David Batt (Hinkler, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026. Pressure from this side of the House and our communities across the nation, including regional communities like Hinkler, forced the taxation of unrealised gains to be abandoned. People power had a small win. But it is clear that this government cannot be trusted with tax reform. Labor doesn't have a revenue problem; the government has a spending problem. This is the first tax that Australia did not vote for at the last election, less than 12 months ago. Yet here is Labor, ramming it through.

I represent the people of Hinkler, the regional cities of Hervey Bay and Bundaberg and the country town of Childers. My community is experiencing a decline in living standards. In fact, Australia has had the biggest fall in living standards of household disposable incomes in the developed world. The Nationals know how to get a cheaper, better and fairer deal for regional Australia. As a coalition, we absolutely stand for lower inflation, lower interest rates and lower taxes. In stark contrast, Labor's reckless spending is keeping inflation higher for longer. Regarding this bill, coalition and community pressure forced Labor to abandon taxation of unrealised gains and the indexation freeze. The government, called out again, retreated under pressure thanks to sustained scrutiny from the coalition, from the superannuation sector itself, from small-business owners and from everyday Australians. We forced Labor to step back from the most outrageous elements of this proposal.

This was not a proposal that was just aimed at hurting retirees; this was aimed at hurting future generations, stealing the future of younger Australians away from them without their knowledge or understanding. The original design to tax unrealised gains represented a fundamental break with longstanding principles of the Australian tax system. Aussies know that tax is paid when income is realised, when a gain is crystallised and when cash is at hand. To propose taxing paper gains, particularly in volatile asset classes, was not a minor tweak. This was a structural shift that would have set a dangerous precedent across the entire tax base.

Equally concerning was the government's refusal to index the $3 million threshold. In an inflationary environment being made worse by this Treasurer and his willingness to pour debt petrol on this inflation fire, failing to index thresholds was a silent tax hike. Major structural tax changes must be put clearly and transparently to the Australian people. Instead, this proposal appeared out of nowhere with limited consultation and a rushed legislative timetable. The people of my electorate of Hinkler were told by this government that they were going to make life easier for families. The reality is less flexibility and less choice.

Life has been harder for hardworking Australians—to pay the mortgage, to pay the bills, to pay the power bill and to make ends meet. Labor has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Under Labor, Australians' real wages are falling while costs are rising. Trust is fundamental in tax reform. Australians accept reform when it's principled, predictable and based on broad consultation. What they do not accept is retrospective tinkering, ad hoc changes and ideological experiments dressed up as modest adjustments. What faces us today reinforces a broader pattern: higher spending first then new taxes to pay for it later. That is not reform; that is fiscal mismanagement.

Beyond the headline rate and threshold changes, the legislation introduces serious structural risks. The removal of the effective death tax exemption creates uncertainty for families precisely at the moment they are most vulnerable. Tax policy cannot be designed in isolation from lived reality. When retirement income settings are destabilised, confidence in the entire system is eroded. Regional Australians must get a fair go into their future, and we must help them now. A future offset adjustment in superannuation does little to relieve the stresses of today. If the government is serious about helping households in Hinkler, it must tackle inflation at its source—excessive spending and weak growth—rather than reshuffling offsets within the retirement income system.

This proposal should not be viewed in isolation. Today, it is superannuation balances above $3 million. Tomorrow, it may be another threshold, another definition or another asset class. Once the principle of taxing unrealised gains is entertained, it does not remain neatly contained. Is this Labor government opening a new chapter in a high-tax, high-spending approach to governing? All the evidence points to it from what I see. That is why the coalition will not be supporting this bill.

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