Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's been a lot of noise around this budget, and I'm worried we're going to lose sight of something important. This budget contains a genuine step forward to level the playing field on housing. I've been pushing for changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing for housing since I was first elected in 2022 because its current structure overwhelmingly favours wealthy investors at the expense of younger, less well-off potential owner-occupiers. More than 80 per cent of the benefit of the CGT discount flows to the top 10 per cent of income earners, and last year more than 80 per cent of new investor loans were for existing properties, not new houses. Our tax system has supercharged demand for existing homes and tilted the playing field heavily against younger Australians trying to buy their first home. That needed to change.

For property investment, these are good reforms, but I hold real concerns about the extension of the CGT reforms beyond the housing sector. In particular, these CGT changes risk real harm to Australia's startup sector and to startup founders, employees and investors. These are not the people this reform was aimed at and they should not be its collateral damage. Extending CGT reforms beyond property to other asset classes will disincentivise risk-taking and investment in productive assets.

I acted on this immediately. The day after the budget, I wrote directly to the Treasurer. I raised it in question time and I raised it with the Assistant Treasurer in person. The government has committed publicly to getting the right arrangements in place for early-stage businesses, and I'll be holding them to that.

Since then, I've heard more from constituents about how this will affect them. Aaron, who's 39, told me he's been investing in high-growth assets and working for tech startups to gain equity at the risk of low job security so that he, his wife and two children may one day afford the Australian dream of their own home. Katrina pointed out that offering equity is one way to attract good people in the tech space. Reducing the benefit of longer term equity will be a problem for recruiting and maintaining talent in small, innovative businesses. I heard from WaveX, an innovative energy startup based in Curtin, about the fear that the good parts of the budget may be dwarfed by the potential implications of a CGT increase, which will reduce the number of investors and the capital available to fund startups like WaveX.

I urge the government to not rush these changes through but use the parliamentary processes to listen, address the unintended consequences and pass the best version of these laws so we can create a level playing field for property but also incentivise investment where the country needs it.