"We had been advised by Joe Hockey's office that we would actually see the green paper a bit earlier, at the end of October," said the chief executive of one of Australia's largest industry groups on Wednesday. It shouldn't be too hard for a tech savvy Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to turn his mind to reform of the party machine. Credit:Andrew Meares That all changed after last week's leadership coup in Canberra. According to some of Australia's most senior bureaucrats, one of Malcolm Turnbull's first acts after become Prime Minister was to halt the release of the green paper, which was expected within the next six weeks, pending a full rethink of tax reform. As new Treasurer Scott Morrison put it in his latest four-word slogan, a new tax policy that encourages people to "work, save and invest".

According to bureaucrats, the green paper will now not be released until next year, pending a full "reset" on taxation policy and a rethink "from the ground up". It is believed Treasury secretary John Fraser was instructed to communicate news of the delay last week. Credit:Andrew Meares In policy circles, that's regarded as code for the inclusion of the GST. Mr Turnbull hit back quickly at the reports. "The story is wrong," he posted on his Facebook account. "We have not stopped work on the tax white paper — quite the contrary, as I said earlier in the week tax reform is at the centre of our efforts to make Australia a more innovative, productive and prosperous economy."

The Prime Minister is quite correct. The white paper process has not been axed or junked. But it also won't end up being the tax reform commissioned under the watch of Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey. The biggest review of taxation ever undertaken in this country, is now dead in the water, Senior executive On Wednesday, Mr Morrison and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann faced the media together, and were asked directly about any changes to the timeline. "It is proceeding as we intended it to proceed, and the timetables around those issues have always been, I think, very broad and not fixed," Mr Morrison said when asked about the existing timeline announced by Treasury. "When we are in a position to release it, we will," added Mr Corman.

But that's not the information Australia's top bureaucrats had been working with. "We were told to put everything on ice, and that a 'reset' on tax reform was taking place," said one senior executive. "It came as a shock. We have invested tens of thousands of man hours. Over a thousand submissions have been received for the discussion paper. It looks like all that work, the biggest review of taxation ever undertaken in this country, is now dead in the water." It is believed that Treasury secretary John Fraser was instructed to communicate that news last week. "We 'have to rethink taxation from the ground up' and it's a 'reset on tax policy'. They are the words used by the Prime Minister's office," Fairfax Media was told.

Major corporations, industry bodies and interest groups have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on taxation advice and legal advice to make submissions to Canberra for the white paper. The Business Council of Australia's submission alone runs to 75 pages. The chief executive of one of Australia's key alcohol industry groups confirmed they had spent $500,000 on tax advice alone. "And we are one of the smaller spenders," the CEO said. "I have no doubt this whole process has cost Australian industry hundreds of millions of dollars. I can't even imagine what the big mining companies and banks have spent preparing their submissions." The Tax White Paper Taskforce has had more than 700 public submissions uploaded to its website, from companies including ANZ Bank and BHP Billiton to British American Tobacco.

Many Liberals believe Mr Turnbull will now push ahead with an ambitious program of tax reform. In 2005, as a new federal MP, Mr Turnbull infuriated then treasurer Peter Costello by commissioning his own tax reform package, which he paid for out of his own pocket. Mr Turnbull's paper argued for a flatter personal tax rate system, with a top marginal rate of either 35¢ or 40¢ in the dollar. That paper was publicly criticised by Mr Costello at the time. "I think you will find that Costello plays a fairly significant role in what happens next," said a leading Victorian Liberal.

He pointed out that Scott Morrison had enlisted Mr Costello's former chief of staff, Phil Gaetjens, as his new chief of staff, while another Costello loyalist, Kelly O'Dwyer, has been appointed Assistant Treasurer and promoted to cabinet. The Australian Financial Review has reported that Mr Morrison is close to Mr Costello and "confides in him frequently", and sought his advice on what to do on the night of the leadership spill. Loading Mr Morrison has also picked up other Costello staff, including Sascha Grebe. The original headline for this story stated the white paper process would be "axed". That is not correct.