Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

So the Senate is clear about what is happening here, this motion is being moved so there's the capacity to separate the bills. The government's position is that these bills proceed and the schedules of the bills proceed as a package. Senator Pocock is seeking the capacity to separate the CGT elements of the package out but allow the negative gearing, the working Australian tax offset and the instant deductions—schedules 2, 3 and 4—to proceed or to be dealt with separately. Senator Chandler's amendment to that adds schedule 2 to Senator Pocock desire to have schedule 1 set on a separate path or separated. Essentially, the end result would be to remove CGT, and, if Senator Chandler's amendment got up, to have CGT and negative gearing separately dealt with. The government does not support either of those propositions. We do believe that it's important that both the CGT and the negative gearing adjustments are progressed together with the other tax reform measures, including the tax cuts for Australian workers. It's not just because they all support the rebalancing of the tax system but because, importantly, one part helps fund the other part. That's why we've had stakeholders, including experts, backing the package as a whole. In the submissions to the inquiry, the ANU Tax and Transfer Policy Institute said:

If these reforms are to be adopted, we would strongly encourage adopting them as a package.

In another inquiry submission, Professor Miranda Stewart said:

The reform package should be considered and passed as a whole by the Senate. It presents a coherent set of reasonable and fair policy choices.

The reforms must be seen together. The government have thought about these things carefully, and we won't be supporting any attempt to separate and delay certain elements of the package whilst proceeding with others.