June 25, 2026
The day of the Senate's scheduled vote on the tax reform package, plus the workplace bill clearing the House 87 to 43 and a run of new bills including Tax Reform No. 2.
If today's vote on the tax reform package goes the way the government plans, it will be one of those days that the future looks back on - in the same way many Australians in midlife and beyond talk about when GST was introduced, and the very changes to CGT and negative gearing that today's proceedings will materially shift.
The government's workplace bill passed the House, but not without a fight. The Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026 cleared the House 87 to 43 and now goes to the Senate. Allegra Spender (independent) moved to strip out the power letting the Commonwealth favour firms whose staff are on enterprise agreements when it awards grants and contracts, arguing it filters $830 billion of annual spending, more than a quarter of GDP, through an industrial relations test.
Due to the economic value of what's involved, I'm including a short summary of what transpired in the debate on this one. Spender pointed to Queensland's old procurement scheme, which its own productivity review found cut construction productivity by nine per cent, and to the Watson report's estimate that corrupted enterprise agreements cost Victorian taxpayers $15 billion. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the bill compels the Commonwealth to do nothing and that value for money stays front and centre. The amendment failed on the House's numbers favouring the government. Master Builders and the housing industry have called the bill rushed.
The Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill (No. 1) 2026 also cleared all stages and heads to the Senate. However, the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026, which lets the government publish what individual specialists charge and bans insurers quietly reopening near-identical policies at higher prices, ran out of time with three crossbench amendments still on the table and rolls over to today.
As expected in the Senate, the tax reforms debate ran all day without a vote, which is the point: the chamber is holding the question for today. Around it, the Coalition tried to set the NDIS clock. Michaelia Cash (Liberal) moved to have the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 called on next Tuesday with all stages put by 1.30pm, a fortnight after the same bill was sent back for an eight-week inquiry as part of the tax deal. Jordon Steele-John and Nick McKim (Greens) accused the Coalition of swinging from wanting the bill dead to wanting it rammed through. The motion failed 21 to 32.
A second tax-adjacent bill fell. Jane Hume (Liberal) moved the second reading of the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Tackling the Gender Super Gap) Bill 2025 (link not yet available), which would let couples split their super every year rather than only on divorce. Labor and the Greens voted it down 27 to 34, with Anne Ananda-Rajah (Labor) arguing it mostly helps couples with the sharpest accountants, not single women or low-income workers. David Pocock (independent) and One Nation backed it.
The Senate also agreed, 34 to 19, to a motion from Andrew Bragg (Liberal) requiring the minister representing the Housing Minister to front the chamber at the start of each sitting week to explain why two orders for documents on the Home Guarantee Scheme remain unanswered. Two other Coalition document orders were lost, one from Bragg on the proposed ban on self-managed super funds borrowing to buy homes (24 to 29) and one from Alex Antic (Opposition) on pathogen research (6 to 34).
A pile of bills land for first reading before the House rises. Treasurer Jim Chalmers introduces the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Bill 2026, the next instalment of the tax package. Health Minister Mark Butler brings the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026, and Education Minister Jason Clare introduces the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 (links not yet available). Three more arrive: a Statute Update bill, a Major Sporting Events bill, and a Defence veterans' bill.
The stalled private health consumers bill resumes first, with the three crossbench amendments to be resolved before it goes to a third reading. Then the Aviation Consumer Protection Bill 2026 and three related bills open for debate, setting up an ombudsman and a charter of customer rights for airlines and airports out of the 2024 Aviation White Paper. Leader of the House Tony Burke moves a change to the sessional order on crossbench opportunities. Question Time is at 2pm, and the House then rises until Monday.
The vote arrives: the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 and the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 have their second reading put at 10.10am, with all remaining stages put by 1.30pm. With the Greens on board after the longer NDIS inquiry and a curb on super fund borrowing, the package is expected to pass. Appropriation Bills (No. 5) and (No. 6) follow on the same timetable.
Before that, private senators' business brings on the Online Safety and Other Legislation Amendment (My Face, My Rights) Bill 2025, aimed at deepfakes and image-based abuse. On the formal motions sheet: Maria Kovacic (Liberal) wants a select committee on corruption in the construction industry, Pauline Hanson (One Nation) moves to try and restore her stalled Sex Discrimination Amendment (Acknowledging Biological Reality) Bill 2024 to the notice paper, and Lidia Thorpe (independent) and others have orders for documents queued. Barbara Pocock (Greens) is expected to bring on a motion on KPMG late in the day.
Two Senate committee reports worth the wait land today: the Economics committee on the Unfair Trading Practices Bill and the Education and Employment committee on the bill to reverse the Job-Ready Graduates fee hikes, alongside that committee's report on wage theft. Four House hearings run this morning, on the National Redress Scheme, local government funding and fiscal sustainability, social license in critical minerals projects, and Australia's aid program and conflict prevention.
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The House has finished for the week, but the Senate sits on. Until tomorrow!
— Mia
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