Honestly I think Labour have just lost the election.
Unless they backtrack very quickly... which Shorten is prone to do.
It amazes me that no one in my workplace or social circles seems to be discussing this policy.
It's only people like us who will be affected. Most people don't have much in super, or shares, and their super is in Managed Funds rather than Australian shares so they're not affected.
Questions about whether this affects you, stop when you get an answer...
1. Do you have any Australian shares (either individually owned or in an SMSF - an ETF is a share)? If no, you aren't affected.
2. Do you have a taxable income of less than $37k? If no, you aren't affected.
3. Do you get back more tax than you have paid in your tax return? If no, you aren't affected. If yes, you are probably affected.
My parents are affected because they have shares and have no superannuation (they are in their 90s, and many in this age group never had any super), and their income is less than the aged pension (so they don't pay tax). But they don't get the pension at all. As they own shares individually, outside super, they would get capital gains tax if they changed to managed funds.
I am affected because I have an SMSF - if I had a fund instead (Vanguard managed fund rather than Vanguard ETFs), I wouldn't be affected. Managed funds don't have the implications because they have a lot of people in accumulation phase. It should be relatively easy to change over - I just sell the lot and transfer my super from my SMSF to a managed fund. Or, if I had some of my SMSF in accumulation phase as well as some in pension phase, I also wouldn't be affected. People with more than $1.6mill in superannuation (and thus having to keep the balance in accumulation phase) will be able to offset it (ie, all the rich people they want it to affect).
Early retirees can use managed funds rather than shares, and get the full amount. Basically, this change makes SMSFs earn a lot less when they are in pension phase.
In some ways it it a lot of hoo-ha. The policy definitely will not affect the people they want it to affect, and who knows what it's going to look like once they've figured it out.