What to look out for this Parliamentary Sitting Week - 16 September to 19 September
The Federal Parliament returns on Monday for a Senate-only sitting week.
Major legislation going before the Senate this week is the Government’s Future Made in Australia Bill, the Help to Buy and Build to Rent Bills, which will be subject to scrutiny by the Greens Political Party, and the Nature Positive Bill. ?
This week is expected to have several major developments on negotiations between the Government and other parties. There may be late changes to the program as these negotiations progress.
Senate
Monday
Government Business opens at 10am, once documents are presented and committee authorisations have taken place, with the following Bills going before the senate on day 1 of the sitting week:
Help to Buy Bill 2023 establishes Help to Buy, a shared equity program that will assist low to middle income earners to purchase new or existing homes by accessing an equity contribution from the Commonwealth. These shared equity arrangements will be administered and monitored by Housing Australia. The Bill is supported by the Consequential Provisions which makes several amendments to existing Commonwealth legislation to support the operation of Help to Buy.
Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 gives effect to the Government’s commitment to establish a new principal Act under its Future Made in Australia agenda. This commitment was announced as part of the Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda in the 2024-25 Budget. The Omnibus Amendments Bill makes several changes to existing legislation and agencies to support the package.
Australian Human Rights Commission Amendment (Cost Protection) Bill 2023. This Bill would achieve the objectives of recommendation 25 of the Respect@Work Report.
Monday business wraps up with the Better and Fairer Schools (Information Management) Bill 2024 to amend the Student Identifiers Act 2014 to enable the extension of the system of unique student identifiers for vocational education and training and higher education students to school students, and to enable the Student Identifiers Registrar to assign schools identifiers to school students.
Tuesday
Government Business is scheduled for midday with the Taxation (Multinational – Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Bill 2024, the subsequent Imposition Bill, and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Consequential) Bill. The Bill establishes a taxation framework to implement the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Rules, which ensure that multinational enterprises pay a minimum level of tax on the income arising in each of the jurisdictions in which they operate and an Australian domestic minimum tax for certain multinational enterprise groups with an annual global revenue of at least EUR 750 million.
Next is the Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill 2024, which will provide a superannuation contribution for people receiving parental leave pay in respect of children born (or regarded as having been born for the purposes of the Act) on or after 1 July 2025. This is subject to the Bill’s introduction to the Senate.
Up next is the Capital Works (Build to Rent Misuse Tax) Bill 2024 and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Build to Rent) Bill 2024. This Bill is the result of the Senate dividing the Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024 into two Bills. This Bill amends the?Income Tax Assessment Act 1936,?Income Tax Assessment Act 1997?and?Taxation Administration Act 1953?to provide incentives for investors to support the construction of new build to rent developments by increasing the capital works deduction rate to 4 per cent per year and reducing the final withholding tax rate on eligible fund payments from eligible managed investment trust investments to 15 per cent. This Bill will likely be subject to intense debate, particularly from the Greens Political Party.?
Final Bill on the Agenda for Tuesday is the Treasury Law Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024. The Bill introduces a range of treasury amendments, most notably extend the application of the Credit Code to buy now, pay later contracts and establish low-cost credit contracts as a new category of regulated credit.
领英推荐
Wednesday
The Senate kicks off Wednesday with the consideration of a Private Senators Bill. The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Removing Criminals from Worksites) Bill 2024 (No.2) Amends the?Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009?to: expand the circumstances in which a person may be automatically disqualified from office and make it a criminal offence for a person who is disqualified from holding office in a registered organisation to continue to hold office or act in a manner that would significantly influence the organisation
Government Business resumes with the Nature Positive (Environmental Protection Australia) Bill 2024, The Nature Positive (Environment Information Australia) Bill 2024 and the Nature Positive (Environmental Law Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024. These Bills establish Environment Protection Australia as a statutory Commonwealth entity to undertake regulatory and implementation functions under a range of environmental Commonwealth laws. Expect more debate on this Bill from the Crossbench.
Afterwards the Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024 will be considered. The Bill amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992?to enable viewers to access the Viewer Access Satellite Television safety net service when a commercial television broadcaster ceases to provide services terrestrially in a given area and?Broadcasting Services Act 1992?and?Radiocommunications Act 1992?to enable the consolidation of transmission arrangements for certain broadcasting services.
Finally, the Crown References Amendment Bill 2023 amends 29 Acts to update certain references associated with the Crown to reflect the accession of a new Sovereign.
Thursday
The Senate will finish the sitting week with the consideration a potential consideration of a Private Senator’s Bill, the Blayney Gold Mine Bill 2024 sponsored by Senator Duniam. The main purpose of this Bill is to reverse a declaration made by the Federal Environment Minister on 13 August 2024 under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Heritage Protection Act). That declaration halted the potential construction of a tailings dam as part of Regis Resources’ proposed gold mine project near the town of Blayney, in central west New South Wales.
Government Business will conclude with three Bills introduced by the government.
The Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Bill 2024 and Transitional Provisions are set to be introduced to the Senate. The Bill establishes a framework to regulate the nuclear safety aspects of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine enterprise.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Reserve Bank Reforms) Bill 2023 is also set to be introduced. The Bill partially implements the Government’s response to the review of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) by amending the?Reserve Bank Act 1959?to:
Finally, the Superannuation (Objective) Bill 2023 which will seek to enshrine the objective of superannuation in legislation and requires a statement of compatibility to be included in the explanatory materials accompanying Bills and regulations relating to superannuation.
Two pieces additional pieces of legislation will be considered.
-????????? Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No.1) Bill 2024, subject to introduction to the Senate.
A full list of legislation scheduled in the Senate can be found here.