I've been in the industry almost 20 years and look after high net wealth clients.
The ATO has become a lot harsher on income splitting over the years.
Individual circumstances differ so whether GAAR is applicable will depend on the facts of each case. I'm not commenting on your structure specifically as I don't know the facts. I just said hopefully your advisor has been keeping abreast of everything, especially if it's been 30 years since you set the structure up.
What I would say is your advice of moving from employee to consultant and using a company/trust to income split throws up red flags.
For example...
If a person's wage is $250k but they move to a company/trust structure and become a consultant, they generally can't split the income $125k between themselves and a spouse. It's tax avoidance.
