Page 2192 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 22 June 2010
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The proposals in this bill extend the advantages that are offered by these trusts. They exempt from duty residential property that is bought for the person with the disability, permit trustees of these trusts to act by seeking the deferral or a rebate of rates and, in exceptional circumstances, permit the commissioner to determine to defer rates on properties that are occupied by a person with a severe disability.
As a community, we need to do what we can to enable people with severe disabilities to live in the community as comfortably as is possible and, as an important adjunct to that objective, we need to assist the families of a person who has a severe disability to cope with all the demands that they face. I commend these proposals.
The second matter relates to people who work as employees and who volunteer for duties when an emergency arises. The bill proposes an exemption from payroll tax for wages that are paid to employees who volunteer for an emergency operation. Services performed in an emergency operation will be defined in the Emergencies Act. This proposal is not expected to cause a significant loss of revenue, although of course it is not possible to model any potential loss of revenue because of our lack of knowledge of any emergencies occurring.
It is interesting to note that a related matter was discussed on local radio yesterday. This followed suggestions made at a conference of fire-fighting organisations, the Rural Fire Services Association of New South Wales, at their AGM in Canberra. I attended the conference over the weekend. One of the issues they raised was, of course, that the number of volunteers was declining.
One solution suggested was for compensation to be paid for employees who volunteer for duty when an emergency exists. This is a good step in the right direction and I think it is an issue that we may have cause to visit in the future as well. The opposition supports both these proposals.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (4.54): This bill sets out four very positive amendments and the ACT Greens are pleased to support this bill. In regard to disability trusts, the removal of the requirement to pay stamp duty on a property transfer where the property is acquired by a special disability trust as a principal place of residence of the beneficiary of the trust is a fair, reasonable and socially responsible change.
I am sure that everyone in the community understands that, along with the huge emotional costs, those with significant disability also face enormous additional financial costs and have an additional limitation on their ability to generate income. It is therefore reasonable that the community forgo this revenue in order to help people in these circumstances.
Consistent with this reasoning, the ACT Greens also support the provisions that allow the Commissioner for Revenue to defer the payment of rates, both upon request and without request, on a property that is the principal place of residence of a beneficiary of a special disability trust. These provisions recognise that people with disabilities are not always capable of managing their financial affairs and allow the commissioner to manage these cases. I note too that the interest on deferred rates will be charged at the discount interest rate, which we think is appropriate.
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