The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC RADIO CANBERRA, BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
TUESDAY, 25 AUGUST 2026
SUBJECTS: CGT; superannuation; Know your Grocery Code Training for fresh food suppliers; private health insurance
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Here we go again. Labor's new Capital Gains Tax rules could create an unexpected higher tax burden for Aussies whose superannuation is invested through management investment trusts. Modelling by the Financial Services Council estimates $372 billion of super assets could be affected by this, potentially costing members an extra $55 million a year in tax. Both the Financial Services Council and Colonial First State super say the changes contradict the Government's promise to protect retirement savings and could result in some investors paying an effective 15 per cent tax on certain gains instead of 10 per cent. And they argue members should receive the same tax treatment regardless of whether their super is invested directly or through a managed fund. Hard to disagree with that. They're calling for the legislation to be amended, warning the changes could particularly affect smaller funds and self-managed super funds while increasing costs and distorting investment decisions. Well, this is just another example of the fact that this legislation wasn't properly considered before it was implemented. Let's talk about this and other issues with the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner Dr Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.
ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning Stephen, how are you?
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Andrew, this new tax…Oh well, apart from the fact my voice doesn't work, I'm fine. Thank you for asking but…
ANDREW LEIGH: Not important in your line of work.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: No, no, not at all. Look, isn't this just more evidence that this legislation was not considered before it was rammed through the Parliament?
ANDREW LEIGH: Stephen, this is big and complex tax reform. The tax reform Australians need to make houses more affordable and boost productivity. We've been clear that the rules don't change the one-third CGT discount for super funds. There are certain complex cases where funds invest through trusts, and we're consulting with the sector to look at those technical aspects.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: But isn't that the point, though. If it's complex legislation, don't you spend the time getting it right before you – because this was rushed through the Parliament far quicker than it needed to be. The impacts it's had on the housing market have been absolutely dire and I saw the Prime Minister come out with some stats suggesting that first home buyers are no longer competing with investors in the marketplace. They're not competing with anyone because no one's buying at the moment. This has been a dog's breakfast. The fact that you've had to go back and make amendments so quickly after implementing it says you didn't do the work beforehand?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well Stephen, if you look at when the GST was brought in, there were some 30 pieces of legislation looking at various implementation challenges around that. It is normal for big tax reform to be accompanied by consultation with the sector, carefully working things through.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Yes, but before you implement it?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, what you don't do is just decide, holus-bolus, what you're going to do and then not be amenable to conversations with the sector. We said…
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: But that's what you did do, Andrew?
ANDREW LEIGH: Stephen, we announced – we said what we would do on a high level, which is to make houses more affordable for first home buyers, boost productivity, do reforms recommended by experts for donkey's years. And then we said we would consult on some of the specific implementation cases. We've made changes that affect startups. We're consulting now on these very complex cases around superannuation funds that invest through trusts in order to implement that basic principle that super funds have a one-third CGT discount.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Okay, alright. Maybe we'll get it right one day. Now I want to talk about this Know Your Grocery Code training that's been implemented by AUSVEG. What is this aimed at doing?
ANDREW LEIGH: We've put in place a new mandatory supermarket code of conduct that gets rid of the toothless code that existed under the former government and provides more bargaining power to suppliers to the big supermarkets. Both the big supermarkets; Coles and Woolies between them have two-thirds of the market. So, it's really important that we strengthen the hand of the farmers. But just improving their rights isn't enough. We also need to make sure they know their rights. And this new training which is being rolled out is about making sure that farmers know their rights and are able to take them up and get a better deal for the produce they're producing.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: So look, I applaud any attempt to get a better deal for the farmers. I just wonder if education is really the issue rather than legislation. But I want to touch on one other thing too that we're going to talk about a little bit later on and that is the cut to the private health insurance rebate for seniors. We're talking about a group of Australians who've done the right thing and invested in private health insurance for their entire lives, and now that they get to the back end where they might need to use it and we're punishing them for doing the right thing under, I don't know, intergenerational equity or whatever the latest B-S term is. And we're putting more pressure on the public hospital system?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well Stephen, on your former point we're providing both changes to the law and also education. So, we're doing both of those for farmers. In terms of private health insurance, this simply puts seniors on the same footing that all other Australians are placed on. This was a reform that wasn't put in place by John Howard based on strong evidence. In fact, if you were looking to incentivise a group of people to take up private health insurance who otherwise mightn't, you'd be looking at younger rather than older Australians. This simply equalises the treatment among under 65s and over 65s. The modelling is that it will have only a very small impact on take up of private health insurance.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Yeah, well we've heard that before and it hasn't been true. So in other words, to make it fairer for younger Australians, we'll punish older – we won't actually make it easier for them, we'll just punish older Australians?
ANDREW LEIGH: We'll make it equal across all ages.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Okay, alright. Andrew, good to talk to you we'll catch up again in a couple of weeks.
ANDREW LEIGH: Likewise. Thanks Stephen.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner.
ENDS