Ana Smith

Why Labor’s unrealised gains tax proposal is a dangerous move for all Australians. From 10% to 30%: A tripling of the CGT burden. Under the current superannuation tax framework, capital gains on assets held for more than 12 months within a fund — including SMSFs — are effectively taxed at 10%, thanks to the one-third CGT discount applied to the standard 15% super tax rate. Labor’s proposal would scrap that discount and apply a flat 30% tax rate on all earnings — including unrealised capital gains — for fund balances over $3 million. That’s a tripling of the effective capital gains tax burden on superannuation investments, and it applies even when the gain hasn’t been realised, and no income has been received. Under the proposal, SMSF trustees could be forced to sell assets just to pay a tax bill on money they don’t yet have. It’s the kind of policy that punishes responsible, long-term investing and rewards short-term liquidity over smart strategy.

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What a thought provoking way to spend a Friday afternoon, connecting with industry peers and leaders at the lunchtime conference “The Regulators 2025” in Sydney. It was great to hear directly from senior leaders at APRA, ASIC, AUSTRAC, the RBA, and the RBNZ – all sharing their insights into the regulatory landscape shaping Australia and New Zealand, and the challenges we need to navigate together. The overarching phrase that came up time and again was that of resilience. Resilience of the financial system and proactive measures we need to take to build resilience and be able to continue to do business, in the event of any major incident. This is a topic that I often discuss with my clients when discussing security strategies and objectives, particularly given the requirements of CPS230 here in Australia. The afternoon covered a few key topics of the moment: 1. Resilience of FS system, and how we need to plan for and consider digital currency and the risks it brings in terms of fraud, scams and AML 2. Geopolitical risk, which can create instability in the supply chain, and referencing this risk as part of your Board risk reporting. 3. Cyber threat landscape and building resilience into your operations to be able to robustly respond to major incidents so you can continue to do business 4. Quantum computing risk and the data risk with hackers techniques such as “harvest now exploit later”. 5. Cryptocurrency and the role it plays in digital crime. What should FSIs be doing to prepare for the potential risk involved with the usage of this currency? *   Technology and AI are reshaping the agenda – not just in terms of opportunities, but in how regulators think about resilience, ethics, and consumer protection. *   Trust really is the foundation – financial stability, transparency, and accountability remain central to everything regulators (and industry) are working toward. Security embedded across your organisation establishes those foundations and enables that trust *   The year ahead will demand adaptability – 2026 is shaping up to be a year of new directions, and organisations will need to be agile to keep pace. Huge thanks to @FINSIA and all the speakers for driving such an important conversation forward. #theregulators2025 #financialservices #resilience Mark Gossington Natalie Faulkner Warren Dunn Simon Taylor-Allan Wouter Veugelen

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Big news. Airtree have just announced their new $250M Seed fund and $400M Growth fund which will be used exclusively to back Kiwi & Aussie founders. Another huge win for the NZ / AUS tech ecosystem 🚀 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gWZiiuRn

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Open finance is starting to deliver on its promise in Australia and the recent reveal of Equifax Open Score is a great example of what that looks like in action. This is the first risk score of its kind, using real transaction data – shared securely and with consent – through Mastercard’s open finance platform. It’s a smarter and fairer way to assess creditworthiness, especially for the 2.5 million Australians who are credit invisible or have thin credit files. Huge thanks to our partners at Equifax and to the Mastercard Open Finance team for making this happen, and to Tegan Jones at SmartCompany and Andrew Cornell at Capital Brief for the write ups. Links in the comments. This is a big moment for the #ConsumerDataRight and a great step forward for financial inclusion. Melanie Cochrane Tonia Berglund Brenton Charnley Claude Maroun Valerie Nowak Dale Wennen GAICD Moses Samaha Brad Weber Mitchell Thorp Surin Fernando Dan Martin #OpenFinance #CDR #Innovation #FintechAU

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Australia has slid down the productivity leaderboard compared to other OECD nations, and Australians are no better off than they were ten years ago. In a new article, together with my colleagues Wesley Walden, Chris Bradley, and Jules Carrigan, we outline the need to unlock new investment, create a more competitive business environment, balance market and nonmarket sectors, and forge a national compact that prioritises productivity. Now is the time to focus on a return to productivity to improve living standards - for everyone. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gjJK2FDB

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𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗮 We’re proud to announce the launch of our Interim Executive Practice, dedicated to placing exceptional C-suite leaders into interim roles across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. The launch of our Interim Practice is a key milestone in our ELEVATE 2030 Strategy—delivering agile, high-impact leadership solutions for clients navigating change. In today’s dynamic business landscape, interim executives are no longer a stopgap—they’re a strategic edge. Whether navigating transformation, growth, or change, our clients now have rapid access to proven leadership. #InterimExecutives #InterimLeadership #ExecutiveSearch #Transformation #JohnsonPartners

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