Chalmers gives $3m super tax election mandate status

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

23 June 2025

With just over a month before Parliament resumes sittings, the Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is reinforcing that the Government believes it has a mandate to deliver its $3 million superannuation tax cap legislation without significant amendment.

Indeed, in the run-up to the first sittings in the Senate indexation appears to be the only concession the Government might give, and even that seems increasingly unlikely.

While the Treasurer was last week acknowledging the need for “respectful” negotiations with the Australian Greens around the policy, he emphasised that it had been on foot for two years.

And even though the policy did not become a major election issue notwithstanding the taxation of unrealised capital gains, Chalmers made clear he believes the scale of the Australian Labor Party’s May election win has delivered it a mandate.

Discussing the issue, Chalmers acknowledged the need for Greens support but signalled the Government was focused on keeping its policy substantially intact.

Referencing the Greens’ policy involving lowering the threshold to $2 million and applying indexation, the Treasurer appeared unmoved.

“… in terms of the proposals they’ve put on the table, our preference and our expectation is that we legislate what we took to the people and what we announced more than two years ago,” Chalmers said.

“But I will respectfully engage with the Greens and with others in the Senate to pass this legislation. We did announce this policy almost two and a half years ago. There has been an election in between, and we’ll have the necessary conversations to try and see it passed,” he said.