Nick Sherry makes major announcement concerning Islamic finance in Australia

Monday 26th April will enter the annals for Islamic finance in Australia – since it was the day that the Assistant Treasurer of Australia, Senator the Honorable Nicholas Sherry announced that he had instructed the Board of Taxation to review Australia’s tax laws to make sure that Islamic finance transactions and institutions are not disadvantaged when compared to conventional financial structures.

The Senator chose Abu Dhabi as the venue for the announcement – in front of the great and the good from the Australian and local business community from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the other emirates.

The instruction from the Senator comes soon after the recommendations in the Johnson Report that Australia ensure that Islamic finance is offered a ‘level playing field’. Doubtless the tax changes will be followed in due course by a thorough review of the legal and regulatory systems in Australia for the same purpose: allowing Islamic finance to compete on equal terms with the world of conventional finance.

Australia is naturally keen to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from a wide range of countries – and the petrodollar rich countries of the Gulf appear to offer the promise of significant FDI in Australia in areas such and infrastructure development and agriculture.

The Senator is to be heartily congratulated on such a significant move which we hope will be followed by many other such changes. Full text of the press release that accompanied the statement by the minister can be read here (http://assistant.treasurer.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=pressreleases/2010/076.htm&pageID=003&min=njsa&Year=&DocType=)

The Senator was also accompanied by members of a trade mission from Australia which is undertaking a whistle-stop tour of the Gulf that takes in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain.