Mr HAASE —My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Can the Deputy Prime Minister advise the House of the benefits that will flow to rural and regional Australia as a result of the government's response to the Ralph Review of Business Taxation? What has been the response in the regions to the announcement?

Mr ANDERSON (Deputy Prime Minister) —I thank the honourable member for his question, representing as he does such a huge area of rural and regional Australia, and representing it very well. I think the simple answer to his question is that there is no doubt that the improvements the Treasurer announced yesterday—and I join the Prime Minister in complimenting him and thanking him for his hard work and his great diligence in working through a lot of issues of real concern for many of us over the last few months—represent a great series of improvements for rural and regional Australia, especially when combined with the reforms that will flow through next year from the introduction of the goods and services tax and the abolition of Labor's wholesale sales tax and the fuel excise.

Let me come to some specifics. Firstly, accelerated depreciation for small businesses and farmers has been very widely welcomed as being important for small business and the farm sectors. What is more, the reality is that it will be simplified and more workable from July 2001. There will be considerably less paperwork; it will indeed be a simplified tax system for many of the people who need access to accelerated depreciation.

Secondly, we have lifted the dead hand of Labor's capital gains tax from the family farm and small business. This has been a real bone of contention for a long time. We are now in a situation where postwar generation farmers and small business operators can look forward to retirement with much improved security. Capital gains tax need no longer be an issue for them. If you look at the broader reforms on capital gains tax, people in small business will get a further 50 per cent small business exemption plus they will be able to apply the remaining 25 per cent capital gain towards a $500,000 capital gains retirement exemption. In addition—as has been referred to here, this has been widely welcomed by the National Farmers Federation—if they have held the asset for more than 15 years it will be totally exempt in any case. There is no doubt that it is a magnificent package for small business and for farm retirees. That is why we have seen Ian Donges reporting very well on it. The Queensland Farmers Federation has said simply, `It seems the government has listened to the concerns of farmers.' On special treatment for small business, the Courier-Mail said:

This is good news for Queensland, given the state's reliance on a thriving small business sector to ensure the overall health of its economy.

The Albury Border Mail editorial said:

A simpler tax system will reduce the tax burden on business, therefore generate business investment, the end result should be a significant increase in the number of jobs.

They are the sorts of comments that have been made. Thirdly, I think it is worth mentioning that removing the capital gains tax from scrip to scrip takeovers will provide a great boost to small innovative Australian companies that want to stay Australian. This is something that comes up a lot when I move around rural and regional Australia. It will mean that if you start a small company in Australia and grow it into a bigger company, you can do so without being crippled by Labor's capital gains tax. It encourages innovative fast-growing companies to continue their development in this country rather than relocating offshore, as we hear too often. There has been a very interesting endorsement of our approach from none other than the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie. He said:

These capital gains tax changes will allow fledgling Australian companies to tap into the huge investment resources of the US pension funds and Australian superannuation funds.

The Labor Premier of Queensland said:

Hopefully, the regular stories of good Australian ideas being lost overseas will be a thing of the past.

Amen to that. Rural, regional and remote Australia clearly want and need more investment and more jobs. I have no doubt that this package delivers those things. In the sense that it provides a further valuable instalment on our reform program, it will make a difference in rural Australia because it will boost existing industries and it will help us to attract new industries.