Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Government has secured passage through the Senate of reforms that provide incentives for mineral exploration and remove punitive tax rates on excess superannuation contributions.

The Exploration Development Incentive supports junior and mid-sized mining companies by encouraging greenfields mineral exploration. 

It is a catalyst for new exploration, new investment and new opportunities in the resources sector.

The Exploration Development Incentive delivers on our election commitment and helps encourage investment for new minerals exploration in the junior exploration sector.  

The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No. 7) Bill 2014 also includes a number of other important reforms including:

• improvements to capital gains tax rules;
• improvements to rules on involuntary superannuation rollovers; 
• shifting tax complaints investigation to the Inspector-General of Taxation; and 
• enabling stronger data sharing between enforcement agencies. 

The Government has also made the taxation of excess after-tax superannuation contributions fairer. For some individuals the old tax regime had devastating consequences.

This honours our election commitment to make sure inadvertent breaches of the non-concessional contributions cap do not incur a disproportionate penalty. 

The new approach strikes a right balance between fairness to those who make mistakes and discouragement of those who embark on aggressive tax planning strategies. 

Passage of this Bill represents another important step towards as a stronger, more sustainable economy and a fairer tax system.