Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a defining feature of our political system that people are losing hope that a better life is possible, and more and more Australians are losing faith that politics in this country can deliver for them. This budget was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Labor to address this loss of hope and to restore people's faith that politics can actually do something meaningful to address the great challenges of our time: a spiralling cost of living, a housing crisis where the Australian dream of owning your own home is drifting out of reach for so many young people, the breakdown of the planet's climate systems, the destruction of nature and biodiversity, economic inequality, racial injustice, and young people being ripped off everywhere they turn instead of being given a fair go.

That was the opportunity before Labor when Treasurer Jim Chalmers got up to deliver his budget speech last night, and it's an opportunity that the Treasurer, the Prime Minister and the Labor Party have squibbed. This wasn't a budget that was brave, that was courageous, that met the moment with the kind of bold reform that these great challenges require. Jim Chalmers promised the world, but all he served up to Australians last night was an atlas. For months we were all told that this would be a transformational budget that tackled inequality, that restructured the tax system to look after working people, to look after young people, and that it would respond to the housing crisis and deliver meaningful reform. That's the story we were told, and that is what we were promised.

Instead, it was a budget defined by caution, by timidity and by protection of corporate profits and the superwealthy in this country. At a time when everyday Australians are struggling with rising rents, increasing mortgage repayments, impossible house prices, growing grocery bills and worsening climate disasters, Labor had a choice to make. They could choose to take on corporate profiteering, to invest in the things people desperately need, or they could choose to protect the profits of the top end of town—the big corporations—and look after the existing wealth of the superwealthy. Instead of the 99 per cent, they chose the one per cent.

This budget contains around $4 billion in cuts to the climate transition, including cuts to funding renewable energy. This is the biggest rollback in climate funding since the Morrison government took an axe to Australia's climate response. Labor has cut support for electric vehicles, cut renewable energy programs, cut clean energy manufacturing and cut funding from ARENA while continuing to hand out tens of billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, increased subsidies for native forest logging and increased financial support for new gas projects. I mean, hello? The world is in an energy crisis caused by the illegal war perpetrated by the United States and Israel on Iran, where fuel prices and fuel supply are being respectively going through the roof and highly constrained, and you want to cut funding for a renewable energy and slow down the transition to electric vehicles. I mean, what kind of budget response is that? Yet you can find even more taxpayer subsidies for the mendicant native forest logging industry which costs taxpayers many tens of millions of dollars a year, destroys nature, destroys biodiversity, destroys cultural heritage and emits massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere to turbocharge climate change. (Time expired)

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Another year, another Labor budget with more missed opportunities than an under-7s soccer match. Back in the early 2020s—you know, the olden days—some might have been surprised by a budget doing so little for ordinary people and so much for Labor's big-business donors, gas companies and lobbyist mates. But over five budgets, Prime Minister Albanese, Treasurer Chalmers and the crew have lowered the bar to a point that it is now buried. That is how low the bar is. It is buried right beside millions of Australians' hopes of meaningful change, for action on the cost-of-living, housing and climate crises.

Let's take a brief tour of the missed opportunities this time around. The budget confirms the government is cruelly cutting $37 billion from the NDIS. Disabled people shouldn't suffer just because Labor want to prove they can be just as callous as the Liberals. If there were any moral courage on the government benches, they would listen to community members who have raised the alarm about the impacts of cuts and do the right thing—reverse course and fully fund the NDIS.

For uni students, there is no reprieve either. Labor would love you to think the eye-watering cost of university degrees is the fault of Scott Morrison's so-called Job-ready Graduates fee hikes. But let's be real. The absurd fees that are driving the cost of arts degrees to higher than $50,000 are now firmly Labor's responsibility. The Liberals fee hiked for 16 months; Labor has now kept them high for more than 47 months. These are their fee hikes through and through, and the responsibility of loading students up with debt they may never be able to pay off in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis sits squarely with this Labor government.

Meanwhile, communities around the country are living with rising hate, threats and violence, yet completely absent from the budget was any funding to start implementing the National Anti-Racism Framework. Yes, it will require investment but, in the scheme of things, it will be a drop in the ocean—the same ocean, I might add, that Labor is trying to fill with US nuclear subs at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. After 18 months of silence and delay, the budget was their chance to get on with the practical steps the framework sets out to tackle racism, push back against online hate, strengthen community safety, and centre truth telling and justice for First Nations people. The forces of hate cannot be ignored or placated. If anyone in this government thinks racists will be mollified by burying antiracism funding then they should know they are playing directly into the hands of the far right.

This parliament should be a place that confronts injustice and stands together against it. We deserve better. The planet deserves better too. The world is on fire, hurtling towards climate catastrophe, and this government is cutting climate funding—$4 billion of climate funding—and backing in fossil fuel subsidies. It is the groundswell of anger and passion in the community that the Greens choose to side with. Some Labor MPs want to pretend that the tinkering in this budget is a gift to young people, like these tax changes that let big property investors off the hook. To those MPs, my message is clear: there is no secret number of Instagram reels that you can post to make houses cheaper. There is no 'tragically cringe' AI meme that can curb emissions or ease the sting of heartless NDIS cuts. You have to listen to people, and you have to front up with policies that meaningfully improve their lives. You have not done that. By that standard, this budget is a wholly missed opportunity and an abject failure.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last night, the Treasurer handed down the 2026-27 federal budget. It represents, again, the Albanese government's nation-building. It is our fifth federal budget under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. It's a responsible budget focused on economic resilience and economic reform. It's about getting Australians through the global oil shock and building an economy that works for more Australians. It's an ambitious budget for all Australians. It makes our country better and fairer. Our government has delivered tax cuts, cheaper medicines, urgent care clinics, cheaper child care, free TAFE and a 20 per cent cut to HECS debt. We're reforming our country for the better. But, as the Treasurer said last night, the war in the Middle East is pushing up prices, pushing down growth, putting pressure on inflation and punishing Australians.

This budget is ambitious. It is a reforming budget in the strongest of Labor traditions. There is more cost-of-living relief, more for Medicare, more for aged care and more housing. It makes the tax system fairer and stronger for workers, businesses, first homebuyers and future generations, responding to the pressures of the here and now while embracing an intergenerational responsibility.

As Australians, we confront global challenges together from a position of strength. Economic growth here is still higher than it is in other comparable nations. Real incomes have been growing strongly, unemployment is historically low and we have one of the strongest budgets in the world. This government cut taxes two years ago. We're cutting them again this year and next year, while Mr Taylor and those opposite took to the last election a 'no tax cut policy' for the Australian people. Since the budget was handed down last night, all they've done, on that side, is complain. They've offered no solutions to the challenges facing this country.

One Nation destroyed those opposite in the Farrer by-election, but there's still no humility from those opposite. What we will see now is a new and revitalised 'no-alition' of the Hanson One Nation, Liberal and National parties. They have no plan for government, only a plan to refuse reform, complain and vote 'no' to everything. People will see, in the fullness of time, Senator Hanson for who she really is. She has no policies. She has no agenda for the future. The only advice Mr Barnaby Joyce could give voters last night was that instead of investing in their future, they should just piss it up against the wall. That's the One Nation theory for the future!

Last night, I was proud to see Labor delivering another round of ongoing tax cuts for Australian workers. We put more money in the pockets of 13.3 million workers, with a new $150 working Australians tax offset. Altogether, our five different tax cuts—which One Nation, the Liberals and the Nationals voted against—will put, on average, $2,816 in Australian workers' pockets by 2028.

When in government, Labor always invests in Medicare, cheaper medicines and public health so that Australians receive care when they need it. This budget includes another $25 billion for public hospitals. We're also investing $5.9 billion to list more medicines on the PBS so that Australians continue to access life-changing medicines at cheaper prices.

The reforms in this budget will lift our total investment in housing to a record $47 billion. What did those opposite do when they were in government? They didn't build one house. This budget is levelling the playing field for first home buyers with a five per cent deposit and tax reform to help more young Australians into their own home. There's $3 billion to deliver more beds, more packages and better aged care for older Australians, and I applaud that. There's $2 billion for the Thriving Kids program and a $3 billion provision for other fundamental supports for those who will be outside the NDIS. And there's $2.2 billion to strengthen Services Australia and ensure Australians continue to receive safe, secure and reliable services as quickly as possible. Australia will be better because of this budget. The Australian people know that. That's why they rejected those opposite.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't know where Jim Chalmers was last Saturday. Not only did Labor not have the guts to stand—

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson, please take your seat. Senator Polley?

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My point of order is that the good senator has been in this place too long. She should already know that she refers to the Treasurer by his correct title.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will remind Senator Hanson to address those from the other place by their correct title.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will make it quite clear. Labor's Treasurer, Jim Chalmers—I don't know where he was last Saturday. Not only did they not have the guts to stand a candidate for Farrer, but, if we are to believe last night's performance, they also have no idea what the average Australian is concerned about. We know they are hopeless on social policy. They have no intention of taking Australia back for the majority of Australians. They have no idea how angry Australians are about being welcomed to our own country. They have a deaf ear to the fact that some people will never become part of Australia if they can't speak the language or if they hate what Australians value most.

Then, last night, we get one of the most shameless performances in all of budget history—no shame in admitting that our young people will face budget deficits way into the next decade and no shame that gross debt will reach a million million dollars next year. I repeat: a million million dollars. Go and tell young people that. No wonder there were no revenue projections for the next ten years. This mob will raise taxes even more—$77 billion in net tax increases next year. They had no shame about telling us that inflation could reach seven per cent, but then they have the gall to say they will help young people into houses. How the hell do they get houses with interest rates climbing to ten per cent?

I have said before that Gough Whitlam, one of Labor's heroes—and, certainly compared to this lot, a real hero—was turfed out in a landslide defeat in 1975 because he was economically incompetent, but revenues were then 24.5 per cent of GDP. Last night, Chalmers had no shame in announcing that the Albanese government's revenues would be 27 per cent of GDP and no shame in saying that there would be higher taxes over the medium term. There is nothing in this for hardworking and productive Australians—nothing. The handouts to renewable energy continue, when anyone with a modicum of common sense would say: 'Scrap net zero. Get out of Paris and do what this country did for years until it was overtaken by the global warming climate change hoax. Use our plentiful natural resources to deliver the kind of wealth to individuals and businesses that used to be taken for granted and then say emphatically that we will decide who comes to this country and no-one is welcome to bring the problems they left behind into our once stable and united world.'

The polls say that the Albanese-Chalmers farce is supported by barely 30 per cent of the voters—that is, 70 per cent don't want them. Last night proved why they don't want them. One Nation will take Australia back to the majority of Australians. One Nation will educate Australians, as we care about the next generation. This generation has to live within its means. The age of bribing voters has to end. The age of irresponsible spending has to end. In fact, the age of not having the guts to tell Australians the true story of the mess Labor is leaving this country must end. A government that can't tell voters the truth does not deserve to be in government.

That brings me to the seat of Farrer. They said One Nation was a party of grievance, a party of protest, a party that would always be on the fringe. They said we were racist, illegitimate and divisive. They said we might get the odd Senate seat but would never win a seat in the House of Representatives. But then something happened in South Australia a few weeks ago. That state's political landscape was reshaped by a One Nation earthquake. We won as many seats as the Liberals did and we smashed their primary vote. We achieved massive swings in safe Labor seats and made them marginal. We demonstrated we could convert our surge in the polls into votes. They panicked, suddenly realised One Nation was a real chance in the Farrer by-election and did everything they could to stop us. They spent a fortune and created attack websites and social media accounts. They put up billboards all over the electorate. They bullied our volunteers. They ran dozens of hit pieces in the media, and there was a lot of cheap mudraking.

Well, the people of Farrer have sent a loud and strong message, but I suspect it will fall on a lot of deaf ears. I congratulate David Farley on his stunning win in Farrer, and I'm please to acknowledge his presence in the Senate chamber today. David is a native of Narrandera, in the heart of the Murrumbidgee irrigation area. David is going to be most welcome to work with the team, and I congratulate David on his win.

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 2026 Labor budget delivers more tax cuts and a fair shot for young people at buying their own home and strengthens Medicare for all Australians. This budget is great for workers, great for young people and great for Western Australians.

To my home state, the budget delivers $20.8 billion in funding, including $9.5 billion in GST payments. That is a real investment in WA's services, infrastructure and future—I know you will agree with me, Acting Deputy President Cox. We're delivering more tax cuts for Western Australians to help with the cost of living, with 730,000 Western Australian workers to benefit from the new $1,000 instant tax deduction from 2026-27, and around 1.5 million WA workers will benefit from the $250 working Australians tax offset from the following year. This is practical and targeted cost-of-living relief for people who are working hard but still feeling the pressure. That's on top of cutting fuel taxes to save money for every Australian when they fill up at the petrol browser.

In housing, we're levelling the playing field for first home buyers, with a fairer tax system; our investments to make housing more affordable, including our five per cent home deposit scheme; and our plan to build more homes. In this budget we will also deliver what Western Australian local governments need to build local infrastructure like water, power and roads to unlock more housing supply, with at least a quarter of that dedicated to regional projects.

WA's 14 Medicare urgent care clinics have already delivered more than 313,000 fully bulk-billed visits since the network began in 2023, and those urgent care clinics are now a permanent part of Medicare, under this Labor budget. There are now 234 fully bulk-billing practices in WA because of Labor's bulk-billing practice incentives, with many more to come, I'm sure. Importantly, for my local community the budget delivers an additional $552 million for Anketell Road upgrades to get us moving on Westport. Plus there's $4 million for the Great Northern Highway, from Broome to Kununurra, making our rural and regional roads safer for everyone.

While the Treasurer, Minister Gallagher and the Labor team have been working hard putting together a budget for ordinary Australians, working Australians, young Australians and Western Australians, the Liberal Party have been yet again distracted; their eyes have been off the ball. Last night Senator Cash was really quick to the socials to criticise our changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing. It's funny that the loudest critics are often those with the most skin in the game. I think that, if Senator Cash spoke to people of my generation—millennials right across the country and certainly in our home state of Western Australia—she would understand that young people, my generation and the generation below me and the generations to come, want the government to take action to make owning their own house a real opportunity that exists. That is what Labor is doing.

Of course, the Liberal Party's relatively newfound friends in One Nation also take issue with a fair go for hardworking Aussies, but, again, that's probably what you'd expect from Senator Hanson, who instead of talking to battlers is being gifted planes by billionaires. But actually I should correct myself: it's not new that the Liberal Party are cosying up to One Nation. In fact, in 2017 Senator Cash was having secret meetings with One Nation, talking about doing preference deals with them back then. So it seems to me that this is just the same old Liberal Party. I guess, when you run out of reasons to explain your policy stance, there's always that old standby of blaming migrants and people who are doing it tough. What really unites the Liberal Party and One Nation is the same old tired playbook. I hope that we see something different from the Leader of the Opposition tomorrow night when he delivers his budget reply, but I doubt it.

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last night, Treasurer Chalmers handed down a budget that we've talked about for a very long time at kitchen tables in Hobart, at farm gates in the Midlands and in back offices in small businesses across the state. My job, as always, is to cut through the spin from both sides and tell Tasmanians plainly what it means for them.

It's the budget we had to have. Overall, the plan is well considered, albeit a little bit painful. Short-term pain for the upper middle class is likely to put Tasmanians in a better position in the long term and activate the course correction for up and comers. I know that's cold comfort for those who will feel the pinch from changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax and discretionary trusts, but our tax system has drifted over many years in a direction that favours those who already have wealth over those who are trying to build it, and that needed correcting. This budget makes a genuine start.

On small business, I proposed expanding the instant asset write-off for small businesses, and that's been adopted—yay! Businesses with turnover of up to $10 million can now permanently write off eligible assets of up to $20,000 without the uncertainty of annual renewals. There will be no more waiting to see if the write-off is there at the next budget. That is a real and lasting benefit for the tradespeople, retailers and hospitality operators who are the engine room of our Tasmanian economy. Additional funding to Tasmania for our health care and aged-care system is very welcome, and I'm glad that primary production income is exempt from the minimum tax on discretionary trusts. That's a big win for our farmers. The $80 million in additional targeted hospital funding, the Northern Heart Centre in Launceston, the new hospice at the Launceston General Hospital and the $361 million for Marinus Link are all meaningful investments in Tasmania 's future. So too is the funding for Macquarie Point and the Hobart Antarctic wharf precinct, which will create real jobs and real economic opportunity in our capital city. I also welcome the funding for more maternity services in Hobart. Education also had some small wins in Tassie with the new literacy support program for our kids and 20 more Commonwealth supported places per year at UTAS for primary care.

But I will not stand here and tell Tasmanians that it's all sunshine and lollipops. It's not. We should have more in the budget for social housing, for our farmers and for our community organisations in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. There is seemingly no new social housing funding in Tasmania or nationally, and that's not good enough. Housing stress is acute in our state. Tweaks to negative gearing and capital gains tax will have some effect on affordability over time, but they do nothing for the Tasmanian family that needs a roof over its head tonight. Our community organisations picking up the government's slack also needed a far more serious commitment. The agricultural sector deserved a much stronger showing beyond fertiliser security measures. In a state where farming is woven into our identity and our exports, that's a significant gap. Our workers at Liberty Bell Bay have been left in the dark, with money kept aside until negotiations have concluded on a buyer, but we don't know how much money has been put aside or when this will be paid to cover employee costs.

The budget's tax reforms also undermine our action on climate change. There's no new tax on gas exports for future contracts, and that's so disappointing—and Australians have noticed that flaw. Not only that but the government is sneakily introducing a tax on renewable investments, deterring renewable investments and possibly putting price pressure on power by harming large-scale renewable infrastructure like wind farms and solar farms. Gas companies paid $100 million less in PRRT than expected last year. That outrageous arrangement continues untouched, while capital gains tax on renewable assets from 2030 will give investors pause at exactly the wrong moment. We should not be creating tax settings that work against our clean energy future.

Finally, removing the private health insurance rebate for over 65s without means testing will hit Tasmania harder than any other state. We have an older lower income population, and over 78,000 Tasmanians in that age group hold private cover. This will shift enormous pressure onto our already stretched public hospitals, and the government needs to hear that clearly.

There is real good in this budget for Tasmania, and I give full credit for it. But the gaps on housing, agriculture, community support and climate coherence are serious, and I will not let them pass without a fight.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last night, fellow Queenslander and Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered a budget that delivers for Australians and for our home state. This is a budget that is responsible and responds to the pressures that people are under right now, while reducing spending and banking savings because we know that we need to provide relief while delivering reform to systems that are just not working.

Last night we announced even more tax cuts for working Australians so you can earn more and keep more of what you earn. In addition to tax relief for Australian workers, we're ensuring that we are providing more access to homeownership, particularly for young Australians. This is about levelling the playing field for first home buyers so they can have a crack, because it is our responsibility to make sure that we don't wait two more years to deliver a better housing system for Australians. Our government is choosing to respond to the pressures that we're seeing today, and addressing the pressures of our future, with substantial policy reform.

While the Albanese Labor government is focusing on providing a budget that prioritises resilience and reform, delivering urgency and ambition, at the same time the state Liberal National government in Queensland is busy cutting hospital beds. This budget will deliver $42.3 billion in funding to Queensland. That includes a whopping $4.4 billion of infrastructure funding alone. We're backing Queensland roads, with new funding for the Bruce Highway and new funding for the M1 Pacific Motorway, as well as for the Boundary Road level crossing, the Bowen Basin service link and Glass House Mountains road. In my home town of Cairns I'm proud that we're delivering an additional $166 million for the Cairns Western Arterial Road because we know the critical role that the Bruce Highway plays for Queenslanders, tourists and freight. Over the next 10 years, the state of Queensland will receive from our government more infrastructure funding than any other state. We're providing tax cuts to help with the cost of living for Queenslanders, and the government are increasing our investment in housing, including the Housing Support Program.

The budget is making more investments in Queensland. We're delivering $9 billion in health and hospital funding. This will increase to $11 billion by 2029-30. We will make every single urgent care clinic permanent. That means that, in regional Queensland, the urgent care clinics in Bundaberg and Gladstone and Rockhampton and Mackay and Townsville and Cairns south and Cairns north will now be permanent—because of our budget. That's taking pressure off emergency departments and getting people the care that they need.

We're delivering more funding for education. We're delivering a gas reservation policy that will help manufacturing in Queensland, because we know that Queensland deserves a long-term plan that connects our local, regional and national economies. This budget delivers just that. At the same time, the Crisafulli government is refusing to fund key projects that we have delivered. My message to the Crisafulli government is this: you've got a budget; you can deliver on the projects that we have announced. We know that this budget delivers for Queenslanders, delivers for Australians, delivers for young people and delivers the reform that we desperately need.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're at two-minute statements.

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If last night's aspiration-crushing budget wasn't enough with its additional billions of dollars in taxes on houses, small business and farms, then let me, sadly, add another layer of doom and gloom to Labor's line items. One which might actually not have taken a lot of attention and scrutiny was the $654.3 million over four years to meet its legislative commitments under the Digital ID Act 2024. That's $366.2 million up from the $288.1 million which was promised last year. That seems odd to me. It seems like a lot of money for a scheme that was meant to be voluntary.

Didn't Senator Katy Gallagher say to us that it was going to be voluntary? Didn't she, on 19 December 2023 in a speech launching the public consultation on the exposure draft, say:

An essential aspect of Digital ID is that it continues to be voluntary for individuals accessing government services.

…   …   …

Even with a Digital ID you opt-in to Digital ID and choose each and every time you use it.

Didn't she, on 30 November 2023, in a joint media release introducing the bill, say:

Digital ID is a secure, convenient, voluntary, and inclusive way for Australians to verify their ID online.

Then, in a tweet from around 1 December 2023, didn't she say:

Digital ID is not compulsory.

It's a voluntary, secure & convenient way for you to access online services safely without having your personal documents stored by 3rd parties—

very reassuring! On 27 March 2024 in a media release after the bill had passed, didn't Senator Katy Gallagher say:

Digital ID is a secure, convenient, and voluntary way to verify who you are online …

It seems like $654.3 million is a lot of money allocated to your voluntary scheme, Minister.