COMMITTEES

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (16:19): I present three government responses as listed on today's Order of Business and seek leave to have the documents incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The documents read as follows— CORPORATIONS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES JOINT COMMITTEE Australian Government response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services report: Ethics and Professional Accountability: Structural Challenges in the Audit, Assurance and Consultancy Industry February 2026 Australian Government response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services report: Ethics and Professional Accountability: Structural Challenges in the Audit, Assurance and Consultancy Industry Government engagement with consultancy firms The Government notes Recommendations 1, 29, 30, 31 and 34.

Government Response Ethical Suppliers The Government expects its suppliers to conduct themselves with high standards of ethics such that they consistently act with integrity and accountability. The Australian Government has undertaken a range of actions to strengthen supplier integrity and contract transparency. The Australian Government has developed the Commonwealth Supplier Code of Conduct (Code) as a key measure to strengthen supplier behaviour.

The Code sets out the Government's expectation for suppliers to uphold similar values and behaviours to those expected of public officials in the APS Values. The Code notes that the standards and values expected of public servants are not expressed in terms of public interest. The Code, which came into effect on 1 July 2024, places obligations on suppliers and their subcontractors to act ethically while under contract with the Commonwealth.

In particular, Expectation 1.4—Emulate the Australian Public Service (APS) Values, states that: "When a supplier is undertaking work on behalf of the Commonwealth, they must uphold similar values and behaviours to those expected of public officials in the APS Values. This is always important, but particularly relevant where a supplier interacts with, or provides services to, the Australian Public".

The Commonwealth Contracting Suite and ClauseBank include standard clauses for inclusion in Commonwealth contracts, placing contractual obligations on suppliers to meet the expectations set out by the Code. Failure to adhere to the Code may result in remedial action and/or termination in accordance with contractual provisions. Guidance for Commonwealth entities is available on the Department of Finance (Finance) website to assist officials in managing these contractual obligations.

Additionally, the Contract Management Guide, updated in August 2025, reinforces the importance of managing the ethical conduct of suppliers, and ensures officials responsible for managing Commonwealth contracts are aware of the obligations of all parties under the Code. In relation to PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PwC Australia), in mid-2025, Finance completed its review of the ethical soundness of PwC Australia.

The final report is available on the Finance website.[1] Encouraging SMEs In October 2025, the Government announced amendments to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules to require that Australian suppliers were first approached for certain procurements, including that Small and Medim Enterprises were first approached for any procurement below $125,000 from the Management Advisory Services Panel, People Panel, or any standing offer managed by the Digital Transformation Agency. [1] https://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/examination-of-pwc-australias-ethical-soundness.pdf Government consultation on the regulation of accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia The Government notes Recommendations 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26, 27, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40.

Government Response The Government has taken decisive action to strengthen the regulation of accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia. This includes legislative changes: to strengthen the powers of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) to improve regulation and transparency within the tax profession in the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Act 2023 (Cth) to enhance obligations for tax practitioners through the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 through the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Accountability and Fairness) Act 2024 (Cth)to: amend the promoter penalty laws to strengthen the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) enforcement powers and provide a broader range of tools to regulators to identify and discipline those who break the law extend whistleblower protections to eligible whistleblowers who make disclosures to the TPB or the ATO, where the whistleblower considers that the information may assist the TPB in performing its functions or duties.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Accountability and Fairness) Act 2024 (Cth) broadened the ATO's enforcement powers by: increasing the time the ATO has to bring an application for civil penalty proceedings (to 6 years) raising the maximum penalty applicable for firms which promote tax exploitation schemes from $7.8 million to over $780 million broadening the scope of key definitions in the law to extend the scope of the promoter penalty laws to all ATO rulings, ensuring that the laws prohibit the promotion of a scheme on the basis of a false assertion that it has ATO endorsement.

Treasury coordinated a whole-of-government response to systemic issues in the regulatory and tax environment. This work considered options to strengthen regulatory frameworks, improve transparency and accountability, as well as incentivise good behaviour and deal with misconduct. To date, the Government has consulted on: a review of the sanctions regime that the TPB administers, released on 10 December 2023 a review of the ATO and the TPB's respective investigation and information gathering powers, released on 3 May 2024 a review of the tax practitioner registration requirements, released on 17 July 2024 a review of the penalty regime that applies to promoters of tax exploitation schemes, released on 4 October 2024 a review of the secrecy provisions that restrict information sharing by government tax regulators, released on 20 December 2024 a joint review with the Attorney-General's Department of the use of legal professional privilege in Commonwealth investigations, released on 23 December 2024 the regulation of accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia in May 2024, which considered the issues outlined in these recommendations, including: the governance and regulation of partnerships, and audit and multidisciplinary firms the provision of non-audit services and potential conflicts of interest the role and enforcement powers of key regulators transparency, public information and reporting issues competition and resilience of the audit sector protections available to whistleblowers.

The Government will continue to consider these matters as part of ongoing policy work. Treasury will also consult publicly on whether the tax and corporate whistleblowing frameworks are working as intended as part of its statutory review of those frameworks. Government consultation on the merging of the Australian Accounting Standards Board, the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the Financial Reporting Council The Government notes Recommendations 20, 22, 23, 24 and 28.

Government Response In October 2025, the Government released for consultation exposure draft legislation to combine the Australian Accounting Standards Board, the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the Financial Reporting Council into a single body. There are a number of recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services' report that the exposure draft legislation responded to: Treasury will no longer provide a Secretariat function to the standard setting body once it is established.

The exposure draft legislation would require the Minister, in making appointments to the new combined body's Governing Council, to have regard to the principle that the Governing Council as a whole, and as an entity that engages in collective decision-making, should contain an appropriate level of representation of persons who are, and are seen to be, independent from Australian auditors.

This balanced approach ensures that the new standard setting body can continue to access appropriate expert representation as appropriate at the Governing Council level without enabling strategic decision-making to be controlled or overly influenced by representatives from a particular industry or with a particular financial incentive. The exposure draft legislation would supplement the disclosure of interests requirements applying to statutory officeholders under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 by requiring members to disclose interests as soon as practicable after they become known, to strengthen the Governing Council's ongoing oversight and management of conflicts of interest.

The exposure draft legislation would require the Chair of the Governing Council to determine a code of conduct for the new body that applies to members of the Governing Council and standard setting boards (among others). The exposure draft legislation would empower the Minister, by legislative instrument, to specify additional functions to be performed by the new body.

This will add flexibility to the new institutional arrangements and better position the body to respond to future standard setting needs. ______ ECONOMICS LEGISLATION COMMITTEE Australian Government response to the Senate Committee Economics report: Inquiry into Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024 September 2025 Introduction The Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024 amends the law relating to taxation, consumer credit, the Medicare levy and federal financial relations in the Treasury portfolio.

The Bill passed both Houses on 29 November 2024 and received Royal Assent on 10 December 2024. The Government thanks the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for its inquiry into the Bill, and thanks those organisations and individuals who made submissions to the inquiry and participated in the public hearing. The Government's responses to the recommendations made in the Committee's final report are provided below.

In line with the guidelines on Government responses, recommendations that a bill or bills be passed, rejected, or amended have not been responded to. Response to the recommendations made by the dissenting report of Coalition Senators Recommendation 1 That Treasury conduct a more detailed consultation on delegated legislation that accompanies the Bill, including to address duplicative fee caps and opportunities to harmonise modified responsible lending obligations with New Zealand's BNPL regulatory framework.

Australian Government response The Government notes this recommendation. The Government conducted extensive consultation on the proposed framework for the Buy Now Pay Later sector. During the period 2022 to 2025, Treasury and the Assistant Treasurer worked closely with Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) providers, consumer groups, regulators and other stakeholders in relation to the proposed framework.

Through this process, stakeholders were given an extensive opportunity to put forward their views, including in relation to fee structures and responsible lending obligations. In particular: Treasury conducted consultation on an options paper between 21 November 2022 and 23 December 2022. The Government consulted on initial draft regulations, together with draft legislation, from 12 March 2024 to 9 April 2024.

Following the release of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee report in August 2024, Treasury considered the recommendations of the report. Further targeted consultations were undertaken with stakeholders between April 2024 and February 2025. Treasury released a subsequent updated version of the draft regulations for consultation from 5 February 2025 to 12 February 2025.

The National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Low Cost Credit) Regulations 2025 were registered on 7 March 2025 and commenced on 10 June 2025 concurrent with the main operating provisions of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Act 2024. Recommendation 3 That the Government should demonstrate why the Smart Energy Council is worthy of DGR status and explain how it has satisfied itself that it does not exist solely for political purposes.

Australian Government response The Government notes this recommendation. There are two types of deductible gift recipients (DGR): those endorsed under the general categories set out in the tax law; or those listed by name in the tax law (specific listing). The Smart Energy Council has maintained DGR status under one of the general categories since it was added to the Register of Environmental Organisations in 1998 by the then Howard Government.

The ATO is independently responsible for the assessment of DGR eligibility for environmental organisations such as the Smart Energy Council. The Commissioner of Taxation may revoke DGR endorsement at any time if an organisation is found to be in breach of eligibility requirements outlined in the tax law. The Government also recognises the important role the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) plays in assessing whether organisations are eligible to be registered as charities, including whether they exist solely for political purposes.

Not for profit entities generally need to be registered as a charity with the ACNC before obtaining DGR status, and the Smart Energy Council is no exception. Registered charities are subject to strict rules and guidelines governing their charity registration and operations. If these rules are contravened, the ACNC may revoke the registration of a charity, which will impact access to tax concessions.

Recommendation 4 That the Government should demonstrate why the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Australia Inc is worthy of DGR status, and explain how it has satisfied itself that it does not exist solely for political purposes, before a grant of DGR status should be made. Australian Government response The Government notes this recommendation.

There are two types of deductible gift recipients (DGR): those endorsed under the general categories set out in the tax law; or those listed by name in the tax law (specific listing). The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Australia Inc is specifically listed by name in the tax law. The process for specifically listing an entity as a DGR is intended to only be used by exception where an entity has exhausted all options for DGR endorsement under the general categories in the tax law.

Proposals for specific listing are assessed against a range of considerations, including the unique characteristics of the entity and the broad public benefit of their activities. The Government recognises the important role the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) plays in assessing whether organisations are eligible to be registered as charities, including whether they exist solely for political purposes.

Not for profit entities generally need to be registered as a charity with the ACNC before obtaining DGR status, and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Australia Inc is no exception. Registered charities are subject to strict rules and guidelines governing their charity registration and operations. If these rules are contravened, the ACNC may revoke the registration of a charity, which will impact access to tax concessions.

Recommendation 5 That the instant asset write-off threshold be increased to $30 000 and be made permanent, to restore the business investment incentive policy to 2019-20 levels. Australian Government response The Government does not support this recommendation. The Government improved cash flow and reduced compliance costs for small business by legislating the $20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2025.

Without this change, the instant asset write-off would have reverted to $1,000. Small businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million that are in the simplified depreciation regime can claim an immediate deduction for eligible assets costing less than $20,000 in their 2024-25 tax returns. The $20,000 threshold applies on a per asset basis, so small businesses can instantly write off multiple assets.

Assets costing $20,000 or more can continue to be placed into the small business simplified depreciation pool and depreciated at set rates. On 4 April 2025, the Government announced the election commitment to support small businesses by extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off for a further 12 months until 30 June 2026. ______ RURAL AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS AND TRANSPORT LEGISLATION COMMITTEE Dear President I am writing to advise that the Australian Government provided its response to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee's report on the Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Bill 2024 [Provisions] (Bill) during the debate in the Senate on Monday 9 September 2024.

During the debate, Senator the Hon Anthony Chisholm welcomed the Committee's recommendation to pass the Bill, noted the Coalition's dissenting recommendation and addressed the Australian Greens' additional recommendations. I have enclosed an extract of the relevant Hansard. Yours sincerely Julie Collins MP