As public hearings for the Senate Economics Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 continue today, the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) is urging the Committee to keep Australian farmers front of mind.
NFF President Hamish McIntyre said it was critical that proposed changes to capital gains tax (CGT) do not undermine the viability, productivity and investment capacity of farm businesses.
“Australian agriculture depends on long-term planning and investment. Any changes to CGT must support the ability of farm businesses to grow, adapt and pass on to the next generation,” Mr McIntyre said.
The NFF’s submission calls on the Australian Government to ensure the proposed CGT reforms do not negatively impact farm businesses, particularly at key transition points such as intergenerational succession.
“These are significant changes, and like many sectors, farmers are still working through what they mean in practice — for how they invest, how they structure their businesses, and how they manage long-standing succession plans,” Mr McIntyre said.
“Farm businesses are typically asset-heavy and family-run, with ownership transferred gradually over time, often across generations rather than through one-off sales. Policy settings need to recognise these staged, long-term transitions and how farm businesses actually operate in practice.”
The NFF said a key priority is ensuring the small business CGT concessions remain fit for purpose, particularly by expanding eligibility to reflect the scale and structure of modern agriculture.
“Many highly productive farm businesses fall outside current thresholds, despite sharing the same core characteristics as smaller operations — they’re family-owned, carry significant debt, and continually reinvest back into their operations over the long term,” Mr McIntyre said.
“Collectively, these farms account for a substantial share of Australia’s agricultural output. If the reforms are not properly calibrated for agriculture, they risk cutting across the family farming model that has underpinned food and fibre production for generations,” Mr McIntyre said.
The NFF noted that current eligibility thresholds, which remain unchanged since 2007, no longer reflect the realities of modern farm businesses and risk excluding a cohort of family farms that collectively account for a significant share of Australia’s agricultural production.
The NFF warned that uncertainty around the proposed changes risks distorting business decisions, delaying succession planning and discouraging long-term investment at a time when the sector is already facing significant cost pressures.
While welcoming constructive and ongoing engagement with the Government, the NFF said the voice of food production must not be missing from the national conversation.
“The Committee has rightly heard from the broader business sector, tech start-ups and mining and exploration. But the missing voice is the sector producing the food and fibre every Australian relies on.”
“Farmers need certainty to undertake long-term succession planning, certainty to invest, and certainty that highly productive farm businesses can continue to be family farming businesses. Any reform that fails to recognise how these businesses operate risks doing lasting damage to Australia’s family farming model.”
The NFF submission to the inquiry is available here.
Ashleigh Whittaker
Stacey Davidson