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Time Marches On For Australian Expats With No Decision Yet on MRE

Time Marches On For Australian Expats With No Decision Yet on MRE

 

Time Marches On For Australian Expats With No Decision Yet on MRE – In what has felt like an eternity for Australian expats, there has been no resolution as to whether the proposed Housing Affordability Bill No. 2 will proceed or not.

With the Senate returning to parliament between the 12th and 14th of February, this weeks release of the Draft Legislation Programme for the Senate confirms once again that the bill has been left off the debate list, in similar to fashion to what we reported on late last year.

See how the proposed changes affect Australian expats.

Then we have the problem of the Senate not returning until the beginning of April (for 2 days – 2nd and 3rd). Essentially the Senate only has 5 days in which it is sitting before a potential federal election (on the assumption that parliament will be broken up before the senate is scheduled to resit on the 13th of May).

Regardless of whether the Federal government intends to push this punitive piece of legislation through the Senate or not, it is imperative that they communicate with Australian expats as they are the ones who are in the direct firing line and are trying to make financial decisions on a piece of legislation that may or may not be introduced.

To make matters worse if this piece of legislation is to be introduced then Australian expats have until the 30th of June 2019 (yes, only 142 days from today) to sell their property under the old tax laws. With auction clearance rates below 50% across the country (back to 2011 levels) and the average time to sell a property rising from 37 days (a year ago) to 44, time is running out fast for those wanting to take action before the end of the financial year.

At what point is the Federal Government going to draw a line in the sand and provide Australian expats with the peace of mind as whether whether they have to be worried (and act) or not?

For constitutional reasons the election has to be held by the 18th of May. With the Federal Budget being delivered on the 2nd of April you can imagine the Scott Morrison and his team are going to be quite busy during those two months and I don’t hold much hope of this legislation gaining anyone’s attention.

Why don’t we call this one quits and send this legislation to where it belongs. In the rubbish bin.

 

 

 

 

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