The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Report has identified 58 laws that must be amended to eliminate discrimination against same-sex
couples and their children in the area of federal financial and
work-related entitlements.

The Report concludes that straightforward definition changes could remove discrimination in the following areas:

• Employment
• Workers’ Compensation
• Tax
• Social Security
• Veterans’ Entitlements
• Health Care Costs
• Family Law
• Superannuation
• Aged Care
• Migration.

UPDATE: Draft Bill introduced into Senate on 14 August 2007 as a Private Senator’s Bill.

Parliament is resuming for its Spring Sittings starting with the period 7 to 16 August 2007.

Debate will resume on Government bills already introduced with some new Bills marked for introduction and passage this sittings (subject to an election announcement).

On Tuesday the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services is scheduled to deliver its Report of inquiry into the structure and operation of the superannuation industry .

The ATO has issued practice statement PSLA 2007/20 setting out how taxpayers can take corrective action to fix mistakes made between 2001-02 and 2006-07 regarding payments and loans from their
private companies and avoid penalties under Division 7A. The Commissioner has a discretion to enable him to provide relief for
deemed dividends that have arisen under Division 7A because of an
honest mistake or inadvertent omission.

The Practice Statement gives examples of omissions and corrective action where the exercise of the Commissioner’s discretion is not required.

If a taxpayer takes corrective action by 30 June 2008 they will not have to pay interest and penalties. However, even if they don’t have
to pay a penalty or interest, taxpayers will have to pay the correct
amount of tax provided the time limits under the law allow it.

From 1 July 2008, the Tax Office will resume audit work to ensure
payments made by private companies are correctly accounted for and
company loans are not used to distribute tax free profits.

The Minister for Justice and Customs has issued a Foreign Bribery Information and Awareness Pack to assist Australians who encounter foreign public officials, whether it is in the course of business or simply as a result of travelling overseas.

The pack contains information about the criminal offence, how to report suspected foreign bribery, taxation implications of foreign briber and identification of suspicious transactions and notification requirements.

The ATO has also issued Bribes and facilitation payments: A guide to managing your tax obligations.

In a recent Speech by Michael D’Ascenzo, Commissioner of Taxation, he identified tax risks for businesses and discussed:

• the new ATO Guide Bribes and facilitation payments: A guide to managing your tax obligations;
• The role of directors and board members in tax governance (including their own personal tax responsibilities);
• rights and options received under share schemes for both executives and general employees;
• ATO’s compliance program for large business;
• an initiative encouraging people to come forward and make disclosures of undisclosed income from offshore activities.

With the commencement of the Simpler Regulatory System company reporting changes, many companies can be expected to save printing and mailing costs by making annual reports available online.

A typical condition imposed by laws when permitting documents to be given to your shareholders or customers by making them available online for reading or downloading (rather than requiring the mailing of a hard (printed) copy or the emailing or faxing of an electronic copy) is that they be "readily accessible". (See section 314(1AA)(b) Corporations Act).

"Readily accessible" means more than being available for reading or download by anyone who has internet access. The expression has its source in Section 9(1)(a) of the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) where it is part of the phrase "readily accessible so as to
be useable for subsequent reference".

The readily accessible requirement appears to have been included to allow for changes in technology which can mean that over time different standards of communication can be become incompatible with later systems. Provided that the system used to transfer the information is relatively standard at the time of publication and is not difficult to use, then it should satisfy this test. For example, the PDF file format is now standard and the Adobe Acrobat Reader required to read it is freely available (and free). Use of a file format that was difficult to open would mean that the document is not "readily accessible".

As the legality of the giving of the document should not be questioned through lack of access, the direct address on the web site where the documents may be accessed should remain static for as long as they are relevant.

But accessibility may also be argued in the future to include whether:
•    the writing in the document is legible when viewed;
•    the document incorporates any image, message, advertisement or other feature that distracts the reader or reduces the reader’s ability to understand the document;
•    if an image, message, advertisement or other feature accompanies or is associated with the document, the reader is readily able to distinguish the image, message, advertisement or other feature from the document;
•    the reader can readily scroll through the whole of the document.

As more businesses make documents available on their website, consideration should be given as to whether they are readily accessible by looking at the following factors:

• the ability of readers to find the document (is there a direct link, adequate navigation, reference on a site map or index?)
• the file format of the document (HTML, PDF, Word, RTF or all?)
• the ability of onscreen readers to increase the font size
• for longer documents, the availablity of a summary or a tool such as a drop down list to find relevant parts of the document.

For example, the Alinta Scheme Booklet  as presented online seems to offer readers a range of features which may make it easier to read a complex legal document on their computer screen if they do not want to print or save it.

The Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, the Hon Peter
Dutton MP has released the draft Tax Laws Amendment (Tax Agent
Services) Bill 2007 and associated draft Regulations and draft
explanatory materials for public exposure.

The Corporations Legislation Amendment (Simpler Regulatory System) Bill 2007 when passed will make amendments to the takeovers provisions in the Corporations Act.

Removal of telephone monitoring during takeover bids
The provisions of the Corporations Act that require the
recording, storing, destroying, accessing
and copying of the recordings of telephone conversations with retail
shareholders during takeover bids are repealed.

The purpose of the subdivision was
to ensure that security holders did not receive information from the
takeover bidder or target that could be considered misleading.

The existing provisions have not increased
the protection of security holders and impose significant costs on the
parties involved.

The repeal of the telephone monitoring
requirements will take effect on the day of Royal
Assent.

85 per cent notices
The provisions of the Corporations Act that require the disclosure of an 85 per cent holding are repealed.

The provisions were enacted to provide
holders of securities with an advanced warning that the majority holder
is approaching the 90 per cent limit, at which the majority holder can
compulsorily acquire their securities.

However, it is often the case that
the minority are already aware of the majority holder’s position. 
For listed entities, other mechanisms in the Corporations Act will mean
that the information is already publicly disclosed.

The repeal of the 85 per cent notice requirement will take effect on the day of Royal
Assent.