9th Aug 2021, 1:13 PM – Senate Treasury Laws Amendment (Covid-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021 - Consideration of House of Representatives Message - Do not insist on amendments

The majority voted in favour of a motion to not insist on its amendments to the bill, after the House of Representatives disagreed with them. This means that the bill can now be passed, as its final form has been agreed to in both Houses of parliament.

What does the bill do?

According to the bill homepage, the bill was introduced to:

• enable the Treasurer to make rules for economic response payments to provide support to an entity where they are adversely affected by restrictions imposed by a state or territory public health order that is directed at controlling the transmission of COVID-19;
• enable tax information to be disclosed to Australian government agencies for the purposes of administering COVID-19 business support programs;
• make payments received by eligible businesses under certain COVID-19 business support programs and Commonwealth COVID-19 disaster payments exempt from income tax; and
• reinstate a temporary mechanism for ministers to change arrangements relating to meeting information and document requirements under Commonwealth legislation.