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Part 2: Expense Measures (Continued)

Treasury

Film tax offsets — change in eligibility

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Taxation Office	-	0.7	1.1	2.2	2.9

The Government will provide $6.9 million over four years from 2010‑11 for changes to the film tax offsets program, administered by the Australian Taxation Office.

This measure will reduce the minimum qualifying expenditure threshold for the post, digital and visual effects (PDV) offset from $5 million to $500,000; and remove the requirement for films with qualifying expenditure of between $15 million and $50 million to have at least 70 per cent of the film's total production expenditure as qualifying Australian expenditure in order to qualify for the location offset.

Implementation of Unfair Contract Terms Provisions of the Australian Consumer Law

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission	0.6	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2

The Government will provide $5.3 million over five years (including $0.6 million in 2009‑10) to deliver guidance on, and enforce compliance with, the unfair contract term provisions of the first tranche of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The ACL rationalises consumer laws and enhances the protection of consumers.

This measure supports the implementation of one of the 27 deregulation priorities under the Council of Australian Governments' National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy.

Petrol Commissioner and formal monitoring of petrol prices — continuation

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission	-	2.1	2.1	-	-

The Government will provide an additional $4.2 million over two years to continue the formal monitoring of petrol prices under Part VIIA of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and the position of a Petrol Commissioner.

Funding for the appointment of the petrol commissioner and to support the formal monitoring of petrol prices was provided until December 2010 in the 2008‑09 Budget.

Population Strategy

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Department of the Treasury	-	1.3	-	-	-

The Government will provide $1.3 million in 2010‑11 to support the development of a comprehensive population strategy that will guide the formulation of policies to meet Australia's future population needs.

The strategy will consider policies to ensure the economic and developmental opportunities this will create are harnessed. The strategy will also consider the challenges of population growth for the environment, water and urban congestion.

The establishment of a new office of Minister for Population in the Treasury portfolio was announced by the Prime Minister on 3 April 2010.

Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal — Commonwealth contribution

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Department of the Treasury	0.5	-	-	-	-
Attorney-General's Department	-0.3	-	-	-	-
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs	-0.3	-	-	-	-
Total	-	-	-	-	-

The Government will provide $500,000 to the Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal Fund, which will assist families affected by monsoonal floods in south‑west Queensland and Cyclone Ului in North Queensland between January and March 2010. This funding matches the Queensland Government's donation to the Fund. The Australian Red Cross is managing and distributing assistance from the Appeal Fund on behalf of the Queensland Government.

This measure will be fully offset from within the existing resources of the Attorney‑General's Department and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Further information can be found in the joint media release of 22 March 2010 by the Prime Minister, the Attorney‑General and the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Renewable Energy Target — industry reviews

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Productivity Commission	-	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency	-	-1.0	-1.0	-1.0	-1.0
Total	-	-	-	-	-

The Government will provide $4.0 million over four years to enable the Productivity Commission to assess the impact of the Renewable Energy Target on particular industries. Firms will be able to request that the Government commission the Productivity Commission to undertake an assessment of the Renewable Energy Target's impact on their industry. The Government will not necessarily refer all requests to the Commission; it will take into account the nature and details of the request.

The cost of this measure will be met by redirected funding from within the Climate Change and Energy Efficiency portfolio.

Further information can be found in the press release issued by the Minister for Climate Change and Water on 19 August 2009.

St James Ethics Centre — additional funding

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Department of the Treasury	-	0.6	-	-	-

The Government will provide additional funding of $0.6 million in 2010‑11 to the St James Ethics Centre to continue, for a further year, the promotion of corporate responsibility and awareness of responsible business practices within the business community.

Standard Business Reporting — ongoing funding

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Taxation Office	-1.3	16.0	18.7	14.4	13.5
Department of the Treasury	-3.2	3.9	4.3	4.5	4.5
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	-0.1	-	0.7	0.8	0.8
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority	-	-	0.6	0.8	0.6
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research	-0.2	-	-	-	-
Total	-4.8	19.9	24.3	20.5	19.2
Related capital ($m)
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority	-	1.5	-	0.2	-
Australian Taxation Office	-3.6	0.7	-	1.5	-
Department of the Treasury	-6.4	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.6
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	-1.7	-	-	-	-
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research	-0.2	-	-	-	-
Total	-11.9	2.6	0.6	2.2	0.6

The Government will provide $73.2 million over five years (including a movement of $16.7 million in unspent development funding from 2009‑10 to 2010‑11) to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, the Australian Taxation Office and the Department of the Treasury to maintain and operate the Standard Business Reporting (SBR) program. The SBR program is an initiative to reduce the compliance burden experienced by business when reporting to Government. The measure includes $2.6 million in 2010‑11 for payment to the States and Territories to manage and operate their components of the SBR system.

This measure supports the implementation of one of the 27 deregulation priorities under the Council of Australian Governments' National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy.

Stronger, fairer, simpler tax reform — development and implementation

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Department of the Treasury	8.1	41.5	10.3	5.2	-
Australian Taxation Office	0.3	1.4	-	-	-
Office of Parliamentary Counsel	-	0.5	1.1	1.1	1.1
Total	8.4	43.4	11.4	6.3	1.1

The Government will provide $65.0 million over four years to the Department of the Treasury to develop and implement the Government's response to the recommendations of Australia's Future Tax System Review, including $38.5 million over two years to inform the community of the Australian Government's tax reform agenda. Additional funding of $1.7 million over two years is provided to the Australian Taxation Office to increase staffing in its call centre.

The Government will also provide $3.8 million over four years to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to meet increased demand for legislative drafting.

Stronger, Fairer, Simpler tax reform — Infrastructure Fund

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Department of the Treasury	-	-	-	700.0	735.0

The Government will provide funding to establish an infrastructure fund to coincide with the introduction of the Resource Super Profits Tax on 1 July 2012. The Infrastructure Fund will commence with an initial amount of $700 million in 2012‑13. The total will grow over time.

This infrastructure fund will be distributed in a manner which recognises that resource‑rich States face large associated infrastructure demands. The final details of the infrastructure fund will be discussed with the States.

Stronger, fairer, simpler tax reform — resource exploration refundable tax offset

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Taxation Office	-	0.5	521.6	601.2	681.2

The Government will provide $1.8 billion over four years from 2010‑11 for a refundable tax offset at the company tax rate for expenditure on exploration carried out in Australia, as part of its response to the Australia's Future Tax System Review. The refundable tax offset will be available to all companies (at the company level) for eligible expenditure incurred on or after 1 July 2011, instead of the immediate deductions currently available for such expenditure.

As part of this measure, the definition of exploration expenditure will be expanded to include expenditure incurred in exploring for geothermal energy.

The measure fulfils the Government's election commitment to provide better support for resource exploration companies.

The measure has an impact of $1.1 billion on the underlying cash balance in the two years commencing 2012‑13. This is because the fiscal balance impact occurs in the year in which the activity takes place, whereas the impact on the underlying cash balance occurs when payments are made.

Superannuation — permanent reduction to the superannuation co‑contribution matching rate and maximum payable

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Taxation Office	-	-	-	-175.0	-175.0

The Government will permanently retain the matching rate for the superannuation co‑contribution at 100 per cent and the maximum co‑contribution that is payable on an individual's eligible personal non‑concessional superannuation contributions at $1,000. This measure is estimated to save $350 million over the forward estimates period.

This follows the measure announced in the 2009‑10 Budget, Superannuation — contributing to sustainable retirement income reform by temporarily reducing the Government co‑contribution.

Low‑income earners will benefit from the Government's decision to introduce a new low‑income earners contribution as part of its tax reform package. See the related revenue measure titled Stronger, fairer, simpler tax reform — Government superannuation contributions tax rebate for low income earners.

Superannuation co‑contribution — enhancing administration

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Taxation Office	-33.9	-30.8	-31.1	-41.6	-41.6

The Government will provide $16.0 million over five years to the Australian Taxation Office to enhance the administration of the existing eligibility requirements for the superannuation co‑contribution program (including $1.1 million in 2009‑10).

This measure is expected to result in a reduction in claims for the superannuation co‑contribution of $195.0 million over five years.

Superannuation co‑contribution — pause to the indexation of the income threshold for two years

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Taxation Office	-	-35.0	-70.0	-95.0	-95.0

The Government will freeze for 2010‑11 and 2011‑12 the indexation applied on the income threshold above which the maximum superannuation co‑contribution begins to phase down. This measure is expected to deliver savings of $295.0 million over four years.

Under the superannuation co‑contribution scheme, the Government provides a matching contribution for contributions made into superannuation out of after‑tax income. The matching contribution is up to $1,000 for people with incomes of up to $31,920 in 2009‑10 (with the amount available phasing down for incomes up to $61,920). This measure will freeze these thresholds at $31,920 and $61,920 for two years.

Sustaining the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal's capabilities

Expense ($m)
	2009‑10	2010‑11	2011‑12	2012‑13	2013‑14
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	-	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Related revenue ($m)
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority	-	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5

The Government will provide $5.9 million over four years to cover the rising workload and complexity of complaints handled by the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT). The SCT hears complaints on issues such as disclosure and the timing and calculation of payments and rollovers.

Funding for the SCT is fully offset by an increase in financial sector levies collected from the superannuation industry by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

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