Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I have listened carefully to Senator Bob Brown’s comments and his rationale and to what he is trying to achieve in putting forward these amendments. However, on my understanding and reading of the act, this information relating to private ancillary funds is, broadly speaking, already published by the Australian Taxation Office on their website, following completion of the financial year. That is my first point. This information is also published in the Commissioner of Taxation’s annual report, released in December each year, and further information that goes to some of these points is contained in the taxation statistics publication released by Treasury in December or January each year. I am concerned that the prescriptive requirements and the way in which these amendments are framed could potentially have the effect of restricting the Australian Taxation Office from actually providing any additional useful information on these funds. Sometimes, with some of these reporting requirements, you can actually do more by letting the existing provisions work the way in which they are intended to work rather than trying to take this additional step.

I have made these comments to place on record my appreciation of the sentiment behind Senator Brown’s amendments, but I also place on record that we do not really think it will achieve what he is trying to do. In addition, we do not think that there is going to be any additional useful information and we do not think that the provisions are required in those circumstances, because of the existing provisions. That is the basis on which we do not support the amendments.