Submission on the Draft Complying Investment Options for the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) and Premium Investor Visa (PIV) Programmes

This short submission to Austrade, made on its template for public submissions on the draft complying investment options for the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) and Premium Investor Visa (PIV), proposes that philanthropic donations to health and medical research count as complying investments under both visas. Research Australia maintains that Australian health and medical research is highly regarded but has more capacity than funding, and that a donation to a publicly funded research organisation can advance research to the point where commercial investment is viable and build a relationship with a future investor. It supports including such donations in the PIV and proposes adding them to the Balancing Investment component of the SIV. Rather than the ‘core R&D activities’ definition from the R&D Tax Incentive, it recommends limiting eligible recipients to Deductible Gift Recipients (DGRs) under Division 30 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, and defining eligible use as ‘research into the causes, prevention or cure of disease in human beings’. It also proposes that donations to Private Ancillary Funds restricted to health and medical research qualify.