Super tax, nature reform: What the new Senate means for Aussie farmers

Labor and the Greens hold 39 of 76 seats in the new look Senate with a number of key issues set to be tested when parliament resumes.

As Australia’s 48th parliament gets set to resume in two weeks, farmers will be watching any movement on the super tax and nature reform laws in the new look Senate.

Traditionally, the ALP and the Greens have often teamed up to pass legislation, and together this term they hold 39 of 76 Senate seats.

Leader of the Nationals in the Senate Bridget McKenzie said having the upper house dominated by the two parties does not bode well for farmers and rural industries.

“With Labor and the Greens dominating the Senate, unless Jim Chalmers starts to listen to sensible suggestions, the poorly designed tax is coming,” Ms McKenzie said.

In what form the tax passes though remains to be seen, with the Greens arguing the superannuation threshold be reduced from $3m to $2m, and that the threshold is also indexed.

Leader of The Nationals in the Senate Bridget McKenzie. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Australian also reported last week the Greens policy team was understood to be studying a new proposal that sets a 20 per cent tax on superannuation earnings with a 5 per cent rebate, and no tax on unrealised gains.

Greens Senator Nick McKim said last month that the party would not be negotiating through the media or giving running commentary on discussions with the treasurer.

Another proposed legislation to watch will be any reforms to Australia’s nature laws, with Environment Minister Murray Watt saying it was an immediate priority for the Albanese Government.

Mr Watt said he does not expect to be introducing legislation to parliament regarding the new nature laws this side of Christmas, but wants to be in a position to introduce a bill as early as possible in the new year.

It includes the introduction of a federal environment protection agency, with Ms McKenzie saying the Prime Minister will “need to explain how a federal EPA will not result in additional and duplicative red tape and bureaucratic overlap with the existing state EPA”.

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt. Picture: Stephen Archer

National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke said there’s already enough legislation around land stewardship and management, that he can’t see another layer making it any easier for farmers to work with.

“I don’t believe there’s any net benefit to environmental outcomes with existing state legislation being so strong. We agree with the principle that we need to protect our natural assets, but we also need to make it practical,” he said.

The super tax will be the number one priority for the NFF when parliament resumes Mr Jochinke said, and even though the NFF is happy to chat to any party at any time, Mr Jochinke recognises there are some areas where the NFF and the Greens are diametrically opposed.

“We’re more than happy to reiterate that we won’t be bending to get favour with them,” he said.

“We do have some principles that we do agree with, like looking after the environment, getting good outcomes for Australia, but on the methodology of how that occurs we have little alignment.”

Australian National University politics expert Dr Jill Sheppard. Picture: ANU

While the idea of Labor and the Greens teaming up may be of a concern to some, senior politics lecturer at Australian National University Jill Sheppard said it was very early to write this off as a rubber stamp for Labor’s agenda, and that the Prime Minister’s language towards the Greens suggests they won’t be central to policy making this term.

“The first thing Albanese did after the election was to criticise the Greens … they seem to be wanting to put some distance between the two parties,” Dr Shepherd said.

“There’ll be lots of policies of which Labor would probably rather work with independent senators like David Pocock and members of One Nation instead.”