What to look out for this Parliamentary Sitting Week
The House and Senate resume for a two-week sitting – 24 – 27 June 2024 and 1 – 4 July. The Federal Parliament then breaks for the winter recess and resumes for the spring sittings (August / September / October) on 12 August.
We anticipate there will be two key debates in the House of Representatives. The first will be on what the Government is doing to manage inflation and the rising cost of living. Energy policy, particularly the Oppositions nuclear power plan, will be debated. The Government has also flagged introducing legislation to allow the manufacturing division to separate from the CFMEU.
A full list of draft legislation for the House of Representatives and Senate is available here -Parliamentary information | PM&C (pmc.gov.au)
Monday
A condolence will be offered for the Hon Gary Nairn AO, who passed away on 1 June 2024. He was a member of the Liberal Party and an Honorary Life Member of the Country Liberal Party (NT). Mr Nairn was the member for Eden-Monaro. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015.
In the House of Representatives, there will be a resumption of debate regarding the Export Control Amendment (End Live Sheep Exports by Sea). The Nature Positive (Environment protection, information, and policy) will also be debated.
The Senate meets, with four Bills to be debated in Government Business.
Amends the: National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 to: define National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) supports; clarify the process for reassessment of participant status; provide for participants to transition to a new framework plan; provide for new framework plans that include a flexible budget and budget for stated supports; provide for old framework plans to have a total funding amount; update the circumstances in which the National Disability Insurance Agency will manage funds; require participants spend money only on NDIS supports and in accordance with their plan; exempt NDIS rules from sunsetting; impose conditions on approved quality auditors to not employ or engage a person against whom a banning order has been made; and expand the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner’s delegation powers. Also makes consequential amendments to the Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015.
Amends the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 to provide a national framework to regulate the importation, domestic manufacture, supply, commercial possession and advertisement of all vapes, irrespective of nicotine content or therapeutic claims. Also makes consequential amendments to the Customs Act 1901, Industrial Chemicals Act 2019 and Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023.
Amends the: Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to establish a framework to regulate the accessibility and prominence of free-to-air television services on certain internet connected television devices supplied in Australia; and Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to expand the anti-siphoning scheme to include online services.
Amends the Payment Times Reporting Act 2020 to implement recommendations of the statutory review of the Act and make other amendments in relation to the operation of the Payment Times Reporting Scheme.
Tuesday
The House of Representatives will resume the debate on key legislation amendments, including
·?????? Creative Australia Amendment
Amends the Creative Australia Act 2023 to establish First Nations Arts and Writing Australia within Creative Australia and expand the governance structure.
Amends the Criminal Code Act 1995 to strengthen offences targeting the creation and non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit material online, including material that has been created or altered using AI technology (commonly referred to as ‘deepfakes’).
·?????? National Health Amendment (Supporting Patient Access to Cheaper Medicines and Other Measures).
Amends the National Health Act 1953 to: introduce an additional community supply support payment for eligible supplies of pharmaceutical benefits made by approved pharmacists; freeze indexation of the general patient co-payment for 1 year and indexation of the concessional co-payments for 5 years; phase-out the $1 allowable discount that pharmacies can choose to offer to patients; and make minor technical amendments.
The purpose of Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024 (the Bill) is to amend the Export Control Act 2020 to:
-????????? Prohibit the export of live sheep by sea from Australia on and after 1 May 2028
-????????? Provide authority for Commonwealth spending to assist individuals, businesses and communities affected by the phasing out of live sheep export.
The Senate meets to debate these Bills in Government Business.
·?????? Treasury Laws Amendment (Support for Small Business and Charities and Other Measures) Bill 2024
Amends the: Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to: increase the instant asset write-off threshold from $1,000 to $20,000 for the 2023-24 financial year; and provide small and medium businesses with access to a bonus tax deduction for the 2023-24 financial year relating to electrification and more efficient energy use; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, Taxation Administration Act 1953 and A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999 to facilitate certain community charities achieving deductible gift recipient status; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to: include two new entities on the list of deductible gift recipients and extend the listing for two other entities; extend the Global Infrastructure Hub’s income tax exemption for an additional year; broadly align existing tax requirements with a new accounting standard for insurance contracts; and amend the rules for non-arm’s length expenses for superannuation entities; Corporations Act 2001 to reinstate the Australian Financial Complaint Authority’s jurisdiction to hear certain complaints relating to superannuation; and Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Law Improvement Package No. 1) Act 2023 to make contingent amendments.
·?????? Appropriation Bill No 5, No 5, No 1 and No 2
Appropriates additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary annual services of the government, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2023-2024 and Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2023-2024.
?Appropriates money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure in relation to the parliamentary departments
Appropriation Bills are introduced as a key element of the Budget, and details estimates of ordinary annual government services.
Wednesday
In the Federation Chamber, condolence will be offered to the victims of the Bondi Junction Stabbings – Yixuan Cheng, Pikira Darchia, Ashlee Good, Dawn Singleton, Faraz Tahir and Jade Young.
The House of Representatives will resume the debate on the Export Control Amendment and Nature Positive Amendment.
Education Services for Overseas Student Amendment (Quality and Integrity) will be debated in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Senate meets, with three Bills to be debated in Government Business.
Amends the National Health Act 1953 to: introduce an additional community supply support payment for eligible supplies of pharmaceutical benefits made by approved pharmacists; freeze indexation of the general patient co-payment for 1 year and indexation of the concessional co-payments for 5 years; phase-out the $1 allowable discount that pharmacies can choose to offer to patients; and make minor technical amendments.
Amends: the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 and Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to provide a legal basis for payment of advice fees from a member’s superannuation account and clarify the associated tax consequences; the Corporations Act 2001 in relation to: ongoing fee renewal and consent requirements; financial services guide requirements; rules banning conflicted remuneration; and standardised consumer consent requirements for certain insurance commissions; the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Act 1987 to: align the petroleum resource rent tax general anti-avoidance provisions with the general anti-avoidance provisions in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936; and clarify the meaning of ‘exploration for petroleum’; the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to: clarify mining, quarrying or prospecting rights (MQPRs) cannot be depreciated for income tax purposes until they are used; clarify when income tax balancing adjustments occur to MQPRs; and amend the location offset and producer offset for films; 15 Acts to amend the process by which amendments to agreements with multilateral development banks are incorporated into domestic legislation; and 8 Acts to make miscellaneous and technical amendments to Treasury portfolio legislation.
领英推荐
Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to establish action initiation reforms, enabling consumer data right (CDR) consumers to direct accredited persons to instruct on actions on their behalf, such as making a payment, opening and closing an account, switching providers and updating personal details, using the CDR framework.
Senator Steph Hodgins-May (Greens, Victoria) will give her First Speech. (Senator Janet Rice retired in April 2024).
Thursday
The House of Representatives will debate the Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and Other Measures.
The Senate meets, with two Bills to be debated in Government Business.
?Introduced with the Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023, the bill establishes a Commonwealth shared equity program (Help to Buy Scheme) to be administered by Housing Australia that will assist low to middle income earners to purchase new or existing homes.
????????? Crown References Amendment Bill 2023
Amends 29 Acts to update certain references associated with the Crown to reflect the accession of a new Sovereign.
The Senate will also review these “non-controversial” legislation amendments
????????? COAG Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
Amends the COAG Reform Fund Act 2008 and 23 other Acts to update references to COAG and Ministerial Councils to reflect the cessation of the Council of Australian Governments and changes to intergovernmental architecture.
????????? Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (More Support in the Safety Net) Bill 2024
The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (More Support in the Safety Net) Bill 2024 (the Bill) amends the Social Security Act 1991 (the SS Act), the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (the SS Admin Act), the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (the FA Act), and the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (the VE Act) to:
-????????? increase maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) by 10%
-????????? increase the JobSeeker Payment rate for recipients who have an assessed partial capacity to work of 0–14 hours per week and
-????????? provide more flexibility for Carer Payment recipients to undertake work and study without losing qualification for the payment.
The first 2 measures will have effect from 20 September 2024; the Carer Payment measure will have effect from 20 March 2025.
All 3 measures were included in the 2024–25 Budget (pp. 164, 166–167). The Carer Payment measure was announced prior to the Budget on 4 May 2024.
????????? Customs Tariff Amendment (Tobacco) Bill 2024 and Excise Tariff Amendment (Tobacco) Bill 2024
The objective of the Bills is to ‘encourage a decline in smoking within the Australian community and to reduce consumption of tobacco goods by increasing rates of duty for tobacco goods’. To that end, the Bills retrospectively validate Tariff Proposals to increase taxation on tobacco products by 5% per year for 3 years in addition to normal indexation.
Amends the: Customs Act 1901 and Excise Act 1901 to: remove renewal requirements and renewal fees for excise and excise-equivalent warehouse licences; confer a new discretion to issue entity level excise and excise-equivalent warehouse licences; and establish a public register of excise and excise-equivalent warehouses licences and licensed premises; and Excise Tariff Act 1921 to remove licence requirements for certain onshore producers of crude oil and condensate. Also makes consequential and minor amendments to 4 Acts.
Amends the Health Insurance Act 1973 to update the ‘assignment of Medicare benefit’ requirements for bulk billed and simplified billing services.
The purpose of the Australian Postal Corporation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (the APC Bill) is to amend the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 to strengthen the regulatory regimes for domestic and international mail screening and inspection. In particular, the Bill will make amendments aimed at improving the operation of the information sharing arrangements between Australia Post and border agencies and the rules for opening and examining of postal articles.
????????? Primary Industries bills.
Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release key statistics this week. They include:
·?????? Labour Statistics
·?????? National Health Survey
·?????? Engineering Construction Activity
·?????? Monthly Consumer Price Index indicator
·?????? Migrant settlement outcomes
·?????? Australian National Accounts: Finance and Wealth
·?????? Job Vacancies
·?????? Recorded Crime – Victims
·?????? Household and Family Projections
Key Dates
The Tasmanian Parliament sits on 1-4 July.
The Queensland and Victorian Parliaments sit on 23-26 July and 30 July to 1 August.
The Federal Parliament Press Gallery Midwinter Ball will be held on 3 July. This event brings together the journalistic, political, and corporate chiefs of Australia. It is a night of entertainment and networking opportunities and is a fundraiser for key charities.
?