You wont have tax to pay on a loss. Tax is paid on a profit, so if you did close these loss positions, no tax is paid.

This is why its important to dollar cost average your entry into the market with regular monthly contributions.

I'm sorry your investing experience has started with such a loss... but we all have been caught with our pants down

But things are cheap now, and the long term investor shouldn't be concerned about short term price increases or drops. When the price goes down, you buy more units with your $.

If you want to be safer, invest into a non-geared Australian share fund which invests mostly in top 200 aussie companies.

If your not confident in fund selection, choose one of those netwealth (or other brand) multi sector funds.

But I'm glad to see the recent losses have not scared you off, these will be valuable lessons you will learn, as have I!!