Albanese Government’s Super Backflip Sparks Greens Fury — Could Derail Senate Support

After prolonged pressure and a lack of support from the Greens, the Coalition, and pretty much everyone else, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has backed down from his plan to tax unrealised gains on superannuation accounts with balances over $3 million. 

The Greens have criticised Chalmers’ backdown as an attempt to pander to the wealthiest Aussies and may not support the new plan, while the Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien dubbed it a “humiliating backflip.”

The new super tax reform plan will see accounts with balances over $3 million only taxed on realised gains, with the tax rate being hiked from 15% to 30%. Accounts with balances over $10 million will be taxed at 40%. Both the $3 million threshold and the $10 million threshold will now be indexed to prevent more super accounts from becoming eligible for the new higher tax rate over time.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the updated reform plan as “sensible changes which take more than two years of feedback into account.” He added, “we have worked through the issues and we found another way to deliver on the same objectives.”

The Greens Economic Justice spokesman, Nick McKim, described the plan as a “capitulation to the wealthiest people in the country,” arguing that with the new plan, Labor has “stripped out the tax on unrealised gains and indexed the $3 million threshold, a gift to the super-rich that will cost the budget billions.”

McKim said the changes demonstrate “it’s clear Labor doesn’t have the guts to tax big corporations and billionaires fairly.”

According to The Australia Institute, only around 80,000 Australians (around 0.5% of the population) have super balances over $3 million. That’s a far cry from the average Aussies’ balances, which are $182,000 for men and $146,000 for women.

The new super tax rules are expected to come into effect on July 1, 2026 — a year later than originally planned. To help gain the support of The Greens in the Senate, the reforms also include measures for low-income earners to ensure they’re not paying more tax on their super than they pay on their take-home pay.

Related: Australia Unveils Draft Bill to Bring Crypto Exchanges Under Finance Laws

Changes Potentially Good News For Aussies Holding Crypto In Super

Despite the criticism from both sides of politics, the new plan is potentially good news for Aussies investing in cryptocurrency through self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs). 

In its initial form, the super tax reforms would’ve seen unrealised crypto gains held in SMSFs potentially being taxed (depending on the size of your super balance). Now though, it’s more likely only realised gains will be impacted.

Investing in crypto through SMSFs has grown in popularity in recent years, with data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) showing the value of crypto being held in SMSFs has surged 758% in the 5 years to June 30, 2025. 

Related: Australia’s SMSFs Embrace Crypto as OKX Launches Dedicated Platform

Numerous crypto exchanges, including OKX and the Brisbane-based Swyftx, now offer platforms to ease the process of investing in crypto through SMSFs.

Indeed, recently there’s been a surge in crypto exchanges targeting the SMSF market, with a number of international players looking to get a foothold — OKX launched its dedicated SMSF platform earlier this year and Coinbase is looking to launch a similar platform soon.

John O’Loghlen, Coinbase’s Asia-Pacific managing director, said earlier this year that the exchange already has a waiting list of over 500 investors awaiting access to its SMSF platform. A Coinbase poll of customers on its waiting list found 77% plan to invest up to AU$100,000 in digital assets.