6th Jun 2024, 12:49 PM – Representatives Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 - Second Reading - Decline second reading

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Hume MP Angus Taylor (Liberal), which means it failed. The amendment would have replaced the usual text of the second reading motion with that below.

What is a second reading motion?

The usual second reading motion is "that the bill be read a second time", which is parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill.

Amendment text

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House declines to give the bill a second reading, and notes:

(1) Australia is in an entrenched GDP per capita recession and almost 17,000 businesses have gone insolvent since the government came to power;

(2) Treasury analysis confirms this Bill imposes $2.3 billion in compliance costs in its first year of operation, with no productivity benefit;

(3) ASIC and the Australian Small and Family Business Enterprise Ombudsman have confirmed to Senate Estimates that this compliance cost will be passed on to small businesses;

(4) the United States, Canada, Japan, and most of Australia's trading partners do not require the reporting of scope 3 emissions. The Productivity Commission has confirmed to Senate estimates that this sort of misalignment in regulation will harm investment and make Australian business less competitive; and

(5) while the Coalition is not opposed to reasonable disclosure regimes, this legislation is a red tape bomb that will hurt Australian farmers, small businesses, and ultimately raise prices."