Senator IAN CAMPBELL (4:14 PM) —I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard .

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

INTERNATIONAL TAX AGREEMENTS AMENDMENT BILL 1999

This bill will provide legislative authority for the domestic entry into force of three new comprehensive double taxation agreements (with South Africa, Slovakia and Argentina), and an amending protocol to our existing agreement with Malaysia. The bill will insert the text of each of the agreements and the protocol into the International Tax Agreements Act 1953 as schedules to that act.

The agreement between Australia and South Africa was signed on 1 July 1999, whilst the Malaysian Protocol, the Slovak Agreement and the Argentine Agreement were all signed during August 1999.

Details of these agreements and the protocol were announced and copies made publicly available following the respective dates of signature.

The new agreements generally accord with the other comprehensive taxation agreements concluded by Australia in recent years. The agreements and the protocol incorporate revised Alienation of Property Articles which are designed to overcome the adverse decision of the Full Federal Court in Commissioner of Taxation v Lamesa Holdings BV. The agreements with South Africa and Argentina are the first double taxation agreements to be concluded by Australia with an African and a South American country respectively and the agreement with Argentina will, in particular, benefit Australian companies with mining interests in Argentina.

The Malaysian Protocol will operate to relieve Australian residents of double taxation on fees received for consultancy and other services supplied that are utilised in Malaysia, with effect from the 1993-94 income year.

It and an associated exchange of letters will also extend the operation of the tax sparing measures in the Malaysian Agreement to relevant income derived during the 1984-85 to the 1991-92 income years. Those measures apply in relation to certain income derived by Australian residents that Malaysia exempts or taxes at a reduced rate under special development incentive provisions and had previously operated only up to the 1983-84 income year.

The Government believes the conclusion of these new agreements and protocol will go a long way to strengthening of trade, investment, and wider relationships between Australia and each of these countries.

The agreements and protocol will enter into force respectively when diplomatic notes are exchanged advising that all of the necessary domestic processes to give them the force of law in each country have been completed. The enactment of this bill, and the satisfaction of the other procedures relating to proposed treaty actions, will complete the processes followed in Australia for those purposes.

It is not possible to accurately predict the eventual effect of these agreements and the protocol on the revenue, but it is not expected to be significant.

Full details of the amendments are contained in the explanatory memorandum.

I commend the bill.

HEALTH INSURANCE AMENDMENT (DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING SERVICES) BILL 1999

The bill addresses the problem of how people in rural and remote Australia can access high quality diagnostic imaging services through doctors who are not specialists, mainly general practitioners. At the same time, it seeks to treat fairly general practitioners across the country who have been supplying diagnostic imaging services to their communities for a number of years.

The amendments proposed to the Health Insurance Act 1973 address these two issues by the introduction of a program of continuing medical education and quality assurance for medical practitioners providing diagnostic imaging services.

As a condition of their exemption from the requirements placed on diagnostic imaging practices, these medical practitioners will now be required to participate in continuing medical education and quality assurance programs.

The design of this program has been jointly agreed between The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists.

The amendments ensure that communities more than 30km from a radiology practice, continue to have access to such services through general practitioners and that those services are now provided for the first time under a quality assurance program. The amendments also impose the same conditions on general practitioners operating under the pre-existing diagnostic imaging practices' exemption.

The new arrangements will be implemented in such a way as to ensure maximum continuity of service for the community.

Ordered that further consideration of the second reading of this bill be adjourned till the first day of the summer sittings 1999, in accordance with standing order 111.

Ordered that these bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.