Subjects: Business philanthropy; workplace giving; $5 million to Westmead Hospital; Independent review of charities; AS
E&OE..................
Thank you very much Ian. To my Ministerial colleagues, Jocelyn Newman and Larry Anthony. Other colleagues, leaders of the welfare and business sector, ladies and gentlemen.
As some of you know, I have a real passion for and interest in some of the notions and concepts and values that are encompassed in the Community Business Partnership. Some of you may even think I've been carrying on a lot over the last few years about the social coalition. This idea that if only we can get the Government doing what it does best - some of you might rudely say that's nothing - but the business community making its contribution, the welfare sector and of course individuals all contributing in a way that each of them can best do.
And one of the reasons why I've been so committed to this notion is that I've tried to look at what's happened to public affairs and what has happened to community attitudes to the role of Government over the last thirty or forty years, which briefly so to speak covers the period of time that in one way or another I've been active in public affairs, in early years not of course as a Member of Parliament, but for the last 26 years as a Member of Parliament.
And I think we've passed through three phases. There was a time when everybody thought that all you had to do was to invite the Government in to solve the problem and if the Government turned on the taxpayer's tap, particularly if it was a Federal Government and poured an enormous amount of money into the problem, you'd solve it. Now we found that really didn't work. Then I think there was a bit of an over-reaction and we went through a period of time during the 1980s in which people thought that if only you had the market forces of our society, and I'm a great believer of market forces, operating in a completely unrestrained, undiluted, unconditional fashion through some kind of magical trickle-down effect of unrestrained economic rationalism, you'd solve every problem. Now of course we found that didn't happen either, and I think we've come to realise now as we're in the early years of the 21st century that governments have a limited, but none the less, very strategic role in our society. Governments can't answer every problem but they are needed. And there are some things that only a government can do. Only a government can provide the infrastructure for a pension system that looks after the needy in our community. Only a government can provide the financial underpinning for labour market policies, even though they may be carried out in a competitive spirit as they are within our new job network which we believe is working extremely well, and involves many of the organisations that are represented here tonight. But you need the resources of the Australian taxpayer in order to achieve that.
So I think we've reached a stage where people are ready for something that has rejected some of the sharper ideologies of the past, but recognises that there is a role for everybody. And if we can have greater cooperation, then we can achieve greater results.
Now one of the things that has interested me as Prime Minister over the last four and a quarter years is that the welfare debate, if I can put it like that and it's probably an inadequate description. But if I can put it like that, the welfare debate is now not so much about whether you have a safety net or not - everybody takes that for granted. There's debate now essentially at the margins, importantly at the margins and I don't want to play that down about where the safety nets should reach and precisely what should be the dimension of the individual benefits. But I think we have a better quality debate and I've found, and I name no names and I think of nobody in particular. But I think we now have a debate where people are a lot more relaxed about the involvement of different philosophies and different attitudes.
I am very happy as the leader of a coalition government and as somebody who's occasionally seen on the slightly conservative side of social policy, and I can't possibly imagine why people should think that, that I'm quite happy to acknowledge that there is a tremendously important role for the Government to play - not an overbearing or overweening role, but a very important one. But I have sought very energetically to involve the great welfare organisations of Australia, not only in providing the human help and the human life rafts that so many of their members do so magnificently in times of sadness and distress. And I had but another example of that last night when I went to Childers in Queensland to attend that very moving and evocative memorial service, and to meet the young people and the wonderful clergymen and councillors and others of those great organisations that do such a fantastic job. Now that's a very important, crucial, invaluable role in our society, but those organisations also have a policy contribution to make. They are not just compassion providers, they are also people who have a repository of understanding of what works and what fails - better than most in the community.
So dragging all of that together, what I've tried to create is this notion of a social coalition. It's a notion that recognises that governments have ongoing responsibilities, that also others in the community - the business community has responsibilities. If business does well it has an obligation to put something back. And I'm very happy to acknowledge that many business men, individually and through their corporations have always recognised that. Business men and women all around Australia for years have been at the forefront of generosity. And I'll say it again - my mantra is not that business should give more, but rather that more businesses should give. And the examples of many great corporate citizens in Australia over the years is something that many should follow. And what the Community Business Partnerships seek to do is to give a practical expression of that notion of cooperation between the Government and the business community, the Government and the welfare sector and the Government and community organisations.
And I think we have begun to see a very big change in Australian society. And when we formed our roundtable, when we formed the partnerships last year, and the committee has met on several occasions and I thank Jocelyn Newman for the contribution that she's made as Deputy Chairman.
Last year, the Government provided around $1.5 million to promote best practice partnerships between community organisations and the business sector. In a recent report by the Centre for Corporate Public Affairs and the Business Council, confirmed that many large Australian companies recognise the value of corporate-community partnerships to improve corporate reputation and their relationship with the local community, as well as the beneficial impact it has on employee morale, team work and retention.
More than a year ago, the Taxation working group with the Roundtable on Business and Community Partnerships, chaired by David Gonski, made recommendations on how to encourage philanthropic giving. In response to this I announced, I think a year or more ago, a package of measures worth $51 million for new taxation concessions.
I am delighted to say, that after a few blocks and setbacks and parries and thrusts in the Senate - which is often the way of this building, finally received the Royal Assent on 31 May. And the new arrangements provide a range of income and capital gains tax incentives to make donations of property, including gifts under the Cultural Gifts Programme and donations to environmental and heritage organisations.
I've always said that I'm open to further representations and I've no doubt I will receive them in large volume, about how the tax laws interact with incentives for philanthropy. And as an illustration of our interest in environmental measures, I recently requested the taxation working group to review and assess the recommendations outlined in the CSIRO report "Philanthropy: Sustaining the Land".
Another new direction which is an illustration of the burgeoning interest of the business community and the burgeoning commitment of the business community is the area of workplace giving. Workplace giving occurs when employees elect to give a portion of their wage to selected charities through payroll deductions. Their employees and even the Government may make matching contributions. It's a simple yet effective means of raising money to many charities. Payroll deduction schemes have been operating very successfully for many years in North America and the United Kingdom.
The schemes can be suitable for small and large businesses, and a number of organisations in Australia are already involved in these programmes, including Westpac, Challenge Bank, Cable and Wireless Optus and Bankers Trust. Challenge Bank has worked with the intermediary "United Way" for over 10 years as a founding corporate partner, providing assistance through Corporate Sponsorship, Payroll Deductions and Private Donations.
To illustrate over the eighteen months to March of last year, Challenge Bank staff raised $10,000 for the Ngala Resource Centre, and the bank matched the $10,000 to $20,000. This amount provides toys, teaching aids, an electronic whiteboard and a projector for the centre. This year, Challenge Bank's United Way Community 2000 Project aims to raise $10,000 for the Cerebral Palsy Association of Western Australia.
Charities, churches and not-for-profit organisations are of course pivotal members of the social coalition. They are playing a major and running role under the Government's business and community partnerships policy. And we always need to ensure that the legislative and administrative framework in which they operate are appropriate to the economic and social environment of modern times. Yet as many of you involved in those organisations will know, the common law definition of a charity is based on a legal concept which originated in 1601. As a result, there are currently a number of definitions of a charity and this often gives rise to legal disputes. And therefore the Government has announced an independent inquiry into definitional issues relating to charities, churches and not-for-profit organisations to be completed by the end of the year. The terms of reference of the inquiry, let me assure you - it has no goal other than a simpler, clearer legal definition are being developed in consultation with the Australian Democrats and the Community Business Partnership.
As I indicated in relation to the tax incentives and in so many other areas, the Government sees its role of an active partner in this great partnership, not only in terms of the ongoing provision of a social security safety net, but also in specific areas of joining in partnership with the private sector or private individuals to support worthwhile goals and objectives. And our efforts to promote philanthropic giving have of course encouraged a great number of individuals to give back to their community. And one example I wish to mention by way of a matching contribution is that of a very prominent Sydney business figure, who's recently offered to give $10 million to support research of the New Children's Hospital in Sydney, on condition that the gift be matched with contributions of $5 million from the Government of NSW and $5 million from the Commonwealth Government.
The New Children's Hospital has a strong record of research going back 70 years. It includes childhood cancer and leukaemia, childhood diabetes and asthma. That hospital commands a great deal of community support and receives 40,000 individual gifts each year from people and organisations such as Lions and Rotary.
I am pleased to announce tonight that the Commonwealth Government will contribute its matching sum of $5 million, and I assume that this will be swiftly followed by a $5 million contribution from New South Wales. If that swift response is forthcoming, then it will be possible for $20 million development in the Westmead health research precinct, focusing on the illnesses that afflict our children to be a reality. And there will be tremendous demonstration, I think, of the social coalition in action.
And this contribution is part of a strategic initiative to develop centres of national research capacity, based on the bringing together of a 'critical mass' of excellent researchers with strong links to industry and commercial partners. And as another illustration of that, the Government will also commit $10 million to the Bio 21 project - a joint venture between Monash and Melbourne universities and several other research and industry partners. Some $7.5 million will be provided to the Melbourne University precinct and $2.5 million to the Monash precinct.
I am delighted also ladies and gentlemen, that the Australian Stock Exchange announced today an initiative motivated by our tax concession for gifts of property regardless of when it was acquired. The initiative relates to ASX escrow requirements. Normally at the time of a new ASX listing, shares held by related parties and vendors are put in escrow for a period of up to 2 years. This means that during this time these shares are effectively locked up. These requirements are designed to provide an incentive for people integral to a company's operations to deliver value to new shareholders over time. They are also designed to prevent insiders from using the public market to offload shares in a strong market that can often occur immediately after listing.
In order to encourage and facilitate private giving, the ASX has decided to allow the transfer of such shares for charitable purposes. Any such transfer will be subject to limits in order to maintain the principles underlying the doctrine of escrow. The mechanism for such transfers will be via Umbrella Charitable Trusts that are managed by banks, insurance companies and trustee companies. The Umbrella Charitable Trust can only make gifts to charitable entities as recognised by the Tax Office as having gift deductible status. The ASX believes that this initiative provides a community benefit, while maintaining the key principles of escrow requirements. To illustrate the potential of this initiative, it is estimated that since July 1999 around $2.5 billion of shares at current market values have been placed in escrow, relating to new companies listed on the ASX.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've canvassed a number of things in these remarks to illustrate the breadth and the depth of the Government's commitment to the social coalition and to the community business partnerships. I think we have found a new and better way of doing things through these concepts. I don't pretend that the arrangements are flawless, I don't pretend that they can't be improved, but I sense as I go around the community, a number of things - I sense that there is recognition on the path of the great welfare organisations of this country. That their role goes beyond providing that coal face compassion and help that which they are unsurpassable. But it is also to provide policy advice and to be part of the policy making process. I find within the business community recognition, not only of their social responsibilities but of the value of being seen as a positive participator in the community - the value of that in corporate terms.
I find a refreshing absence of ideological conflict, compared to what might have been the case five or ten years ago. There is an ease in the partnership between the Government and the welfare organisations and the business community and individuals that was perhaps lacking in the past. I think we have found a new and better way of doing it and I'm quite excited about it. I think out of it, we can provide new and better ways of helping those within our community who need assistance. We all know that generically viewed, the Australian economy is very strong at the moment - it hasn't been as strong for thirty years. We also know that there are some who continue to miss out and to miss out badly. Sometimes through their own fault, often through no fault of their own, always in circumstances that should continue to be stressing to us as a compassionate society.
I think the social coalition is starting to make a difference, I think the Community Business Partnerships and I'll be delighted to be involved in the award presentation process a little later on - I think they're all part of it. I want to thank you, I want to thank the men and women of Australian business, I want to thank the men and women who work so hard in our great organisations. And I also want to thank my Ministers, Jocelyn Newman and Larry Anthony and Michael Wooldridge who's not here tonight, and many others who play a particular role in this. And also can I thank the Government advisers in the various departments, because the partnership that we have developed and which is really crystallised in this gathering tonight has been made possible because everybody has been willing to adopt a different approach. And I think it's great that's occurred, and I think Australia and Australians can only be the big winners.
Thank you.