for enrolment;
• expand the AEC’s demand power in subsection 92(1) of the Electoral Act to enable access to information held by State and Territory Government agencies for the purpose of preparing, maintaining and revising the rolls; and
• amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to increase the level of tax-deductible contributions and gifts, whether from an individual or corporation, to political parties and independent candidates and members from $100 to $1,500 in any income year.

The bill will amend the Electoral Act to increase the declarable limit for disclosure of all political donations from $1,500 to amounts above $10,000, and this threshold will be indexed to the CPI.

Where the threshold amount is amended due to CPI increases, the threshold amount will be rounded to the nearest $100, where amounts below $50 will be rounded down to the nearest $100 (e.g. $11,048 will be rounded to $11,000). Amounts of $50 and above will be rounded up (e.g. $11,667 will be rounded to $11,700).

Currently, section 155 of the Electoral Act provides for the rolls to close seven days after the writs for an election have been issued. The proposed amendments provide that the date for the close of rolls shall be:

• for people who are currently enrolled but who need to update their details, 8.00 pm three working days after the day on which the writs are issued (that is, if the writs were issued on a Monday, the rolls would close for such people at 8.00pm on the Thursday); and
• for new enrolments and re-enrolments (that is, persons who are not currently on the roll, irrespective of whether they have been enrolled previously), 8.00 pm on the day on which the writs are issued.

There are two exceptions to the close of rolls date for new enrolments:

• for people who have yet to enrol but who will turn 18 between the day on which the writs are issued and polling day; and
• for people who have yet to enrol but who are eligible to be granted a certificate of Australian citizenship between the day on which the writs are issued and the polling day.

For these people, the roll will close at 8.00 pm three working days after the day on which the writs are issued.

The bill proposes a proof of identity requirement for electoral enrolment, and provides for regulations to be made to implement the proof of identity scheme.

Currently, all claims for enrolment (including transfer of enrolment) must: be in the approved form; be signed by the claimant (with one exception in subsection 98(3) for people who are physically unable to sign their own enrolment form); and be attested by an elector or a person entitled to enrolment, who shall sign the claim as a witness in his or her own handwriting. The witness attests that he/she has satisfied himself or herself, by inquiry from the claimant or otherwise, that the statements contained in the claim are true.

The new scheme will provide that all claims for enrolment (including transfer of enrolment) will be subject to proof of identity requirements. The proof of identity requirement will remove the need for a witness. Instead, persons enrolling to vote or updating their enrolment must provide:

(i)

their driver’s licence number; or

(ii)

if they do not have a driver’s licence, a copy of their ID (such as birth certificate or passport) which must be attested to by an enrolled elector in a prescribed class; or

(iii)

if they do not have a driver’s licence or ID, attestations by two enrolled electors who can confirm the applicant’s name and who have known the elector for more than one month.

The bill provides for the regulations for proof of identity to prescribe additional requirements for identification for enrolment.

The current witness requirement will no longer apply once the new proof of identity scheme comes into effect.

The provisions for third party disclosure on an annual basis, rather than during an election period (the current requirement), will ensure transparency for those people and organisations involved in the political process. In this regard, the bill provides for disclosure by a third party if that third party is required to authorise an advertisement pursuant to Schedule 2 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. This provision will capture disclosure of political content communicated through broadcast media.

Third parties will also be required to report on expenditure incurred for the printing and publication of electoral advertisements, notices and other material that is required to be authorised by section 328 and new 328A of the Electoral Act.

The third party reporting requirements will apply to associated entities as these entities can be actively involved in the political process. Associated entities will continue to be required to provide information under the existing requirements of section 314AEA for annual returns by associated entities.

The threshold for third party reporting will be the same as that proposed for other disclosure thresholds, that is, $10,000.

Currently, prisoners serving a full-time sentence of three years or longer are not entitled to enrol or vote. These persons are removed from the roll by objection following receipt of information from the prison authorities. Prisoners not currently on the roll who are serving a sentence of less than three years are entitled to apply for enrolment, and to vote in federal elections.

The proposed amendments will apply such that all prisoners serving a sentence of full-time detention will not be entitled to vote, but may remain on the roll or enrol if they are not currently enrolled. Those serving alternative sentences such as periodic or home detention, as well as those serving a non-custodial sentence or who have been released on parole, will still be eligible to enrol and vote.

Under current law, a taxpayer cannot claim a tax deduction for more than $100 of contributions to political parties registered under Part XI of the Electoral Act. The proposed amendment to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 will increase the tax deductibility value of contributions and gifts from an individual or a corporation to registered political parties and independent candidates and members, in relation to Commonwealth, State or Territory elections, from $100 to $1,500 in any income year. The provisions will also ensure parity of tax treatment by allowing tax deductibility for either gifts and/or contributions to both political parties and independent candidates and members.

EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (WELFARE TO WORK AND OTHER MEASURES) (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 2006

Parliament recently passed the Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Welfare to Work and Other Measures) Act 2005. To ensure that the policy intention of the Welfare to Work changes contained in the Act are fully realised and consistently applied, a number of additional amendments to the social security law are required.

Terminology and provisions in the social security law need to be replaced, amended or repealed to clarify the policy intention in relation to certain Welfare to Work measures.

This bill will allow parenting payment partnered recipients, who have a temporary incapacity exemption, to have access to pharmaceutical allowance.

It will also allow single principal carer parents who are bereaving the death of a child and are receiving Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance, to continue to receive the same rate they were receiving before their child died for another 14 weeks after the death of the child.

This bill extends the Employment Entry Payment. Income support recipients who are subject to a non payment period, due to compliance, are now able to continue to have access to an Employment Entry Payment. This payment is provided to income support recipients to assist in offsetting the costs associated in commencing employment or increasing the number of hours of work.

These measures and others in the bill build on announced Welfare to Work policy and ensure consistency across working age payments.

The measures in this bill will cost $4.8 million over 4 years.

ENERGY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2006

A secure, reliable and affordable energy supply is a fundamental input to Australia’s economic wellbeing. For this reason, it is critical that the regulatory framework governing our energy sector is sound. The Ministerial Council on Energy is the peak energy policy body in Australia and has made significant progress in its extensive energy market reform program.

In improving the operation of Australia’s electricity and natural gas markets, the Ministerial Council on Energy takes advice from many sources. A key input to its work in natural gas has been the Productivity Commission Review of the Gas Access Regime commissioned by this government. The regime governs the regulation of services provided by means of natural gas pipeline infrastructure, and operates through a co-operative legislative scheme involving the Commonwealth and all of the States and Territories.

The primary aim of the Review was to examine the extent to which existing gas access regime:

• balances the interests of service providers and gas pipeline users;
• provides a relevant framework that enables efficient investment in new pipeline infrastructure; and
• assists in facilitating a competitive market for natural gas.

The Commission found that changes to the regime could assist in the achievement of these goals.

The majority of the Ministerial Council on Energy’s policy responses to the recommendations of the Productivity Commission will be implemented through further amendments to the gas access regime which are intended to come into force in 2007. However, in seeking to ensure there is ongoing efficient investment to meet Australia’s growing energy demand, the Ministerial Council wishes to send a positive signal to market participants as soon as possible.

The Ministerial Council therefore agreed to adopt and build on some of the Commission’s key recommendations ahead of the introduction of the new legislative regime. The Ministerial Council decided to implement in the existing gas access regime two specific incentives aimed at encouraging investment in greenfields pipelines. Legislation implementing these incentives was introduced to the South Australian Parliament on 11 May 2006.

The first incentive allows the proponent of a proposed pipeline to seek a full exemption from regulation under the gas access regime for the pipeline’s first 15 years of operation. The second incentive allows proponents to seek an exemption from price regulation for a proposed international transmission pipeline which will deliver foreign gas to Australia. The key driver for this incentive is the importance of securing Australia’s long term energy security needs, while recognising the additional complexity of international infrastructure projects.

For both incentives, an independent body, the National Competition Council, will undertake an assessment of market power and public interest matters before the relevant Minister makes a decision on whether to grant the incentive. This will ensure the incentives are granted in the appropriate circumstances. Most importantly, the incentives will provide the necessary regulatory certainty for investors where market circumstances indicate the demand for potential new developments.

The amendments I am introducing today will further promote the opportunities to gain that regulatory certainty and thereby enhance the benefits created by the gas access regime. They have the full support of my State and Territory colleagues on the Ministerial Council on Energy.

In particular, the Energy Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 implements key changes to Commonwealth legislation to ensure that the incentives can function properly. First, they remove the possible application of regulation under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act to a pipeline granted one of the incentives. Secondly, they ensure that the gas access regime can remain a certified effective access regime, notwithstanding the availability of these incentives.

Finally, I am introducing some machinery changes to the gas access regime and the electricity regime. These include:

• amendments to the Trade Practices Act and the Gas Pipelines Access (Commonwealth) Act that update the provisions which allow the National Competition Council and Commonwealth Minister to have functions, powers and duties imposed on them under the State and Territory gas access regime; and
• amendments to incorrect references in Commonwealth legislation to parts of the National Electricity Law.

I commend the bill to the Senate.

EXPORT MARKET DEVELOPMENT GRANTS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2006

With the introduction of the Export Market Development Grants Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 the Government is delivering on its commitment to extend the EMDG scheme for another five years and provide a number of enhancements to the scheme.

The EMDG scheme, administered by Austrade, assists small and medium Australian businesses to enter into export and grow to export sustainability by partially reimbursing their eligible export promotion expenses.

It is a popular scheme that has been regularly reviewed and consistently shown to benefit Australia by supporting our exporters.

Last year the EMDG scheme delivered over 3,200 grants and paid out around $124 million to small and medium exporters. These businesses generated approximately $3.1 billion in exports.

Of the grants delivered last year, 77 per cent went to small businesses with annual incomes of $5 million or less. Twenty-three per cent of grants were paid to businesses in rural and regional Australia.

Demand for grants is even stronger this year, demonstrating the continued success of the scheme.

In accordance with the EMDG Act, in 2004 I asked Austrade to review the EMDG scheme and report on whether the scheme should be extended, and if so, options for the improved performance of the scheme.

Austrade conducted a comprehensive review of the scheme, considering 394 public submissions, feedback from 70 consultation meetings and the results of independent research conducted by the Centre for International Economics.

The review found that the EMDG scheme is an effective tool for encouraging businesses to seek out and develop export markets and that it enjoys very strong support from Australian businesses across a wide range of industries.

For example, the Eaglereach Wilderness Resort, an award-winning eco-tourism resort located in the Hunter region of NSW, told the review that ‘the scheme encourages small companies such as ours to enter into the export market’.

And GAP Agrifood Exports, a successful exporter of meat, fruit, vegetables and fish to Asia and the Pacific Islands, said in its review submission that the EMDG program ‘is essential to the new exporter’.

This positive industry feedback was supported by the independent research which showed that the EMDG scheme induces export promotion, boosts exports, improves the sustainability of small and medium businesses and has a positive impact on Australia’s export culture.

In response to the review’s findings, the Government decided to extend the EMDG scheme for a further five years and introduce some changes to enhance the effectiveness of the scheme.

The Export Market Development Grants Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 implements these Government decisions.

The bill provides certainty for Australia’s current and future exporters by extending the EMDG scheme until 2010-11, with grants in relation to export promotion expenditure incurred in 2010-11 to be paid in 2011-12.

In addition the bill contains a number of amendments to the scheme.

The proposed amendment to increase the claimable overseas visit allowance from $200 to $300 per day will be of particular benefit to new and emerging exporters. The amendment will increase the incentive for this group to take the crucial step of visiting overseas markets to meet new customers and learn how export business is done.

The amendments to the rules of the scheme in relation to the origin of eligible products, disposal of intellectual property, principal status and export earnings will make the scheme more flexible and more relevant in terms of modern business practices and emerging export industries.

Removal of the export earnings test will also address anomalies that have resulted in some SMEs and emerging exporters being denied grants or having their grant entitlement reduced.

For example, removing the test addresses the anomaly that businesses spending on export promotion in one year but not receiving export earnings until the following year might be denied a grant, simply because there was a time lag between promoting their products and receiving export sales revenue.

The other amendments in the bill will assist in streamlining administration of the scheme and enhancing risk management.

The proposed changes are to take effect for EMDG applications from the 2006-07 grant year onwards—that is, to applications received and grants paid from 1 July 2007.

I am confident that the amendments contained in the EMDG Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 will be of considerable assistance to Australia’s small and emerging exporters and will be warmly welcomed by the business community.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the individuals, businesses and organisations that contributed to the review of the EMDG scheme. Their input has enabled the Government to tailor a package of measures that will both deliver significant benefits to small and emerging exporters and further secure Australia’s exporting future.