Andrew McKellar doorstop interview on Senate passing CGT changes

Transcript: 25 June 2026

Andrew McKellar:

Okay, thanks. Look, I just wanted to make a brief statement following the passage of legislation today in relation to some of the government's tax changes which were announced in the budget in particular the changes to capital gains tax. This is a disappointing outcome. It is the result of a shady deal between the government and the Greens. Inevitably, the result of this legislation will be bad for business. It will mean less investment, which is critical to the future strength of the Australian economy. We expect that many businesses will be losers as a result of this legislation and crucial investment will not go ahead. That said, it's not the end of the process. Obviously from here, important details still have to come forward. The government has indicated that it will introduce additional legislation to provide those details. We've seen some of that legislation separately introduced today, but also we will continue to work through those details. It's important the government needs to go further. We've seen them making further changes today to clarify the impact in instances of death or divorce. Equally, we have to ensure that critical sectors, the mining sector, which is capital intensive, critical minerals, they're not disadvantaged by the changes that are proposed.

We have to continue to work to ensure that we improve the legislation equally for other businesses that are seeking to take up innovative new technologies. They need to be able to invest with confidence. At the moment, they can't do that. We need to ensure that they can. And beyond that, there is still other budget legislation which has got to come forward. The changes to discretionary and family trusts, these are very complex changes. They're a whole new can of worms. They will present very significant difficulties for business and for the economy equally. We call on the government to rethink those proposals as well. Thank you. Take any questions?

Journalist:

Sorry. We've seen unemployment jump in the last couple of months, a better number today, but still higher than we're used to in the last few years. What does this legislation do to businesses thinking of employing or what do you expect this legislation will do to jobs?

Andrew McKellar:

I think it's something we've got to be very mindful of because the economy is going through very significant challenges. We've seen on all the business surveys that we're looking at, there's been a sharp drop in business confidence over recent months, of course. That's been impacted by the conflict in the Middle East. The fact that fuel prices have been higher, supply chains have been disrupted. We've had higher interest rates. We've got renewed pressure on inflation and that hasn't gone away. There's uncertainty about what might happen to interest rates in the future. So we cannot take for granted the fact that the labour market will continue to be as strong as it has been in the past. Unemployment has been trending higher and that's a real risk. Business needs confidence to take on new employees. This legislation, these changes, increases in tax, won't help investment and it won't help business create more jobs and employ more Australians in the future.

Thank you.