THE Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) is looking forward to working with the City of Melbourne’s new Lord Mayor Sally Capp to enhance Melbourne’s position as Australia’s number one holiday destination for domestic and international visitors.

VTIC acting chief executive Chris Porter has congratulated Ms Capp on her election and said there are many opportunities for the Council and VTIC to work together and continue to grow the City of Melbourne’s visitor economy.

“Each year tens of millions of visitors come to Melbourne, drawn to the mix of experiences on offer to tourists,” Mr Porter said.

“Melbourne is the undisputed culinary, cultural, sporting and events capital of Australia. Each year the tourism industry contributes more than $15 billion into Melbourne’s economy.

“Ms Capp’s business background will help to ensure tourism remains a focus for the Council.

“We will continue to support the City of Melbourne so that our state capital remains a vibrant, attractive and modern city that is the envy of others around the world,” Mr Porter said.

VTIC works closely with the City of Melbourne, as a Corporate Partner, to ensure that visitors to Melbourne have the best experience possible.

ABOUT VTIC

The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) is the peak body for Victoria’s tourism and events industry, providing one united industry voice. Tourism and events are growth industries for Victoria and contribute more than $25 billion to the state economy each year and employ more than 214,500 people.

www.vtic.com.au

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BRISBANE City Council’s move to ban single-use plastic straws and water bottles and phase out helium balloons from their events is welcome news for marine life said the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).

“AMCS welcomes the move by the Brisbane City Council to ban these single-use plastics at over 50,000 of their associated events annually. This is a huge step towards reducing marine plastic pollution its impacts on our unique marine life in Moreton Bay,” said James Cordwell, AMCS marine campaigner.

“Plastic pollution has a long and wicked legacy in our oceans, breaking down into smaller and smaller unidentifiable pieces and lasting forever. This pollution flows into places like South-east Queensland’s iconic Moreton Bay. Once it enters the ocean our marine animals are entangled, suffocated and starved by it.

“The banning of these straws, balloons, and plastic water bottles, along with the forthcoming implementation of Queensland’s Plastic Bag Ban and Container Deposit Scheme, are very encouraging steps for Queensland. These are crucial moves to put an end to an era of these highly damaging items from impacting on our marine environment.

“With this announcement, and as stewards of an incredible marine natural heritage, Queenslanders are again proving we can be a national leader in turning the tide against harmful plastic pollution.”

www.marineconservation.org.au

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THE FEDERAL Government’s vision of a strong, resilient and internationally competitive Australian defence industry took another step forward yesterday with the inaugural meeting of the Defence Export Forum in Canberra.

The meeting was chaired by the Australian Defence Export Advocate, David Johnston and brought together Commonwealth agencies, state and territory governments, and industry peak bodies.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said the states and territories are important partners in achieving the government’s vision for Australian defence industry.

"The Defence Export Forum will help deliver a collaborative approach, allowing us to coordinate export advocacy efforts across all levels of government and industry, minimising duplication of resources,” Minister Pyne said.

The Forum was an important initiative of the Defence Export Strategy released on 29 January 2018, which set out a comprehensive approach to delivering an export system to plan, guide, grow and measure defence exports.

The inaugural meeting follows the opening of the Australian Defence Export Office on 23 April 2018.

Minister Pyne said the opening of the Export Office and the establishment of the Defence Export Forum shows that the government is delivering on what it says.

“We are delivering what Australian defence industry needs to achieve export success, become more sustainable and more internationally competitive, all in support of Australia’s Defence capability,” Minister Pyne said.

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THE FEDERAL Government is continuing to protect the integrity of Australia's corporate tax system – ensuring foreign investors don't have a competitive advantage over Australian investors.

Today it released exposure draft legislation and explanatory material for public consultation on the tax treatment of stapled structures to give effect to the policy announced on 27 March 2018.

This puts into action targeted integrity rules designed to neutralise the tax benefits of stapled structures.

An increasing number of foreign investors have sought to convert trading income into more favourably taxed passive income through the use of stapled structures. When combined with existing concessions used by foreign pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, some foreign investors are currently paying tax rates of 15 percent, or in some cases, far less.

The proposed amendments in the announced package will ensure that:

• trading income that is converted to passive income will be taxed at the corporate tax rate;
• foreign investors will no longer be able to use multiple layers of flow-through entities (i.e. trusts and partnerships) to 'double gear' their investments to generate more favourably taxed interest income;
• foreign pension fund withholding tax exemption for interest and dividends is limited to portfolio investments only;
• a legislative framework is created for the existing tax exemption for foreign governments (including sovereign wealth funds), and limit the exemption to passive income from portfolio investments; and
• investment in agricultural land will not be able to access the 15 per cent concessional MIT withholding tax rate.New, Government-approved nationally significant infrastructure assets may be eligible to access the 15 per cent concessional withholding tax rate for managed investment trusts for 15 years. This will ensure continued support for the development of nationally significant infrastructure assets that enhance the productive capacity of the economy and drive long term economic growth.

To minimise the impact of these changes on existing investments, the proposed amendments include transitional arrangements of seven years (for ordinary business staples) and 15 years (for economic infrastructure assets).

The stapled structures package is an important integrity measure, and the Turnbull Government is committed to introducing legislation as soon as possible. To maximise time for consultation, draft legislation will be released in stages, starting today.

The released exposure draft legislation contains the first four proposed amendments in the package. Draft legislation on the agricultural MIT changes and the conditions stapled entities must comply with to access the infrastructure concession and/or transitional arrangements will be released in due course.

The exposure draft legislation and explanatory materials are available on the Treasury website.

The Federal Government is encouraging all interested parties to make a submission.

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