Albanese locks in CGT, negative gearing bill date

Outlining how the package would be staged, he stressed that the opening bill would be tightly focused.

“They are the core elements that we’ll put forward. Now, we will have a second tranche of legislation, which will deal with the implementation of details,” he said.

The follow‑up bill will include technical changes, any sector‑specific carve‑outs, and adjustments to the taxation of discretionary trusts after further consultation.

The Prime Minister did not reveal whether the four elements would ultimately be tied together and required to pass as a single package.

Carve‑outs to extend beyond tech

While the budget initially outlined potential exemptions to the higher CGT rate in terms of support for tech start‑ups, Albanese made clear that the scope would be broader.

He said adjustments to Labor’s proposed changes to the CGT discount “would not just be confined to the tech sector,” signalling that other parts of the economy could qualify, including small businesses.

To explain how those carve‑outs would be designed, the Prime Minister pointed to an extended Treasury consultation process that would run after the first bill was introduced.

“There’ll be a policy position paper for consultation produced as well after the first round of consultations that was all foreshadowed there on budget night, and then there’ll be a second lot of legislation to deal with those elements as well,” he said.

“Treasury are going about consulting, not just in tech, but consulting with the Council of Small Business Organisations, for example, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Tech Council.”

This signals that small business and broader industry groups will have a degree of input into where the carve‑outs and trust changes ultimately land.

Members of the mortgage broking and fintech sectors made a significant splash last week, harnessing social media to flag the negative impacts of proposed tax changes on small-business owners and borrowers.

Industry concerns are heavily focused on the government’s move to remove the capital gains tax (CGT) discount across all assets, restrict negative gearing to new builds only, and alter discretionary trust tax structures.

According to several prominent broking industry figures, these moves will severely penalise both property buyers and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Managing consultation and ‘insider knowledge’

Albanese defended the decision to lock in the broad shape of the changes on budget night and refine the detail afterwards.

When asked why deeper engagement with affected sectors did not occur before the budget was handed down, Albanese said that releasing a substantial amount of information too early would amount to providing privileged details.

“What you cannot do is go out there and sit down with people and say, OK, from budget night this change is definitely going to occur in detail, because there are implications of that, that’s called insider knowledge,” he said.

He said the government now wanted “people coming forward in a common‑sense way” through Treasury’s formal consultation process.

The Prime Minister described the measures as “tax reform with clear objectives.”

“The main objective is not to lock out this and future generations of Australians from ever getting a roof over their head,” he said.

Rocky Senate path ahead

Even if industry pushback were to ease, the bill still faces a challenging path once it clears the lower house.

The Greens hold a pivotal bloc in the Senate and are already pressing for deeper cuts to investor tax concessions than Labor is proposing.

Early talks between the government and the minor party are underway, but the Greens have yet to guarantee support and are resisting Labor’s preference to skip a Senate inquiry, increasing the risk of delays and further amendments.

[Related: Macquarie scraps negative gearing add-backs for investors]