Senator COOK (9:38 AM) —by leave—I seek leave to move business of the Senate notice of motion No. 3 in an amended form.

Leave granted.

Senator COOK —I move:

(1) That the following matters be referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 22 November 1999:

(a) the economic theories, assumptions, calculations, projections, estimates and modelling which underpin the Government's proposals for business taxation reform, contained in the Treasurer's press release no. 58 of 21 September 1999 and in subsequent announcements;

(b) whether the package is revenue neutral and, if not, how it could be made revenue neutral;

(c) whether there are any uncertainties in the assumptions, costings or implementation of the measures which threaten revenue neutrality, including:

(i) the realisation assumptions concerning capital gains tax,

(ii) the potential for income to be converted to capital gains in order to minimise overall tax paid, and

(iii) the timing or the collection and bring forward of revenue;

(d) the effects of the package on future federal budget revenues, expenditures and surpluses, including a critical assessment of the economic and other assumptions underpinning the projections;

(e) the estimated levels of revenue to be generated or foregone due to the proposed changes in business tax and capital gains tax and the basis for those estimates;

(f) options for reducing tax avoidance and minimisation;

(g) the further effective reduction in the research and development tax concession arising from the package; and

(h) such other technical funding matters as the committee considers fall within the scope of this inquiry.

(2) That the committee hold public hearings on such dates as are notified by the committee chair.

Labor supports business tax reform but, because the GST has been imposed on Australian families, the revenue neutrality constraint imposed by the Treasurer must, in our view, be met. We in the opposition are concerned that the package as announced does not meet the revenue neutrality test, but we are also concerned to examine the assumptions and costings underlying the decisions that have been announced. There is, it has to be admitted, considerable public debate about some of the assumptions and these need, in our view, to be thoroughly examined.

We have had a productive process of discussion and negotiation about our two motions with Senator Murray on behalf of the Democrats. We could not agree on the timetable proposed by Senator Murray. In our view, a reporting date of 3 November would have been extremely difficult. That would have arisen because as soon as we leave this place next week the opposition, and the nation for that matter, will be completely focused on the republic referendum. As a consequence of the time that would take, there has been an agreement to push the reporting date out to 22 November rather than 3 November which was originally set down in Senator Murray's motion. I have to emphasise the point that that is in recognition of the time that will be taken out because of the republic referendum. I thank Senator Murray for seeing that his original timetable was impossible in that context and acknowledge he has agreed to change the reporting date to accommodate that necessity.

Labor's main beef in the reporting process is the fact that we do not have the full business tax package before us. In our submission, it is ludicrous of the government to expect the full package to be taken on trust. The government cannot be trusted to deliver a revenue neutral outcome. We call on the Treasurer to quickly release the balance of his package, the so-called phase 2, and let us get all the information before the committee.

Let me be crystal clear on this final point. Labor thinks—and I think the Democrats agree—that if the second phase of the Treasurer's announcements are not delivered and subjected to full scrutiny by this committee, then a further inquiry process will be necessary.