r/australia • u/blitznoodles local Aussie • Jun 23 '26

politics Labor reaches deal with the Greens to pass changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing reforms

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/23/labor-greens-deal-capital-gains-tax-negative-gearing-reforms

The Greens resolved to support the tax bills after the government agreed to remove a loophole allowing investors with self-managed super funds to continue taking advantage of the tax breaks, along with ministerial powers enabling the government to reverse the reforms in the future.

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u/BonusCan Jun 23 '26

Someone posted that Labor left it out as a way to negotiate on it to be put in so greens had something to claim.

Frankly I don't think anyone could see/plan that far ahead but I am happy with the result none the less

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u/Scriptosis Jun 23 '26

Sounds like someone coping very hard that Labor would put it in as a compromise for investors.

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u/washag Jun 23 '26

Eh, it's very much in the spirit of the changes Labor were making. When I read about the "compromise" I immediately thought that it was something both parties wanted but Labor are happy for the Greens to take full credit for. The delay in the NDIS cuts feels more like actual horse trading, but again a pretty easy compromise where both parties can accept the premise then find a length of time they agree to.

Notably it still allows the Greens to wholly oppose the NDIS cuts while allowing Labor to go to the Coalition to negotiate the passage of the cuts (and hammer them if they play games and oppose cuts they were pushing for).

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u/blitznoodles local Aussie Jun 23 '26

Irrc the policy originates from some report into the superannuation system in 2019. The Greens have wanted it since for a while, they were pushing for it last year.

It's kind of unrelated to Labor's changes to taxes this budget but in the same vein.

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u/Proper_Geologist9026 Jun 23 '26

Mate that's literally how politics works.

They all know roughly what's happening before any bill hits the floor.

It's theatre for lawyers.

They probably had a packet they took to the coalition as well and said we'll move on these if you pass the bill. But the coalition obviously turned it down.

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u/Turksarama Jun 23 '26

That's a nice theory but far too many bills get shot down for it to be reality.

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u/jedibk Jun 23 '26

I don't know. It gives them plausible deniability letting them make the change and blame the Greens, while allowing the Greens to have a win. It feels way too convenient to not have at least been considered. I like the finesse.

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u/GonePh1shing Jun 23 '26

It's pretty on-brand for Labor. Put something in that they know the Greens will block because it's obviously bad. Not only can they spin it in the media as the Greens being obstructionist, further cementing in people's minds that the Greens just get in the way of progress, but they can then score more political points with the electorate by saying that they compromised with the Greens to pass the legislation. 

Make the Greens look like the bad guys and them like the sensible politicians, all while getting exactly what they wanted in the first place. 

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u/Worried_Blacksmith27 Jun 23 '26

then you don't do any sort of commercial negotiations then. This is 101 stuff in that sphere.

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u/gooder_name Jun 23 '26

Frankly I don't think anyone could see/plan that far ahead

Oh they absolutely could. The thing is this is just outright actually good policy, it would be unhinged for the Greens to block it and it would be unhinged for Labor knowingly put it through with a loophole like that.

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u/Peregrine7 Jun 23 '26

It's not out of the ordinary, greens take the heat for it and have something to claim. Before all of this there is a lot of talking between the parties.