Katy Gallagher defends Labor’s CGT changes as confusion lingers over housing tax overhaul

A month after Labor unveiled its sweeping housing tax reforms, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher is still being forced to explain what they mean for Australians.

Appearing on Sunrise on Tuesday morning Ms Gallagher was forced to defend the Government’s controversial captital gains tax changes and rejected concerns they could drive investors, entrepreneurs and young Australians overseas, arguing the reforms were needed to fix a housing market that had locked a generation out of home ownership.

But pressed on persistent confusion surrounding the changes, Ms Gallagher conceded Labor would need to keep making its case.

“I think when you have big changes, and this is a big reforming Budget, that you’re always going to get a lot of feedback,” she said.

“We’re gonna have to keep fronting up and keep explaining those changes.”

The Finance Minister argued the existing system was failing younger Australians and said Labor’s reforms were designed to give first-home buyers a better chance of entering the market.

“We believe we made these decisions for the right reason,” she said.

“The housing market wasn’t working for a whole group of people, particularly young Australians who were getting locked out of the housing market.”

The comments come amid an escalating campaign by Labor ministers to defend the Budget’s tax measures, which have faced criticism from investors, small business owners and industry groups concerned about the impact on investment and economic growth.

Asked about Australians expressing frustration over the changes and some considering moving overseas to pursue business opportunities in lower-tax jurisdictions, Ms Gallagher said some concerns were “unfounded”.

“We think are unfounded, and part of that is us explaining these changes,” she said.

“They are big changes. This is a big tax reform, tax reform is hard.”

Her appearance also did little to clear up uncertainty around the future of the temporary fuel excise cut, with Ms Gallagher repeatedly saying the measure remained “under active consideration” and pointing viewers to comments made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this week.