Page 2198 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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Time will only allow me to comment briefly on some of the legislation that the government will introduce in the spring 2007 sittings. As everyone is aware, Canberra is facing a number of pressing issues that the government is determined to responsibly address. Important steps have already been taken by way of this year’s budget for matters such as the local impact of the national skill shortage, global warming and water security.
Another key challenge that I mentioned earlier is to help more Canberrans to access appropriate and affordable housing. This was begun in June when I introduced the first bill in a suite of legislation to implement the government’s housing affordability action plan. The Revenue Legislation (Housing Affordability Initiatives) Amendment Bill 2007 is the next proposed legislative step in meeting the government’s commitment. It will address those initiatives in the action plan on which current tax laws may have an adverse impact, including tax laws relating to the treatment for tax purposes of shared equity products.
The government is keen to ensure that those dependent on social housing are also having their needs appropriately met. To this end, a regulatory framework for not-for-profit housing providers is to be established. The Housing Assistance (Amendment) Bill 2007 will allow the Commissioner for Social Housing to register, monitor the activities of and deregister housing providers.
Legislative changes are to be proposed in regard to the administration of penalty and payroll tax and for land-rich duty provisions. The Duties Amendment Bill 2007 will address some ambiguity in current legislation about the retention for duty purposes of long-term leases and the protection of revenues in relation to long-term commercial leases and commercial lease renewals.
Amendments to the Payroll Tax Act 1987 will fulfil the government’s agreement to adopt a number of measures as part of the national scheme to improve consistency in payroll tax administration, excluding rates and thresholds. These measures relate to exemptions for certain overseas employees from the tax, linkages to allowance rates set by the Australian Taxation Office for specific travel and accommodation exemptions, and a single gross-up factor to calculate fringe benefits tax liabilities.
Land-rich duty provisions are to be strengthened and aligned with those of other jurisdictions by the Duties Amendment Bill 2007. Land-rich provisions limit the scope for the avoidance of duty where the control of land is acquired through the transfer of units or shares in certain landholding entities rather than the transfer of the title to the land.
Improved services and efficiencies should result from a number of reforms to be made. A key change is the overhaul of the compulsory ACT motor vehicle third party insurance scheme, which has not changed significantly since 1948. In December last year I announced a review that was to look closely at all aspects of the scheme with the objective of finding ways to make it more efficient and responsive to the needs of the key scheme stakeholders—that is, motor vehicle owners and accident victims.
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