Legislative Assembly Wednesday, 14 May 2008 THE SPEAKER (Mr F. Riebeling) took the chair at 12 noon, and read prayers. PAPER TABLED A paper was tabled and ordered to lie upon the table of the house. EDUCATION AND TRAINING LEGISLATION AMENDMENT AND REPEAL BILL 2008 Notice of Motion to Introduce Notice of motion given by Mr M. McGowan (Minister for Education and Training). NICKEL REFINERY (BHP BILLITON NICKEL WEST PTY LTD) (TERMINATION OF AGREEMENTS) AGREEMENT BILL 2008 Notice of Motion to Introduce Notice of motion given by Mr F.M. Logan (Minister for Resources). CARERS ADVISORY COUNCIL — COMPLIANCE REPORT Statement by Minister for the Environment MR D.A. TEMPLEMAN (Mandurah — Minister for the Environment) [12.03 pm]: On behalf of the Minister for Communities, I present to members of the Legislative Assembly the 2007 compliance report of the Carers Advisory Council. The Carers Advisory Council must report on the performance of WA Health and the Disability Services Commission in meeting the obligations set out in the Carers Recognition Act 2004. This legislation was enacted to effect a cultural change among the service providers that operate within Western Australia’s public health and disability sectors by ensuring that carers are included and considered in the decision-making processes that affect service provision where it impacts on the caring role. In this its second year of reporting to the minister, the council reports that this third year of the act’s implementation has seen development and improvement in strategies and approaches that recognise and involve carers. The council reports that strategically, both WA Health and the Disability Services Commission are complying with the intent of the legislation and its first objective of recognising carers. With respect to compliance with the Carers Charter, the council reports that the Disability Services Commission has complied, while WA Health is working towards compliance. Although these two reporting organisations complied with the requirements of the act in 2007, it is clear that substantial work still remains to be done in this area. Among service provider staff, there is still a need for stronger knowledge and understanding of why and how the legislation is applied. We must also work to ensure that carers themselves have knowledge of the Carers Recognition Act and the Carers Charter, and the implications of both in supporting the valuable contribution carers make to our society. Importantly, the council recommends that service providers be encouraged to consider the benefits of engaging with carers so that best practice measures based on the experiences of carers themselves can be developed and implemented. The findings of this report are relevant, timely and crucial to both improving the quality of service provision by the Disability Services Commission and WA Health, and gradually improving the lives of the 248 000 people in Western Australia who are selflessly and tirelessly committed to the caring role. I table the report. [See paper No 3885.] INDUSTRY TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS Statement by Minister for Education and Training MR M. McGOWAN (Rockingham — Minister for Education and Training) [12.04 pm]: The State Training Board recently conducted a review of the state’s industry training advisory arrangements. I have agreed to the board’s recommendations for implementing a new industry training advisory model. Under the new arrangements, industry will take a leadership role in developing workforce plans and strategies to assist industry and government to address current and future skills shortages. The reforms will also bring Western Australia’s training advice arrangements into line with the national system of skills advice. The new advisory arrangements will result in the consolidation of the current 14 industry training advisory bodies into 10 new training councils. The new training councils will be given a substantial increase in resources and will comprise high-level industry representatives from both employer and employee groups who will be enlisted to drive reforms and solutions to the skills shortages. The 10 new industry groupings include education, health care and social assistance; retail trade and other services; building and construction; manufacturing and automotive; arts, information, media and [ASSEMBLY - Wednesday, 14 May 2008] 2967 telecommunications, hospitality and tourism; financial, administrative and professional services; transport, postal and wholesale trade; agriculture, forestry, fishing, food manufacturing and scientific; public administration, electricity, gas, water and waste services; and resources. An amount of $2.2 million on top of the existing $1.83 million has been allocated to support the new advisory bodies. The new arrangements are scheduled to be implemented as of October 2008. REVENUE LAWS AMENDMENT BILL 2008 Introduction and First Reading Bill introduced, on motion by Mr E.S. Ripper (Treasurer), and read a first time. Explanatory memorandum presented by the Treasurer. Second Reading MR E.S. RIPPER (Belmont — Treasurer) [12.07 pm]: I move — That the bill be now read a second time. This bill implements the taxation measures announced in the 2008-09 budget that relate to the land tax, metropolitan region improvement tax, duties and rates and charges legislation. Complementary amendments necessary to implement the taxation administration measures that were announced in the 2008-09 budget are contained in the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2008. The amendments arising from the major multilateral project with other states and territories to make eight areas of payroll administration more consistent, as also announced in the budget, are included in the Pay-roll Tax Assessment Amendment Bill 2008. The measures in this bill focus on lowering the transfer duty barrier to housing purchases and ameliorating the impact of higher land values on land tax on rental and business properties. Families and businesses planning to purchase mid-priced motor vehicles in the near term will also benefit. In addition, the bill includes amendments to implement two recommendations of the state tax review. The first involves the introduction of land tax and rates and charges relief measures that assist disabled persons to live in independent accommodation. The second implements a land tax exemption for property owned by an executor or administrator when a will gives a beneficiary a future right to live in a property that is used as the beneficiary’s principal place of residence. Further amendments are included to address recent judicial decisions and to make a number of minor changes to improve the administrative efficiency of the taxation legislation. The total value of the tax relief to be provided by the measures in this bill is $236 million in 2008-09 and $1.1 billion over four years. I will now outline each of the proposed measures in greater detail. Part 7 of the bill provides for the introduction of a new concessional transfer duty scale for residential property purchases from 1 July 2008. This concessional scale will apply to principal places of residence, rental homes and land on which the building of a residence is subsequently commenced within a specified time limit. It will incorporate increases in thresholds of up to 50 per cent, and accommodate the average five per cent reduction in transfer duty rates for all property transactions that also commences on 1 July 2008 under the new Duties Act. As a result of these measures, the duty payable on a median priced home in Perth of $457 000 will fall by 15.2 per cent—or $2 827.50—from $18 550 to $15 722.50. The increase in thresholds will cost around $104 million in 2008-09 and $487 million over the four years to 2001-12. Although some other states already have concessional scales for principal places of residence, Western Australia’s will be unique in also extending to rental housing. The transfer duty reductions will coincide with the abolition of mortgage duty, including on home loans, which was an early decision arising from the state tax review. The existing first homeowner transfer duty concession in Western Australia, including the full exemption for homes valued at up to $500 000, will remain in place and will continue to be the most generous in Australia. The bill also provides for the existing concession for principal places of residence and small businesses to continue until its scheduled abolition on 1 July 2010. A specific provision has been added to ensure that when a taxpayer may be better off under the residential scale or the principal place of residence scale, the application can be treated as being made under the most beneficial arrangement, provided that the taxpayer’s consent has been obtained. This part of the bill also includes two minor amendments to the Duties Act. The first is to rectify an incorrect section reference that would otherwise result in a taxpayer paying more duty on the vesting of a discretionary trust than if the corresponding transaction had occurred under the Stamp Act. The second clarifies that the trustee of a unit trust scheme or discretionary trust cannot use the exemption that applies to a transfer to or from a trustee under section 118 of the Duties Act. This section was always intended to apply only to bare trusts, and this amendment confirms the original policy intent. Part 2 of the bill includes amendments to the 2007-08 budget initiative to increase motor vehicle duty thresholds by $10 000 in two tranches. These were an initial $5 000 increase on 1 July 2007 and a second $5 000 increase on 1 January 2009. As announced in the 2008-09 budget, the second of the $5 000 increases will be brought 2968 [ASSEMBLY - Wednesday, 14 May 2008] forward by six months to 1 July 2008, costing an estimated additional $12 million in 2008-09. The duty saving on the licensing of a $30 000 car will be $225, or 18 per cent.