Mr BOWEN (Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law and Minister for Human Services) (9:37 AM) —I move:

The Corporations (Fees) Amendment Bill 2010 supports the Corporations Amendment (Financial Market Supervision) Bill 2010.

The bill amends the Corporations (Fees) Act 2001 to allow a fee to be charged to market operators in respect of market supervision functions which the main bill vests in the corporate regulator ASIC.

This is in line with the findings of the Wallis inquiry, which, when it reported in 1997, made a recommendation that regulatory agencies should collect enough revenue from the financial entities which they regulate to fund themselves. The principle is that, for reasons of equity and efficiency, the costs of financial regulation should be borne by those who benefit from it.

The fee collected by ASIC will be levied on a cost recovery basis. It is intended that the imposition of fees by ASIC on market operators will not have a significant impact on investors.

The regulations will specify how the fee will be calculated and when it will be imposed.

Full details of the measures in this bill are contained in the explanatory memorandum. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mrs Gash) adjourned.