The Senate is set to pass the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 with three of its most consequential provisions — the deemed-disposal apportionment formula, the innovative-business CGT carve-out criteria, and the new residential dwelling definition — still legally undefined and delegated to future ministerial instruments.
Treasury deputy secretary Diane Brown admitted on June 16 that officials cannot provide separate revenue estimates for the CGT and negative gearing reforms. The National Farmers' Federation — representing 80,000 farm businesses — was excluded from Senate hearings. The apportionment formula Australians will need in 2027 remains unwritten. As the Senate prepares to vote before July 2, Treasurer Chalmers conceded the bill has cost Labor politically.
The Albanese government has scheduled the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 — its CGT and negative gearing overhaul — as the first item of Senate business on Monday, June 22, contingent on a committee report being tabled that morning. A four-day program through June 25 also includes a contested workplace relations procurement bill and the 2026-27 Appropriation Bills.
Prime Minister Albanese and Treasurer Chalmers announced a package of amendments on June 18 — including a fivefold expansion of the small business CGT threshold and a pledge to strip ministerial discretion from the Tax Reform No. 1 Bill — to clear a Senate path before July 2. The critical apportionment formula for the 2027 deemed disposal remains unreleased.
Prime Minister Albanese has refused to fast-track startup carve-outs before the Senate votes on landmark tax legislation on June 22 — and Corrs Chambers Westgarth, PwC, and Byrons confirm the apportionment formula millions of Australians need to plan their 2027 CGT obligations has never been released.
Senate hearings concluded June 16 with the Financial Advice Association confirming a structural SMSF tax shelter built into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 — one the government cannot fix before its July 2 Senate deadline. Two days of expert testimony exposed irreconcilable demands: the Greens want the bill made more radical; every major professional body wants it deferred.
The Senate Economics Legislation Committee's first day of hearings into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 exposed serious structural flaws: a two-day process for landmark reform, a Greens push for full retrospectivity, an unaddressed SMSF loophole, and government modelling that cannot withstand independent scrutiny.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 cleared the House of Representatives on June 4 after 16 hours of debate and 21 procedural votes, yet its most critical definitions remain unwritten and its compliance costs are estimated by experts to be up to six times what the government admits. This is not careful reform — it is legislative recklessness.
