PETITIONS to the House of Representatives with over 20,000 signatures would be debated by the House under recommendations made by the House Petitions Committee.

Committee Chair Lucy Wicks MP said the recommendation threshold is based on a similar system in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, which has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public.

"In the UK, the Petitions Committee can schedule a debate on a petition in Westminster Hall, if it reaches over 100,000 signatures," Mrs Wicks said.

"Our Committee proposes using similar criteria to the UK in selecting petitions for debate, once they have gathered over 20,000 signatures."

The report makes a number of other recommendations around simplifying the process of petitioning the Parliament, and educating the public about how to lodge or sign a petition.

"We hope these changes will encourage more Australians to engage with petitioning the House, which is the most direct way of having your matter heard by the Parliament," Mrs Wicks said.

The full report is available on the inquiry webpage.

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said securing a long-term pipeline of new resources projects would be essential for Queensland to make further inroads into bringing down the state’s unemployment rate.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the release of the latest ABS figures showed Queensland’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in January, just a minor decrease from 6.1 percent in December.

“We want to help bring that unemployment rate down further, and in particular to help create new jobs in regional communities such as Townsville, where the unemployment rate is higher than the state average,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“The resources sector has the track record of delivering jobs.  The sector supports the jobs of more than 316,000 Queenslanders across the state, both in direct resources jobs and in associated industries.

“Over the last year the resources sector has added more than 10,000 new jobs – or a job every 40 minutes.

“There are more opportunities too, with online job search tool Seek currently advertising around 1250 vacancies for mining, resources and energy jobs in Queensland.

“Our sector is continuing to work alongside the tourism and agriculture industries, and in particular we are proud to lend a hand to the regional communities doing it tough first through the recent drought and now during the flood recovery.

“We want to keep employing more Queenslanders and supporting more regional communities through local investment.

“To do that, it’s essential that we have clear and transparent rules and regulations. 

“There is so much potential through our powerhouse commodities of coal and gas, as well as great potential in new markets for the critical minerals the Australian Government is supporting via CRC project investment, and in the North West Minerals Province which the State Government has prioritised.

“The potential for resources investment in Queensland is vast and lucrative. 

“We must ensure we have the best framework for investors to be confident that Queensland is the right place to invest and create new jobs.”

www.qrc.org.au

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A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry has found evidence of loopholes in migration law which enable Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (subclass 601) visa holders to exploit Australia’s immigration system and unscrupulous individuals providing unregistered immigration advice, unlawful registered migration agents and education agents are exploiting visa applicants.

Joint Standing Committee on Migration chair, Jason Wood MP said the committee has heard that a percentage of Malaysian nationals are using travel visas as a gateway to circumvent Australia’s immigration system and enter and stay in Australia and obtain work by applying for a protection visa.

"This represents an orchestrated scam that provides protection visa applicants the right to work in Australia until their claims are finalised," Mr Wood said.

"This process has taken up to eight years in some cases and has cost the Australian taxpayer over $46 million in the last three years."

The report recommends fast-tracking the process for Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (subclass 601) visa holders who have lodged a protection visa application.

Mr Wood said evidence from the inquiry also found that some individuals have been left substantially out of pocket after being exploited by either unregistered or registered migration agents or education agents.

"While the majority of registered migration agents and education agents are diligent, knowledgeable, hardworking and competent and provide outstanding service, there are individuals in these industries that take advantage of vulnerable consumers," Mr Wood said.

"Victims of unscrupulous and unlawful migration or education agents are left with very few options for taking action and are unable to seek recompense. The relevant authorities face multiple challenges in detecting, deterring, disrupting, investigating and prosecuting cases."

The final report of the inquiry into the regulation of migration agents, tabled in the House of Representatives today recommends establishing an Immigration Assistance Complaints Commissioner with broad regulatory powers over the migration and education agent industry.

The full report can be found on the Committee’s website: www.aph.gov.au/mig

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THE House Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue today tabled its performance review of the ATO’s Annual Report 2016–2017.

The Committee’s review continues in the tradition of past assessments, which since 2015 have monitored the progress of the ATO’s ‘Reinvention’ of its services model in support of voluntary compliance. According to the ATO’s 2017 annual report, the Reinvention Program has delivered against this goal over the tax year. Tax lodgements were up again strongly –a positive outcome for the ATO.

But the 2016-17 reporting period was also a challenging one for the ATO, and one marked by controversy. In May 2017 the revelations of Operation Elbrus followed the prolonged system outages of late 2016 and early 2017 that left tax professionals without service access for lengthy periods.

Then, as the Committee commenced its annual report review in March 2018, there was an acceleration of bad press as the ATO fought off allegations of systemic unfairness to small business, and performance driven debt action, which were televised in an ABC/Fairfax media expose in April 2018.

These developments strengthened the Committee’s resolve to conduct a more rigorous performance review of the ATO’s progress against Reinvention values and objectives; in effect to test the ATO’s annual reportage against the experience of the taxpayer, and tax agents, in the community.

Committee Chair Jason Falinski MP said, “The Committee found that the ATO’s digital reinvention of its services has changed every aspect of our tax administration framework for taxpayers and tax professionals alike. Taxpayers now have greater responsibilities to meet their obligations, and the work of tax professionals has increased rather than declined.

“Given this,” Mr Falinski said, “it has never been more important that the ATO retain community confidence—that it meets its core obligations to procedural fairness, and that it is seen to do so, while also ensuring its online platforms are as efficient and as easy to use as promised.”

The Committee’s inquiry attracted 30 submissions, 18 of these from taxpayers in dispute with the ATO, as well as from tax professionals assisting them. The Committee has made 37 recommendations to ensure that there is consistent agency-wide benchmarking and reporting against core Reinvention commitments on fairness to taxpayers and on digital functionality.

The report also recommends for improved data disaggregation on small business debt, including on garnishees, the restructuring of the ATO’s appeals, dispute resolution and compensation processes, refinement of key aspects of tax law, and improvements to the ATO’s communications and information strategies.

The Committee’s report, entitled 2017 Annual Report of the Australian Taxation Office: Fairness, Functions and Frameworks—Performance Review, is available on the Committee’s website here.

The 2017 Annual Report of the Australian Taxation Office is available at: www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Annual-report-2016-17/

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