About

Independent research, not advocacy for a side.

Fair Trust Reform exists to promote better-targeted trust and tax legislation — achieving policy integrity without imposing unnecessary or disproportionate consequences on compliant taxpayers.

Our Mission

Constructive reform through research and public education

Fair Trust Reform is an independent, evidence-based and politically non-partisan public-policy initiative. Its focus is trust and tax legislation — particularly discretionary trust taxation, retirement and self-funded retirement structures, and how legislative reform interacts with existing State and Federal tax settings.

We believe good legislation should target the behaviour it's meant to address, protect legitimate arrangements, minimise unintended consequences, promote certainty, and maintain public confidence in Australia's taxation system. Our work aims to contribute to that outcome — not to oppose reform for its own sake.

Our Approach

Five principles guide everything we publish

Evidence before opinion

Arguments are supported by legislation, consultation papers, parliamentary materials, professional submissions or demonstrable facts — not assertion.

Constructive engagement

We aim to improve legislation, not attack governments, parties or individuals.

Respect

Disagreement with a policy doesn't justify personal criticism. Our communications stay courteous.

Independence

We accept no direction from political parties, lobby groups or commercial organisations.

Transparency

Where we make assumptions, we say so. Where uncertainty exists, we acknowledge it.

Political Independence

We support better policy, not political parties

Fair Trust Reform is politically independent and engages on equal terms with anyone shaping this policy area. Support for, or criticism of, a piece of legislation is not support for, or opposition to, any political party.

GovernmentOppositionCrossbench IndependentsTreasuryProfessional bodies AcademicsMediaBusiness groups Retiree organisationsIndividual taxpayers
Governance

How we govern our own work

Fair Trust Reform operates under an internal Governance, Privacy & Publication Protocol. The full document is an internal governance record — this is a public summary of the principles it sets out.

Document classification
Suitable for unrestricted publicationPublic
Circulated only to identified recipientsLimited Distribution
Internal planning and working documentsConfidential

Every publication carries one of these statuses, plus a permanent ID and version number, before it's released.

Source priority

What we weigh most heavily

  1. Legislation
  2. Treasury consultation papers
  3. Parliamentary documents
  4. Court decisions
  5. Government agencies
  6. Professional bodies
  7. Academic research
  8. Media reporting

Before anything is published, we review it for factual accuracy, remove unnecessary personal and technical metadata, and record a version history. Errors are corrected transparently, never quietly. Read the full Publication Policy.