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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is a Squiz Podcast. We're your shortcut to being informed. This podcast is brought to you by BHP. BHP plays a big role in the Australian economy, from the tax it pays, the small, local and Indigenous businesses it backs, regional communities it supports and how it contributes to the broader economy. Good morning, I'm Alice Dempster. And I'm Andrew Williams. It's Thursday the 21st of May.
In Your Squiz today, more federal budget fallout, the US charges a former Cuban leader, an NRL star's diagnosed with MND, and a teenager's lofty achievement. This is Your Squiz today.
Chapter 2: What are the latest updates on the federal budget fallout?
We've had over a week now to digest the federal budget, but Andrew, if the past couple of days are anything to go by, the political argy-bargy is just warming up. Changes planned for the Capital Gains Tax, or the CGT, are still making headlines. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and PM Anthony Albanese are copying some backlash from the business community.
Yeah, particularly from startups, investors, and younger entrepreneurs. So they're arguing that shares and businesses should be exempt from these proposed changes, and they've taken that debate to social media. You may have seen this if you've been online over the last few days.
The PM has become sort of the accidental star of a viral meme campaign where startup founders are claiming through often AI-generated images that he's taken a 47% stake in their businesses. Now, what they mean by that is
Businesses count as investment assets, and under the new CGT rules, an owner who builds up a company and then sells it at some point would face a tax rate on the profit of that sale of between 30% and 47%.
And as a reminder of last week's budget proposal, the 50% capital gains tax discount is set to be scrapped and replaced with an inflation indexation system and a base 30% tax rate. Albanese was asked about those memes yesterday and he laughed them off, but they do point to a concern among startup founders that they'd be slugged with a hefty tax bill if they sold.
Yeah, the complaint being that they would be essentially punished for building up a successful business by the time they sell it, and that would also potentially spook future investors. And on that, some of the country's younger business leaders have chimed in on this.
40 business leaders under 40 years old have written to the PM describing the CGT changes as aspiration ambush that would, in their words, suck the ambition, drive and hope away. from people like them. But Chalmers has defended the reforms.
He says shares are included, so investments don't skew in one direction and people don't just move their money from one area to another to avoid the tax changes. And he says that would result in a fairer, more neutral treatment of capital gains.
In response to that, the Coalition's Treasury spokesperson, Tim Wilson, has criticised the Albanese government of declaring war, in his words, on small businesses and founders in Australia. He's pitched a new Small Business Act that would be brought in under a Coalition government to guarantee small businesses are listened to in the writing of new laws. Music
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Chapter 3: How does the new capital gains tax impact small businesses?
It's diagnosed in about 800 Australians every year. You may know it because the Aussie rules former player and coach Neil Danaher has been campaigning for more research funding for it for years. After he was diagnosed, he was named Australian of the Year in 2025 for his work on that. And it can affect adults of any age. But at 30 years old, Arrow is unusually young for an MND diagnosis.
It usually affects people or it's usually first diagnosed in people between the ages of 50 and 70.
I caught some of his press conference yesterday and he was, as you'd imagine, pretty emotional in that. He was South Sydney's best player last year, but he hasn't played yet in 2026. The club said he's been doing months of testing and treatment that's led to this diagnosis. And he says now that he's announced his retirement, he'll be focusing on his health, treatment and rehabilitation.
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That's why Revolut's trusted with over $67 billion in global customer deposits. To find out more and to get a $40 sign-up and spend bonus, visit the link in today's episode notes. Fees and terms and conditions apply. See the PDS and TMD at revolut.com forward slash au. It turns out we really know very little about how the ocean works.
A new report that's doing the rounds online says that over the last year, scientists have discovered more than 1,100 previously unknown species in the ocean.
Don't go down there. Don't go down there. It's bad news. It's bad news. So that is 54% more than last year. So we're just discovering more and more species over time. And this stat comes from the Ocean Census, which is a global organisation dedicated to tracking exactly what we learn about what is down there. Now, some of the new faces we found this year include a new species of sea pen.
We found the ghost shark that was actually found near Australia. And you may have heard that term before because we've named underwater military drones after it here. And there's also something called the death ball sponge, which kind of looks like a mobile that you put above a baby's cot. It's like a bunch of balls that could sort of like spin around. But, you know, like fatal.
Like an ocean-themed horror movie.
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