Shadow Portfolio — 24 June 2026

Senator Susan McDonald used the second reading debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform) No. 1 Bill 2026 to deliver the coalition's most comprehensive statement yet against Labor's tax reform package, committing to repeal the proposed capital gains tax changes, negative gearing reforms, and what the coalition characterises as a trust-based death tax should any of those measures become law.

McDonald's attack ran on two tracks: a broad economic critique and a sector-specific resource industry warning grounded in committee evidence.

On the broad front, McDonald argued the combined effect of Labor's tax changes would reduce housing affordability, suppress savings and investment, and undermine small business viability. The trust-based measure attracted particular language — framed in debate as a death tax hidden in the trust rules — signalling the coalition's intent to make that framing central to its public communications on the bill.

The sector-specific argument drew directly on the Senate Economics Legislation Committee inquiry. McDonald cited the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies' submission, which warned that the CGT reforms would target the retail investors — characterised in debate as mum-and-dad investors — who finance junior exploration companies [TA-260622-senate-9b445244af00:s097].

AMEC's evidence, as relayed by McDonald, held that a withdrawal of those investors would cascade into lower exploration activity, reduced discovery rates, and stalled future mining projects. The framing connects the tax debate to resource security and implicitly to critical minerals supply — a cross-portfolio dimension the coalition is using to widen the bill's political surface area.

Against that critique, McDonald announced a concrete coalition counter-offer: reinstatement of the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive backed by a $100 million commitment, with $50 million quarantined for oil and gas exploration [TA-260622-senate-9b445244af00:s097]. The JMEI commitment is the most specific fiscal alternative the coalition has put on the record in this debate and gives the resources industry a named instrument to rally around.

The coalition's broader tax platform, as articulated by McDonald, also includes indexing personal income tax brackets to inflation from 2028–29 onward — a bracket creep response pitched at wage earners rather than investors.

The strategic coherence of the day's intervention is clear. The coalition is running a dual audience strategy: resource industry stakeholders get a named policy restoration with a dollar figure; general voters get the housing, savings, and death-tax framing. Both lines of attack converge on the same legislative target.

McDonald's use of AMEC's committee evidence rather than party assertions lends the resource sector argument an external authority that the coalition will likely repeat in subsequent stages of the bill.