Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022

The majority voted in favour of a motion "That the requested amendments be agreed to." Because this vote was successful, the bill has now been passed in its final form by both house of parliament and so will now become law.

What were the requested amendments?

Whitlam MP Stephen Jones (Labor) explained that:

The bill comes back to us in substantially the same form as it was presented to the House by the government, with one amendment, which I'll explain to members of the House now. It removes a long-standing exemption in our corporation laws which has existed since 1995 that exempts certain large private companies that existed prior to 1995 from public disclosure of an audited annual report to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the provision of tax data to the Australian tax office, which could then be made public.

During question time a number of questions were asked of the Prime Minister and the government which went to the importance of transparency in corporate affairs. I'd expect, given the tenor of those questions, that members of the coalition will rise and support the government in removing these exemptions from corporations and taxation law. They go to the heart of transparency. They ensure that all large private companies are treated in exactly the same way. They must present to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission an audited copy of an annual report, and they must provide certain information to the tax commissioner, which would be treated in the same way as any other private company's tax information. These are simple, straightforward amendments.