THE Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has signed its first memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a recognised Business Activity Statement (BAS) agent association, the Australian Bookkeepers Association (ABA). 

TPB chair Ian Klug said that a number of other recognised professional associations had expressed interest in similar agreements.

"We are delighted that the ABA is the first recognised professional association for BAS agents to join us in signing this MOU," Mr Klug said. 

"In developing these agreements, we are highlighting our intention to work collaboratively with tax and BAS practitioner associations to promote the integrity of the tax profession."

Mr Klug said that the agreement with the ABA, signed yesterday, will facilitate better information exchange between the two organisations.

"This TPB and ABA MoU will increase our mutual capacity to enhance the integrity of the BAS agent profession, including sharing information and intelligence about BAS agents’ compliance with the tax practitioners Code of Professional Conduct," Mr Klug said.

ABA director, Peter Thorp, said the spirit in which the MOU has been agreed is beneficial for both ABA and the TPB.

"The MoU will lead to greater co-operation, better communication and more streamlined procedural dealings between the ABA and the TPB," Mr Thorp said.

"A closer working relationship like the one envisaged in the MOU can only benefit the bookkeeping profession as a whole."

Mr Klug said the TPB is developing MoUs with other recognised professional associations and will announce more in coming months.

About the Tax Practitioners Board

The Tax Practitioners Board regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct. Twitter @TPB_gov_au, Facebook and LinkedIn

About Australian Bookkeepers Association:

Australian Bookkeepers Association advances the cause of the bookkeeping profession in Australia. It does this in accordance with its Objects that foster education, training representation and professionalism. Twitter @ AustBookkeepers, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s defence, trade and international relations will hear from the Department of Health.  

Senator David Fawcett, Chair of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, said the department had been at the forefront of Australia’s COVID-19 response.

Senator Fawcett said, “Australians can rightly be proud of the achievements of our health authorities in responding to and managing the COVID-19 pandemic, though of course there is still work to be done. The committee looks forward to hearing from the Department about recent developments in the fight against COVID-19 and the steps we might take as a nation to build our resilience as we emerge from the pandemic.”

Full terms of reference for the inquiry are on the Committee website.

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday 13 August
Time: 3pm – 4.30pm AEST 
Location: By teleconference

The hearings will be audio streamed live at aph.gov.au/live.

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A LEGISLATED10-year hold on the rate of royalties applied by the State Government to Queensland's resource commodities will create more jobs and strengthen COVID-19 recovery efforts, according to the Queensland Resources Council.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said maintaining royalty rates – already Australia’s highest - at current levels for the next 10 years sends a clear message to investors around the globe that 'Queensland is open for business'.

"Before COVID-19 hit, the Queensland Government confirmed the royalty rates on coal and metals would remain stable until 2022, and for petroleum until 2025, which the resources industry welcomed," Mr Macfarlane said.

"Given the importance of the resources sector in leading the State in its economic recovery, the QRC welcomes today’s announcement by the LNP that it would legislate a 10-year freeze on royalty rates until 2030, because it’s exactly what Queensland needs right now.

“As the peak representative body for Queensland's explorers and producers of coal, metals and gas and supplier companies, the QRC calls on all members of State Parliament to support the LNP’s proposal to give the industry the confidence to play its part in Queensland’s COVID-19 recovery.”

Mr Macfarlane said the resources industry had been through a period of turmoil and upheaval with Queensland’s royalty regime, to the sector’s detriment.

"We know Queensland’s regulatory uncertainty has already impacted investment decisions for resource projects which operate for decades, and benefit our state economy for even longer,” he said.

“A decade of royalty certainty is the shot in the arm the Queensland economy needs as we unite and recover from COVID-19.”

Mr Macfarlane said as Queensland’s largest export industry, the resources sector was committed to paying its fair share of royalties, and the LNP proposal would lock in that definition of fair for a decade.

“Without new investment, jobs, exports and royalties the Queensland Government will simply not be in a position to finance a COVID-19 recovery,” he said.

“Before COVID-19, the Queensland resources sector employed more than 372,000 Queenslanders and generated $76 billion in economic activity across the State, creating more than $5 billion in government royalty revenue.

“Queensland needs to secure every job and every dollar, if we are to bounce back from COVID-19 as quickly and as strongly as possible,” Mr Macfarlane said.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE INQUIRY into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities will hold a public hearing tomorrow.

Julian Leeser MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Indigenous Affairs Committee, said the Committee would hear from stakeholders from Queensland, including the key industry players Community Enterprise Queensland and Sea Swift, and also from Indigenous peak bodies from the Northern Territory and New South Wales.

"The Committee looks forward to gaining further insights into the complexities of the food supply chains and store management in the top-end of Australia, and the experiences of Aboriginal organisations with food pricing and availability," Mr Leeser said.

The hearings will be conducted via telephone and video links due to social distancing requirements relating to COVID-19. Full programs are available at the inquiry website.

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday 12 August
Time: 9am to 11am; 1pm to 4.40pm
Location: Via conference call

An audio broadcast will be accessible at aph.gov.au/live

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