Senate sees BIC Funding Showdown

Legislation to cut the last year from the Clothing and Household Textile Building Innovative Capability (BIC) scheme 2010 faces a battle in the Senate after the ALP and Greens opposed it in the House of Representatives today.

The Opposition criticised the Government’s Budget decision to close BIC one year earlier than originally intended as generating too much pain for too little gain.

The Government attacked the Opposition by claiming, among other things, that the time had come to end corporate welfare and that not one group or company had come forward in support of the Opposition’s position.

The Opposition, on the other hand, gave at least two specific examples of TCF businesses that would be adversely affected by the proposed changes to BIC explaining that the changes, if they went ahead, would undermine significant investment plans of TCF businesses who had acted in good faith in investing in innovation in expectation that BIC would continue until 2014–15.

TCF Services will continue to monitor the passage of the amending legislation and provide you with more details as they become available.

In the interim, I encourage all of our BIC clients to contact me if they wish to write to the Industry Minister, the Opposition Shadow Minister, the Greens and Independents to voice your concerns and attempt to garner the support required so that the Senate does not support the cut before its too late.

– Battle to maintain BIC scheme funding –

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