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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4371 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

whether the Legislative Assembly refers the government's report to a standing committee for consideration.

This is a very important initiative for the government. I look forward to being able to work with members to finally ensure that the essential basic human beliefs of respect, dignity and the right to participate in society are equally available to all members of our community.

I commend the bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Ms Dundas ) adjourned to the next sitting.

Duties Amendment Bill 2002 (No 2)

Mr Quinlan, pursuant to notice, presented the bill and its explanatory memorandum.

Title read by Clerk.

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming and Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Corrections) (10.56): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

Mr Speaker, the Duties Act 1999 was developed under the Stamp Duties Rewrite Project undertaken by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. The project aimed to produce stamp duty legislation which was contemporary in language and presentation, simple to administer and, where possible, consistent across participating jurisdictions. Since its introduction on 1 March 1999 several amendments have been made to the Duties Act in line with amendments made to the New South Wales Duties Act to maintain these aims.

The Duties Amendment Bill 2002 amends the Duties Act to incorporate four relevant changes already made to the New South Wales act and also other changes specific to the ACT. The first concerns the duty exemption which currently applies to the transfer of interests in shares or units if the share or unit is quoted on the stock exchange. This duty exemption is now extended to cases where the interest (rather than the share or unit), is quoted on the stock exchange.

The second provision clarifies the method of determining the dutiable value of business assets with a connection outside the territory, including those outside Australia. The amendment ensures that duty is now charged on the value of a business asset attributable to the sales made only to territory customers.

Thirdly, the bill limits concessional rates of duty available for certain transactions to superannuation funds or trusts to cases where the transfer is from a trustee or custodian of a relevant fund. This ensures that a transfer from any other person does not qualify for concessional duty.

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