Economy: Kiwis fear Australia
will steal investment dollars
New Zealand will fall further behind Australia
if it doesn't counter the new business tax proposals and
free trade deals of its larger neighbour, a consulting
group warned this week.
Paul Mersi, a tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers
in New Zealand, warned that Australia's recently proposed
tax amendments would make Australia more attractive
to foreign investors than New Zealand.
The Australian government has recently announced details
of its venture capital reform arrangements, which promise
to provide Australia with a world's best practice investment
vehicle for venture capital. Amendments to the tax treatment
of venture capital limited partnerships and Australian
venture capital fund of funds, now view these limited
partnerships as flow-through vehicles.
Foreign investors who are tax-exempt residents of specified
jurisdictions, or are partners in flow-through limited
partnerships, will be exempt from tax on profits on
the disposal of their eligible investee companies.
Mersi said New Zealand should be pre-empting any advantage
these and other proposed amendments may give Australia
by introducing them first. He warned that if New Zealand
merely followed Australia's initiative, it would be
too late to compete in attracting new foreign investment.
The New Zealand Department of Trade also expressed
concern that any bilateral free trade agreement Australia
signs - especially with the United States - would also
drain investment from the islands. Stating a free trade
agreement would hurt investment, more than actual trade,
because New Zealand investors are intertwined with the
Australian economy.
Australia is in the process of negotiating a free trade
agreement with the US and is seeking partners throughout
Asia.
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Business: Credit card companies
sue the Reserve Bank
Major credit card companies are set to sue the Reserve
Bank of Australia after it introduced regulations capping
fees and opening the market to competition last month.
Visa was the first company to file suit with the Federal
Court, stating the Reserve Bank was acting beyond its
authority in what they see as "misconceived regulatory
intervention".
The reforms, introduced under the Payment Systems
(Regulation) Act 1998, give the Reserve Bank authority
in the payments system area as part of the Australian
government's response to the Financial System Inquiry
(the Wallis Committee).
Whether or not the Reserve Bank has acted consistently
with its obligations and powers under this Act and at
law is currently being debated, and credit card companies
are arguing the bank did not conduct adequate analysis
to prove the assertion that regulatory intervention
will enhance competition in the market.
The Reserve Bank stands by its reforms, stating they
will promote greater transparency, efficiency and competition
in the Australian payments system, to the benefit of
the Australian community as a whole. They claim the
reforms were developed after consideration of a large
number of submissions and extensive consultation with
a wide range of interested parties, over a three-year
period.
The Federal Treasurer announced it is "regrettable"
the credit card companies have decided to take legal
action, but added, "they're entitled to do so".
MasterCard has since announced its intentions to join
the legal action.
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Law: Internet reigned in by
law
The Internet took two more steps into the mainstream
this month when separate cases ruled hate and fear were
not dampened when committed in cyberspace.
In the first case, a federal court ordered Fredrick
Toben to remove content, doubting the WWII Holocaust
ever happened, from his web site.
Believed to be the first time Australia's Racial Discrimination
Act was used against material published on the Internet,
the ruling sets a precedent bringing the Internet into
alignment with laws relating to other forms of publishing.
The court ruled Toben's published work was insulting
and racially motivated.
The Government of Victoria, meanwhile, is seeking to
make cyber stalking a crime.
The state government will argue that as much harm and
fear occurs in cyber stalking as in physical stalking,
and should be covered by the anti-stalking laws introduced
in 1995.
Australia's Law Institute is backed the proposal, stating
it is important for the law to keep abreast of technological
advancements.
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Environment: Koala's lured
by mating calls
Wildlife conservation officers are using sex
to lure the usually shy koala out into the open.
The initiative, part of a two-year survey by the National
Parks and Wildlife Service to determine the range of
these marsupials, uses the mating call of a male koala
to attract both male and female koalas into survey sites
where they can be counted.
Although koalas are not endangered, conservationists
fear rapid habitat loss may be putting pressure on the
estimated 100,000 koalas that live in a narrow band
of eucalyptus forests located on Australia's eastern
coast.
Koala populations around Sydney have suffered from
land clearing, urban sprawl and forest fires. As well,
cars and dogs kill thousands of the animals each year.
Rangers have chosen 300 survey sites and hope that
having accurate counts will allow them to better protect
koala populations and the areas in which they live.
The National Parks and Wildlife service said that although
this national icon looks fuzzy and friendly, its mating
call sounds like a cross between a donkey's bray and
a pig's squeal.
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Health: Embryo research gets
the nod
Federal politicians have spent the past month debating
the morality behind human cloning and the use of in-vitro
fertilization (IVF) embryos for stem cell research.
After much public debate, which divided both the Labour
and Liberal parties, politicians voted 89 to 43 to split
the tabled bill into two separate bills. One legislating
embryo research and the other enacting a ban on human
cloning.
The parliamentarians voted 103 to 36 to allow a second
reading of the Research Involving Embryos Bill, which
allows IVF embryos to be used by medical researchers
to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes.
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