“Whilst the proposed 7.5% tax rate for foreign residents investing in Australian property trusts will be good for the commercial and rural property sectors, it is questionable how this enhances Australia as a regional financial hub.

Other measures that should be considered to further enhance Australia as a regional financial hub include:

• tax incentives for fund managers and their employees
• clarity regarding the taxation of sovereign wealth...

Joe Galea, property tax partner at Deloitte, said the Government has followed through on one of its promises made to the property industry last year.

“The cut should encourage investment into Australian property through a listed or wholesale trust by a non-resident investors who will now be taxed at a level that is very competitive against other major economies such as US and UK,” Mr Galea...

“Projects included are in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Tasmania will benefit from $104 million towards road, bridge and rail projects with 50% of the expenditure earmarked to construct and maintain Tasmania’s 846 kilometres of roads. In the NT, $78m will be expended on similar projects with $42m directed to construction and maintenance of the NT’s 2,652 kilometres of roads.

There is a further $176 million...

“Specifically the Building Australia Fund – which allocates $20billion to be made available for the national roll out of roads, rail, ports and broadband, together with the role to be played by Infrastructure Australia to review proposals – should mean that the delivery of economic infrastructure is accelerated.

“There may be some criticism of the...

Dr David Charles of Deloitte Economics said the Federal Government has demonstrated it is a prudent economic manager while launching major nation building initiatives and packages to assist working families.

“Business will welcome the strong economic discipline. The numbers look impressive: $21.7 billion surplus, well-exceeding the promise of 1.5% of GDP,” Dr Charles said.

“The Budget is built around realistic...

Deloitte Defence Partner, Dennis Goldner, said the Government had stayed true to its election campaign promise of supporting the Australian Defence Force in a climate of global turmoil – Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor and Solomon Island etc.

“The budget commits to 3% real growth of Defence’s funding base to 2015-16 and has in fact extended this guarantee by a further two years.

“In the meantime, the Government is awaiting the White Paper to...

“Since late last year, the M&A market has been in a state of turmoil after the former Government’s announcement of its proposed changes to the scrip-for-scrip rules,” Mr Goldsmith says.

“Since that time, the Federal Government has moved to calm the markets by indicating earlier this year that the proposed changes would be a more targeted...

The government is seeking to address the talent shortage by increasing the workforce participation rate by extending child care rebates from 30% to 50% and longer term by extending spending on education. The announced increases in infrastructure will be welcomed by corporate Australia.

“By tightening spending and delivering a surplus of $21.7 billion, business will be hoping that the inflation genie will be kept in the bottle allowing downward...

“This is because the new 7.5% final withholding tax rate will not apply to Australian sourced interest and unfranked dividends paid, as they will continue to have withholding tax rates ranging from 10% to 30%,” Watson said. "

“In addition, as the 7.5% withholding tax rate will only apply to certain...

“The $2.2bn housing affordability package to assist first home buyers and renters will be welcomed by consumers and still leaves the door open for the Government to consider more recent industry proposals to support liquidity and enhance competition in the housing mortgage sector generally,” said Graham Mott, Deloitte Financial Services Partner.

The mortgage industry has currently provided proposals such as the Canadian model whereby the Government provides a...