Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a significant $475 million backdown on previously contentious capital gains tax (CGT) and trust reforms. The Labor government has granted tax concessions targeted at small businesses, start-ups, and testamentary trusts, following widespread backlash against its initial budget tax changes. This partial reversal aims to alleviate concerns within the business community regarding the potential impact of the proposed reforms.
Meanwhile, Australia’s annual net overseas migration has fallen to its lowest level since 2022, reaching 301,000 in the year to December 2025. This figure, representing the lowest migration level in over three years, comes as the Prime Minister and Treasurer Jim Chalmers jointly unveiled the expanded CGT exemptions and trust adjustments. In market news, Australian shares experienced choppy trading near noon AEST, dipping as investors priced in the prospect of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates by October.
In other corporate developments, Qantas, Australia’s national airline providing domestic and international flights, plans to launch non-stop services between Sydney and London next year. CEO Vanessa Hudson anticipates these ultra-long-haul flights will overcome Australia’s ‘tyranny of distance’ and contribute an additional $400 million in annual revenue for the airline. Separately, telco giant Vodafone is currently investigating a major network outage, impacting mobile phone and internet access for some of its millions of customers across the country.
