Published impact analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, ministerial forums and national standard setting bodies.
On 2 December 2016, the Government announced changes to the wine equalisation tax (WET) rebate. On 22 June 2017, the Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 4) Bill 2017 to Parliament.
On 11 July 2017, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) remade the Class Order (CO 02/1176) without significant amendment in ASIC Corporations (Credit Union Member Shares) Instrument 2017/616 (the instrument).
The instrument continues relief to credit unions from holding Australian financial services licences and providing financial disclosure requirements for the provision of financial product advice in relation to the issue of member shares. The instrument also continues relief from the requirement to confirm transactions of member shares under section 1017F of the Corporations Act 2011.
Independent reviews – The Treasury
On 23 November 2016, the then Treasurer introduced the Corporations Amendment (Professional Standards of Financial Advisers) Bill 2016.
The Bill amends the Corporations Act 2001 to raise the education, training and ethical standards of financial advisers by requiring relevant providers of personal advice to retail clients to hold minimum professional qualifications, and comply with a code of ethics.
On 9 May 2017, the Minister for Employment announced a package of measures to create better opportunities for Indigenous Australians to find work and accelerate progress toward Closing the Gap between employment outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The measures seek to reduce barriers to greater Indigenous employment participation by improving job retention, encouraging youth educational attainment and employment participation, and supporting ex-offenders and parents into the labour market. A key principle of the package is to build the capacity of Indigenous communities, employers and employment service providers to contribute to achieving parity in employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
On 28 November 2016, the Government announced changes to regulations to introduce a new mandatory melon levy and charge.
The changes commencing on 1 January 2017 will introduce a statutory levy and charge on all melons at a rate of 0.4 of a cent per kilogram for growers who sell more than 20 tonnes of melon a year. The aim of the levy and charge is to secure funding for research and development, and biosecurity preparedness activities.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources prepared and certified a Regation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared, and certified by, the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) assessed the RIS as compliant and consistent with best practice.
The RIS estimates the measure will increase total regulatory costs by $1000 a year on average. The OBPR agreed to the estimate.
On 12 October 2016, the Government introduced legislation relating to reforms to working holiday makers regulations including:
applying a 19 per cent income tax rate to working holiday maker taxable income on amounts up to $37,000, with ordinary tax rates for taxable income exceeding this amount; and
increasing the rate of the departing Australia superannuation payments tax to 95 per cent for working holiday makers, reducing the visa application charge for Subclass 417 (Working Holiday) visas and Subclass 462 (Work and Holiday) visas from $440 to $390, and increasing the passenger movement charge from $55 to $60.
On 31 March 2017, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources announced a new Horticulture Code of Conduct to take effect on 1 April 2017.
The Government requested an independent review be held in response to concerns raised on the effectiveness of the mandatory Trade Practices (Horticulture Code of Conduct) Regulations 2006 (Horticulture Code) on 3 June 2015. Such concerns addressed issues of flexibility and the understanding of its application to industry practice, as well as that of transparency between growers and wholesalers.
In March 2017, the Australian States and Territories agreed to implement a National Injury Insurance Scheme (NIIS) for people who have been catastrophically injured in motor vehicle accidents. The States and Territories further agreed to impose an agreed set of minimum benchmarks for these schemes.
The NIIS works alongside the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It is intended to prescribe a minimum level of compensation across all jurisdictions to people who sustain a catastrophic injury from a motor vehicle, workplace, medical treatment injury or general accident. The first of these to be considered is motor vehicle accidents.
On 30 May 2017 the Treasurer introduced the Major Bank Levy Bill 2017.
The bill will introduce a levy on authorised deposit‑taking institutions (ADIs) with total liabilities of greater than $100 billion. The levy is imposed at a rate of 0.015 per cent on certain liabilities of the ADI that are reported to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on a quarterly basis. The levy will come into effect from 1 July 2017, and is expected to raise $6.2 billion over its first four years of operation.
The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has released for public consultation a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) regulation impact statement (RIS) examining permanent exemption from mutual recognition arrangements for the NSW Container Deposit Scheme (CDS).