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This Bill is the fourth tranche of legislation implementing the
Government’s MySuper and governance reforms as part of
Stronger Super. The Legislative and Governance Forum for
Corporations has been notified of the Bill as per section 506 of
the Corporations Agreement, and the Bill does not require forum
approval as it is exempt under section 507 of the Corporations
Agreement.
The Protecting Local Jobs (Regulating Enterprise Migration
Agreements) Bill 2012 amends the Fair Work Act 2009 and the
Migration Act 1958. The Bill will create a legislative framework
for Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMA) to ensure such agreements
are used only where genuinely necessary and do not adversely affect
local job opportunities. The Bill also sets out various conditions
that can be included when an EMA is made. The Bill will require
employers to advertise jobs to locals before they can get an EMA.
It will also require a local jobs board listing jobs to be filled
in the resources sector to be maintained by the Workplace Relations
Minister.
Events
•
16/05/2013 Negatived at second reading
•
23/08/2012 Senate Selection of Bills Committee referred the Bill to
the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation
Committee for inquiry and report by 29 October 2012.
Strengthening scrip for scrip roll-over, small business and other
concessions
Schedule 1 to this Bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
to ensure that certain integrity rules in the small business
concessions and the scrip for scrip roll-over apply to life
insurance companies, superannuation funds and trusts in the same
way that they apply to other types of entities. Schedule 1 to this
Bill also ensures that these integrity rules (and the capital gains
tax (CGT) provisions more generally) are applied as if absolutely
entitled beneficiaries, bankrupt individuals, companies in
liquidation and security providers are the owners of relevant
assets. That is, under these provisions, the nominal owners are
looked through to the underlying owners of such
assets.
Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act
2006
•
Aged Care Act 1997
•
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Consequential and
Transitional Provisions) Act 2004
•
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
•
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986
•
Social Security Act 1991
•
Farm Household Support Act 1992
•
A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999
•
Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
•
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
Summary
•
OUTLINE AND FINANCIAL IMPACT
The Bill amends the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act
2004 and other legislation to give effect to initiatives that form
part of the Government response to the Review of Military
Compensation Arrangements. The Bill also amends Veterans. Affairs
legislation to enable travelling expenses to be paid for the
partners of certain eligible persons and clarify arrangements
relating to bank accounts and in relation to certain treatment
costs.
Purpose/Objective
The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (New
Mandate and Other Measures) Bill 2013 (referred to in this
Explanatory Memorandum as the 'Bill') implements the
Government's response to the Productivity Commission Inquiry
Report on Australia's Export Credit Arrangements, released in
May 2012.
The Bill will also give new powers to the Export Finance and
Insurance Corporation (EFIC) so it can better support Australian
small and medium sized businesses participating in global and
regional value chains.
This Bill is required to give legislative effect, through the
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act 1991 (the Act), to
EFIC's new mandate and other measures agreed in the
Government's response to the Productivity Commission, as well
as a limited expansion of EFIC's guarantee powers.
Schedule 1 to this Bill amends Part IVA of the Income Tax
Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) to ensure its effective operation
as the income tax general anti-avoidance provision.
The principal role of Part IVA is to counter arrangements that,
objectively viewed, are carried out with the sole or dominant
purpose of securing a tax advantage for a taxpayer.
Broadly speaking, Part IVA operates to counter such arrangements
by exposing the substance or reality of the arrangements to the
ordinary operation of the income tax law.
Events
•
16/05/2013 Passed Senate
•
13/03/2013 Senate referred the Bill to the Economics Legislation
Committee for inquiry and report tabled 14 May 2013.
Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act
1999
•
Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax)
Act 2007
•
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
Summary
•
Taxation of interest on unclaimed money
Schedule 1 to this Bill amends the income tax and superannuation
law to ensure that income tax is generally not payable on the
interest paid by the Commonwealth on unclaimed money from 1 July
2013.
Fringe benefits tax — reform of airline transport fringe
benefits
Schedule 2 to this Bill amends the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment
Act 1986 to align the special rules for calculating airline
transport fringe benefits with the general provisions dealing with
in-house property fringe benefits and in-house residual fringe
benefits. The method for determining the taxable value of airline
transport fringe benefits is also updated to simplify the practical
operation of the law and to better reflect the economic value of
the benefit.
Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program
Schedule 3 to this Bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
to allow participants in the Sustainable Rural Water Use and
Infrastructure Program (SRWUIP) to choose to make payments they
derive under the program free of income tax (including capital
gains tax), with expenditure relating to the infrastructure
improvements required under the program then being
non-deductible.
Self managed superannuation funds — acquisitions and
disposals of certain assets between related parties
Schedule 4 to this Bill amends the Superannuation Industry
(Supervision) Act 1993 to prescribe requirements for acquisitions
and disposals of certain assets between self managed superannuation
funds (SMSFs) and related parties. These requirements ensure that
these transactions are conducted with transparency and are not used
to circumvent the requirements of the superannuation
law.
Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993
•
Taxation Administration Act 1953
•
Superannuation (Government Co-contribution for Low Income Earners)
Act 2003
•
Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997
•
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
Summary
•
Superannuation concessional contributions cap
Schedule 1 to the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Increased
Concessional Contributions Cap and Other Measures) Bill 2013 amends
the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and the Income Tax (Transitional
Provisions) Act 1997 to increase the concessional contributions cap
temporarily to $35,000 for the 2013-14 financial year for
individuals aged 60 years and over, and to $35,000 for the 2014-15
financial year and later financial years for individuals aged 50
years and over. The temporary cap will cease when the general cap
indexes to $35,000.
1. The Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2013
(FFLA Bill) would, if passed, amend five Acts across three
portfolios.
2. There are four main purposes of the proposed amendments:
to amend the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA
Act) to authorise the Commonwealth to form or participate in
forming companies and to acquire shares in, or become a member of a
company, so long as the proposed company is specified in the
Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997 (FMA
Regulations) and the objects or proposed activities of the company
are specified in the Regulations;
to amend the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977
(ADJR Act) to include decisions made under the proposed amendment
to the FMA Act in the relevant schedule of decisions not subject to
review under that Act;
to amend the Judges' Pensions Act 1968, the Remuneration
Tribunal Act 1973 and the Social Security Act 1991(in relation to
payments under the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payments
scheme) to establish a recoverable payments framework for dealing
with administrative overpayments, and to address instances where
the relevant agency makes payments from appropriations to
recipients that, although made in the bona fide administration of
that legislation, are not, in practice, consistent with the
requirements or preconditions imposed by legislation; and
to enable deferred tax asset relief to be provided to the
Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation in relation to the transfer
of assets from the Military Superannuation and Benefits Fund to the
ARIA Investments Trust that occurred in May 2012. This flows from
the Government.s decision to consolidate the trustees of the
Commonwealth.s main civilian and military superannuation
schemes.
3. This is the thirteenth FFLA Bill since 2004, and forms part of
an ongoing approach to maintaining the Australian Government's
financial framework. Ten of those Bills became law, with the first
and the sixth FFLA Bills lapsing upon the prorogation of the
Australian Parliament for the 2004 and 2010 federal elections. The
most recent FFLA Bill, the Financial Framework Legislation
Amendment Bill (No. 4) 2012, was passed by the Parliament on 28
February 2013.
4. The first FFLA Bill focussed primarily on implementing text
changes to reflect the creation of Special Accounts, from 1 July
1999, in deeming provisions that were in the Financial Management
Legislation Amendment Act 1999. Later FFLA Bills, including this
one, cover a range of issues dealing with appropriations, financial
management provisions, governance structures and legislative
anomalies.
The Government has released for public consultation an exposure
draft of the legislation to implement the higher concessional
superannuation contributions cap for older individuals announced by
the Government on 5 April 2013 and the accompanying Explanatory
Memorandum.
To help those nearing retirement to build the adequacy of their
retirement savings the Government is introducing a higher
superannuation contributions cap of $35,000 for older individuals.
For individuals aged 60 and over, the new higher cap will apply
from 1 July 2013. Individuals aged 50 and over will be able to
access the higher cap from 1 July 2014.
The higher cap is temporary and will cease when the general cap
indexes to $35,000 (expected to be 1 July 2018).
The exposure draft legislation will amend the Income Tax
Assessment Act 1997, the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act
1997.
The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Disaster Recovery
Allowance) Bill 2013 (the Bill) will create a new payment, the
Disaster Recovery Allowance (the Allowance), a fortnightly income
support payment for individuals whose income has been affected by a
major disaster.
The Bill will amend the Social Security Act 1991 (the SS Act), the
Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (the Administration Act)
and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to implement this
change.
The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Australian Country of
Origin Food Labelling) Bill 2013 implements important reforms to
the designation and regulation of country of origin labelling for
food in Australia. It is widely recognised that Australia's
current country of origin labelling requirements for food are
unsatisfactory and includes information that confuses and misleads
consumers. This was confirmed by the independent review of food
labelling law and policy, chaired by Dr Neal Blewett, in the
review's report Labelling Logic (2011),1 and by subsequent
independent research carried out by the consumer advocacy
organisation, CHOICE2.
There are two key parts to the amendments put forward in this
Bill. The first enacts Recommendation 41 of the Blewett Review, by
creating a specific section in the Competition and Consumer Act
that deals solely with country or origin claims with regard to
food.
The new provisions create a single regulatory regime for most
kinds of unpackaged and packaged food, retaining mandatory
labelling requirements, but superseding the country of origin
labelling requirements currently in the Food Standards Australia
New Zealand Act 1995.
The second part of this Bill enacts recommendations arising from
the Senate Inquiry into Senator Milne's private member's
Bill, the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Australian Food
Labelling) Bill 20123. These amendments extend country of origin
food labelling to all packaged and unpackaged food for retail sale;
and clarify and restrict the range of labelling (and the meaning of
key terms in country of origin labelling) to three kinds of claim.
These changes simplify the system and provide greater transparency
for consumers.
Key amendments provide new stipulations about the definition and
wording of claims regarding food manufacturing in Australia; and
are accompanied by a requirement to use the term "Manufactured
in Australia" rather than "Made in Australia". This
reflects consumer research that demonstrates that consumers find
the words "Made in Australia" confusing and think it
refers to the origin of the content that is additional to local
manufacture. "Manufactured" is a more clearly understood
term that removes this confusion.
The Bill also removes the ability to make qualified claims such as
"Made from local and imported ingredients" that have been
shown to be particularly misleading and uninformative for
consumers, and replaces them with the claim of "Packaged in
Australia", which reflects the situation where food has
minimal Australian processing.
The Fair Work Act Review was carried out by a panel of three
independent experts in response to the Government’s
commitment to commence a post-implementation review of the Fair
Work Act 2009 (FW Act) within 2 years of its full
implementation.
The Fair Work Act Review Panel (the Panel) completed its
deliberations and delivered its report – Towards more
productive and equitable workplaces: An evaluation of the fair work
legislation (the Report) – in June 2012. In finding that
the FW Act was broadly meeting its objectives and did not require
wholesale change, the Panel made a range of mainly technical
recommendations to improve the operation of the legislation without
compromising productivity and fairness in the workplace. The Office
of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) in the Department of Finance and
Deregulation confirmed the Report met the best practice regulation
requirements.
The Fair Work Amendment Act 2012 (FW Amendment Act 2012) was
passed by the Parliament in December 2012 and implemented
approximately one third of the recommendations of the Panel for
which there was broad consensus between the Government and
workplace relations stakeholders. These included amendments to
unfair dismissal provisions, functions of the Fair Work Commission
(FWC) and a range of technical and clarifying amendments. The FW
Amendment Act 2012 also made amendments in relation to default
superannuation schemes in response to the Productivity
Commission’s Report into Default Superannuation Funds in
Modern Awards (Report No. 60).
The Fair Work Amendment Bill 2013 (the Bill) will implement
several more of the Panel’s recommendations and a number
of reforms which reflect the Government’s policy
priorities. The Bill has been developed following extensive
consultation by Government with employer and union stakeholders
following the conclusion of the Fair Work Act Review.
The Bill will make amendments to:
- introduce new family friendly arrangements, including expanding
the right for pregnant women to transfer to a safe job, providing
further flexibility in relation to concurrent unpaid parental
leave, ensuring that any special maternity leave taken will not
reduce an employee’s entitlement to unpaid parental leave
and expanding access to the right to request flexible working
arrangements to more groups of employees;
- require employers to consult with employees about the impact of
changes to regular rosters or hours of work, particularly in
relation to family and caring responsibilities;
- amend the modern awards objective to require that the Fair Work
Commission (FWC), when ensuring that modern awards together with
the National Employment Standards provide a fair and relevant
minimum safety net of terms and conditions, take into account the
need to provide additional remuneration for employees working
overtime; unsocial, irregular or unpredictable hours; working on
weekends or public holidays; or working shifts;
- give the FWC capacity to deal with disputes about the frequency
of visits to premises for discussion purposes;
- provide for interviews and discussions to be held in rooms or
areas agreed to by the occupier and permit holder, or in the
absence of agreement, in any room or area in which one or more of
the persons who may be interviewed or participate in the
discussions ordinarily take meal or other breaks and is provided by
the occupier for that purpose;
- facilitate, where agreement cannot be reached, accommodation and
transport arrangements for permit holders in remote areas and to
provide for limits on the amounts that an occupier can charge a
permit holder under such arrangements to cost recovery;
- give the FWC capacity to deal with disputes in relation to
accommodation and transport arrangements and ensure appropriate
conduct by permit holders while being accommodated or transported
under an accommodation or transport arrangement;
- expressly confer on the FWC the function of promoting
cooperative and productive workplace relations and preventing
disputes; and
- make a number of minor technical amendments.
Events
•
21/03/2013 Senate referred the provisions of the Fair Work
Amendment Bill 2013 to the Senate Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations Legislation Committee for inquiry and report
tabled 14 May 2013.
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