Labor denies tax-reform measures in Federal Budget being rushed through too quickly

Ministers have denied tax-reform measures are being rushed through parliament despite just two days being set aside for an inquiry into the “once-in-a-generation” changes.

Changes limiting negative gearing to new houses from July 2027 and scrapping the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount to a rate based on inflation passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.

But the laws face an uncertain future, with the Greens yet to indicate if they will back the Federal Budget reforms through the Senate.

A two-day Senate inquiry will scrutinise the laws later in June before they go to the upper house, with the opposition and crossbenchers saying the measures are being rushed.

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said the laws were not being raced through as issues surrounding tax and housing had been on the agenda for a long period, alongside 17 hours of debate in parliament so far.

“It is one of the most exhaustive discussions I’ve seen in the parliament,” he told ABC Radio on Friday.

“It was in that broader context that the Budget was framed and so there has been a long-running discussion around these kind of issues, and in fact, a lot of the issues dealt with in the Budget have been looked at in previous tax inquiries.”

While the government has come under fire for seeking to legislate the tax changes first and then potentially introduce carve outs and exemptions at a later date, Mr Mulino said that was par for the course.

“There’ll be consultation over the next few months around some of the detailed issues around trusts. So this is very normal,” he said.

“When you go back to previous pieces of major tax reform, like the GST under the Howard government, there were similar tranches of legislation.”

But deputy opposition leader Jane Hume said the changes had not been approved by voters.

“If they’re generational reforms, well, surely they should have been taken to an election so that the Australian people could decide that,” she told ABC Radio.

“Two days simply is not enough. There is no need to rush these changes through because they don’t kick in until 2028.”

The clashes over the legislation come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese doubles down on the tax reforms, saying changes to the measures would undermine their purpose.

The prime minister is expected to tell the Australia’s Economic Outlook summit hosted by News Corp on Friday that the reforms are needed to stop growing levels of voter discontent.

“We can choose whether the social and economic dislocation we see overseas is a warning that we act on or a preview of what is to come,” he will say in the speech, according to extracts provided to The Australia.

‘’If you look around the world, you can see what happens to countries and economies when people make up their minds that the system is broken beyond repair.”

Mr Albanese will say a long process to exempt large groups from the tax changes would only fiddle around the edges of the status quo.

“Our government has no intention of standing around and wringing our hands about the consequences of a system that isn’t working for people. Instead, we are acting to fix it,” he will say.