That this House:

(1)   requires the Government:

(a)   urgently to introduce legislation to reinstate the former workplace participation criteria for independent youth allowance, to apply to students whose family home is located in inner regional areas as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics instrument Australian Standard Geographical Classification; and

(b)   to appropriate funds necessary to meet the additional cost of expanding the criteria for participation, with the funds to come from the Education Investment Fund; and

(2)   to send a message to the Senate acquainting it of this resolution and request that it concur.

That this House:

(1)   recognises that the forestry industry is an important part of the Australian economy but is currently in crisis;

(2)   understands that it is necessary to secure the viability of forestry dependent communities and to create well paid, high skilled jobs by value adding to our natural resource;

(3)   supports the process whereby the forestry unions, government, industry, environment and community groups working together will allow a complete restructure of the industry that will determine that any transition is fair and just for workers, their families and communities; and

(4)   calls on the House to ensure that interim payments to those facing hardships because of the transition, and those exiting the industry, can be assisted in a timely manner.

That this House:

(1)   notes that pensioners have difficulty in keeping up with living costs;

(2)   understands that when there is a Commonwealth pension rise, most of it is taken up by States and Territories lifting housing rents and power costs;

(3)   notes that all low income people are becoming further impoverished by changes to the pensions;

(4)   recommends to the Treasurer to enact legislation so that States and Territories are limited in passing on such rises in full to their instruments; and

(5)   puts into place a more useful poverty measurement than is currently used.

That this House:

(1)   acknowledges the work of carers, and in particular ageing parents caring for profoundly disabled dependents;

(2)   recognises that ageing parent carers remain deeply concerned about the diminishing capacity to care for their dependent children;

(3)   appreciates the special challenges faced by families, and in particular ageing parents, who wish to make provision for the needs of their disabled dependents;

(4)   notes that:

(a)   disability trusts were established in September 2006 by the Coalition Government to assist families make provision for the future housing and care needs of dependents with severe disabilities;

(b)   despite the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs estimating that over four years, 5000 people with severe disability would benefit from Special Disability Trusts, as at 31 March 2010, 423 people have been assessed as eligible, and only 91 trusts have been established; and

(c)   since establishing Special Disability Trusts, it has become apparent that the conditions governing eligibility and management, as well as direct and wider taxation implications, have limited the workability and uptake of the trusts;

(5)   acknowledges that conditions diminishing the attractiveness of the trusts include the:

(a)   complex application of taxation rules;

(b)   inflexibility in what trust funds may be used for;

(c)   inability for beneficiaries, through Special Disability Trusts, to claim the first home owners grant and other home saving initiatives;

(d)   high initial eligibility threshold requiring a beneficiary to be eligible for at least a Carer Allowance, the regulations of which state, inter alia, that care for a ‘significant period’ must be given, defined as at least 20 hours a week of care;

(e)   eligibility requirements disfavouring mental impairment disabilities; and

(f)   attribution of Capital Gains Tax to transferors where, in particular, houses are placed into Special Disability Trusts;

(6)   condemns the Government for not taking seriously the recommendations outlined in the October 2008 Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs report entitled: Building Trust, Supporting Families through Disability Trusts; and

(7)   calls on the Government to fully examine the viability of implementing the Senate Committee’s recommendations with a view to assisting ageing parents to adequately address the future needs of their profoundly disabled dependents.

That this House:

(1)   notes that:

(a)   Australia’s Future Tax System Review (the ‘Henry Review’) made a large number of recommendations in relation to the system of taxation;

(b)   the Government implemented very few of the recommendations;

(c)   the Government has so far not released any of the Treasury modelling or other relevant information and advice underlying the recommendations; and

(d)   release of that information would be in the best interests of the community by facilitating a fully informed public debate about the way forward for taxation reform;

(2)   orders the Government to release within five working days from the date of this motion, all of the relevant modelling, costings, working papers and supporting information underlying the ‘Henry Review’;

(3)   requires that, from the date of this motion, no existing papers, emails or other information relating to the ‘Henry Review’ may be destroyed; and

(4)   requires the Secretary of the Treasury to warrant to the House that all relevant documentation underlying the ‘Henry Review’ has been released.

That this House:

(1)   notes significant community concern regarding the clarity, simplicity and accuracy of food labelling, including labelling identifying the:

(a)   origin of the food;

(b)   nutritional value of the food; and

(c)   food production methods used, including the use of food technologies;

(2)   recognises that:

(a)   adequate food labelling laws should aim foremost to protect the health and safety of consumers and eliminate deceitful or misleading labelling information;

(b)   having clear, simple and accurate labelling on food empowers consumers and enables them to make informed food choices; and

(c)   for food labelling laws to be effective, they need to be rigorously and consistently enforced;

(3)   supports the Australian and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council’s establishment of an independent review into food labelling; and

(4)   encourages the Government and State and Territory governments to examine the results of this review, and work together to ensure that our food labelling laws deliver the outcomes our community desires.