Mr ROBB (10:44 AM) —I rise today to speak on the Tax Laws Amendment (2005 Measures No. 4) Bill 2005. This bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, the Taxation Administration Act 1953, the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 and the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999. The first schedule of this bill fulfils the government’s election promise of providing Australian parents with a 30 per cent rebate on out-of-pocket child-care expenses of up to $4,000 per child.

I was sorry to hear the previous speaker, the member for Batman, taking the opportunity in addressing this measure to perpetuate the sweeping unfounded statements that have been made by the union and the Labor Party about workplace reforms. The member for Batman sought to unnecessarily frighten child-care workers in addressing this bill. The member for Batman understands, as should everybody on the other side of the House, that the workplace reforms are not about the removal of rights; they are all about retaining protections in awards while at the same time creating the opportunity to add new rights and explore new conditions. They are in fact a continuation of the measures begun by the Keating government 12 years ago. They are part of a remodelling of our workplace relations arrangements that was begun in 1993 and continued in 1996. We are now reaching stage 3.

If you look at what former Prime Minister Keating said at the time to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, you will see that he said that we should reach a point where agreements are separated from awards and where arrangements are struck at a workplace level. These are the best arrangements, he said, and are the ones which will provide the best productivity as well as the best quality of life for employees—and he was right. We are continuing that process with the reforms that are before the House at the present time. It is regrettable that the member for Batman would take this opportunity to frighten child-care workers. The workplace reforms are an opportunity for child-care workers, not a cause for concern. I can say to child-care workers: seize the opportunity, take advantage of the things that are going to be offered and have no concern for the rights that have already been hard-won and earned.

The child-care rebate that we have in front of us in this amendment is just one pillar of the government’s initiatives to support Australian families. Again, if you listened to the speakers on the other side of the House, you would think that there was not a range of measures which go to providing a comprehensive child-care support system within Australia. Under this government, the number of child-care places has grown from 306,500 to 563,000. Not only that, but families have been given further support for the cost of child care through the child-care benefit, with Australian families receiving on average around $2,000 each year from the child-care benefit. Of course, Australian families are also benefiting from the family tax benefit part B. There is a comprehensive range of assistance directed very much to child-care arrangements in this country. It has been a proud area of activity for this government over 9½ years and one which we are continuing with these amendments.

The government announced in December that the 30 per cent child-care rebate will now be backdated to 1 July 2004, allowing Australian families to claim an extra six months of out-of-pocket expenses for child care. This rebate will provide extra assistance for around 640,000 families, with a cost of $1 billion over four years. It is real money, it is serious money and it adds significantly to the range of other measures which assist families in accessing child-care places in Australia today. In order to maximise the benefit of the rebate, taxpayers with insufficient tax liability to absorb the whole rebate will be able to transfer any unused amount to their spouse. This is a genuine attempt to allow families to get the maximum benefit from the rebate.

The rebate can be claimed by Australian families in the subsequent year’s tax return. The decision to have the rebate claimed in the subsequent year was made in order to avoid any complication that may occur if a family is also eligible for the child-care benefits. This way, families will know the final amount of their child-care benefit received and can adjust accordingly. The child-care benefit is claimed fortnightly through reduced child-care fees which are based on an estimate of the family’s adjusted taxable income. The correct entitlement to the child-care benefit is calculated on an annual reconciliation by Centrelink. The government felt that the system of claiming the cost in the subsequent year’s return was the one which would reduce any possible complications, any confusion, any stress and any concern for families. This measure is taken in good faith to assist and add to the wide range of measures that we are seeing for child care in this country.

The second schedule in this bill adds nine new organisations to the list of deductible gift recipients in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. Amongst the list of new deductible gift recipients, my colleagues on the other side of the House will be pleased to note—I might add that the member for Hunter welcomed this inclusion earlier this year—is the Chifley Research Centre. I can only hope that this opportunity will assist the Chifley Research Centre to provide some much needed serious policy input to the opposition benches. The other organisations listed include Crime Stoppers Northern Territory; Playgroup WA, Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales; and the Rotary Club of Katoomba—important additions.

The third schedule to this bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to expand the ability of the Commissioner of Taxation to disclose business income tax information to the Australian Statistician for the purposes of improving the quality and scope of information that can be provided to the public. Currently, the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 only allows for the disclosure of this information for the limited purposes of conducting periodic surveys and the compilation of national accounts. This limits the ability of the Australian Bureau of Statistics to use this information for broader analytic purposes. Those broader purposes include using this information for longitudinal studies to develop more comprehensive databases of businesses and for statistical modelling. Also, the Australian Bureau of Statistics may use the information for producing regional small business outputs. Allowing the broader use of this information will provide a great benefit in providing detailed statistical information about Australian businesses.

The fourth and final schedule to this bill provides that New Zealand wine producers whose wine is exported to the Australian market are able to access the wine producer rebate that is currently available to Australian producers. Australia and New Zealand entered into the closer economic relationship agreement in 1983, and it remains one of the world’s most successful free trade agreements. I think it has greatly influenced the attitude of Australia to other bilateral agreements that have been successfully negotiated. It has shown that successful bilateral agreements can be a forerunner to putting pressure on wider multilateral agreements and, in the meantime, very important benefits can be achieved by individual economies in those bilateral agreements. On any count, the closer economic relationship agreement has been an outstanding success and has been added to through the years by both sides of this House.

Since 1983, two-way trade with New Zealand has expanded by some 500 per cent. In 2003-04, trans-Tasman trade amounted to $A17.3 billion. New Zealand is Australia’s fifth largest market, taking 7.4 per cent of its exports, and it is Australia’s seventh largest source of imports. Australia is New Zealand’s principal trading partner, taking 22 per cent of its exports and providing 22 per cent of its imports. It has been manifestly good for both countries. It has required give and take and a harmonisation of more and more arrangements between our two countries, and that can only continue into the future.

As part of this closer economic relationship, which has benefited both economies over the past two decades, Australia agreed to extend the wine equalisation tax rebate to New Zealand wine producers selling into the Australian market. Currently, Australian wine producers can claim a wine equalisation tax rebate of up to $290,000 per year. This effectively means that $1 million of the wholesale value of each producer’s wine sales per year are exempt from the wine equalisation tax. Following the implementation of this legislation, New Zealand wine producers will be able to apply to the Commissioner of Taxation to become approved New Zealand participants in this scheme. If they receive approval and can demonstrate that the wine equalisation tax has been paid, they will be eligible for the rebate.

The closer economic relationship between Australia and New Zealand is of vital importance to our two economies. This initiative continues that closer relationship and the understanding and give and take that is essential to the relationship that has been forged over the last two decades, and I commend this initiative in further helping to improve that relationship. I commend these four initiatives and this bill to the House.