Tax law
The tax-driven nature of investment in the sector made it vulnerable to policy changes and court rulings interpreting tax law. Tax law reforms in the late 1990s resulting from a major review of tax policy (called the Ralph review) altered the way in which deductions could be claimed. These changes, together with company profit warnings, caused a decline in Great Southern's share price and its business prospects in 2000 and 2001. Although Great Southern survived the reforms, another company, Australian Plantation Timber, was driven into administration. In June 2001 a Senate committee report was critical of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) advice on forestry investments, and the ATO released a statement reassuring forest product investors that they had investment certainty. MIS schemes recovered in 2002, despite a further Senate Committee report critical of mass-marketed investment schemes, that recommended "that the government seek advice from both ASIC and the ACCC on the question of the adequacy of the current measures for monitoring the schemes market, with particular reference to agribusiness and franchise schemes".