The key takeaways from the budget
Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of the 2026 federal budget. The budget has just been handed down.
My name is Josefine Ganko, and I’m helming tonight’s blog alongside federal politics reporter Nick Newling.
Here’s where to read all our key stories:
Coalition claims credit for fraud targeting measures
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has criticised Labor with claims they were late to acknowledge the “out of control fraud” in the NDIS, childcare and aged care.
Asked on Nine if Labor had delivered enough spending cuts, Wilson took credit for pressuring the government to take action on fraud in the NDIS and aged care.
“The spending or announcements where they’re actually delivered remains very much a big question,” Wilson began.
“And only today, after [the Coalition] for months and months and months saying NDIS fraud, childcare fraud, aged care fraud for Home Care Packages is out of control. They finally acknowledge that that’s part of the problem.”
Construction sector pans housing measures: ‘A terrible trade-off’
The Housing Industry Association has panned the government’s budget, saying it will make Australia’s housing shortage worse by reducing supply.
The association is the peak national member association for residential construction.
“Australia’s housing challenge is simple. Consider it as if we are trying to fit 11 million households into around 10 million homes. The solution to a housing shortage is to build more homes. This budget does the opposite,” association chief economist Tim Reardon said.
“The government is stopping 35,000 private homes from being built in order to raise enough revenue to build around 4000 public homes. That is a terrible trade-off in the middle of a housing crisis.”
The association has dismissed the idea that redirecting capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing into new homes will boost supply, saying the government has misunderstood the industry.
‘Free kick for the fossil fuel industry’: Climate Council
Echoing criticisms from the Greens, the Climate Council has sledged the government’s budget, calling it a “free kick for the fossil fuel industry”.
“This budget maintains the $19 billion gravy train for big fossil fuel corporations. That is $19 billion in the wrong direction, keeping us tied to foreign oil, rather than supporting the expansion of renewable energy solutions that Australians want to deliver a safer, cleaner, more secure energy future,” council head Amanda McKenzie said.
“People all over the country are clamouring for a broadscale shift to cleaner, more secure solutions like rooftop solar and electric vehicles, which give us control over our own energy. Unfortunately, this budget leaves too many Australians wanting.”
“If the government is serious about intergenerational fairness, the budget must address not just housing but climate harm landing on young people. We can’t secure young Australians’ futures while expanding coal, oil and gas.”
Greens cast doubt on support for tax changes
Greens leader Larissa Waters has cast doubt on whether her party will support the government’s changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, after shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said the opposition would not support the policies.
“The Greens have been trying to fix the housing crisis for many, many decades under these terrible property investor tax perks, and we needed to see real reform tonight. Australians deserve that, but what they’ve seen instead is tinkering,” Waters said.
“On our calculations, this budget keeps in place 95 per cent of those property investor tax perks, and it does nothing for renters. So this was a real opportunity for the government to actually step up and help people, and instead, they’ve delivered a budget that simply feathers the nest of wealthy corporations and the 1 per cent.”
The government will rely on the Greens to pass its budget in the Senate if the Coalition does not support it.
Waters said the party would “look at the detail once the legislation comes out” before arriving at a decision.
Budget is for corporate profits and the 1 per cent, say Greens
The Greens have responded to tonight’s federal budget, saying it “backs corporate profits and the 1 per cent over people”.
“Tinkering around the edges of a broken system and spending billions for corporations and the 1per cent: that will be the legacy of the Albanese Labor government,” party leader Larissa Waters said.
“Labor should have used this budget to claw back the obscene profits of big corporations to pay for the things we all need. Instead, they’re leaving $17 billion a year in the pockets of big gas corporations.”
The party was critical of the budget failing to include a tax on gas exports, something that had been mooted in the past two months.
“This budget should have taxed gas exports. Instead they’ve cut $4 billion from the climate transition, and allocated $46 billion to fossil fuel subsidies,” Waters said.
“The government’s planned changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount look like little more than tinkering around the edges of a broken system. These changes will still give tens of billions of dollars in handouts to wealthy property investors to outbid renters at auctions around the country every weekend. This should have been a significant reform, but instead it’s a damp squib.”
Treasurer dismisses leadership ambition questions
Jim Chalmers has said he is “very happy to take responsibility for this budget”, as he insists he did not consider the effect of the budget on any ambition to be prime minister.
“First of all, I’d be very happy doing this job till the end of the government. Very, very happy with that. That’s the first point,” Chalmers told Sky News.
“Second point is, I don’t see it in personal terms. I take responsibility for the decisions in the budget. I’m proud of the decisions that we’ve taken in the budget. This is about lifting living standards for every Australian. It’s not about me or anyone else.”
Treasurer outlines three priorities
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the tax system is “out of whack” and the government has sought to change that through the budget handed down today.
“I’m confident that people will understand what we’re trying to do here. First of all, we’re trying to better align the way that we tax people who work with the way that people earn their income in other legitimate ways. The tax system is out of whack,” Chalmers told Sky News.
“The second thing is, we’re trying to make it easier for more Australians, particularly young Australians, to get a toe hold in the housing market. The interaction of the housing market and the tax system has locked too many Australians out for too long, particularly young people,” he said.
“The third thing we’re doing in our tax package is we’re incentivising investment and innovation. There’s actually a big tax reform package for business in this budget as well, that the extra money that we raise from capital gains and negative gearing and trusts is being returned to workers and business.”
‘We don’t take these decisions lightly’: Chalmers probed on broken promises
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said “the most important thing” is that the public understands the government did not take the decision lightly to change negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, amid continued suggestions that Labor has broken an election promise.
“We’re up front in saying that the government has come to a different view to the view that we held 12 months ago,” Chalmers told Sky News.
“I think the most important thing is that people understand that we don’t take these decisions lightly. Of course, people will focus on the difference between the policy that we took to the election and the different view that we’ve come to in recent times. Of course, people will focus on that,” he said.
“We understand that. But more important than that, most important of all is that we reach the right conclusion and we make the right decisions, even if they’re difficult.”
Chalmers said the government was not considering taxing the family home or creating an inheritance tax.
“These are just things that live on social media and elsewhere, peddled by our political opponents. We’ve explained the tax changes that we are making. I encourage people to focus on the tax changes we are making, not the ones that we aren’t,” he said.
Coalition to support tax cut
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has confirmed the opposition will support the tax cut announced in the budget.
“We do support this measure, because ultimately, Australians need to be able to be protected from the consequences of Jim Chalmers active inflation agenda,” Wilson said.
“But let’s be realistic, every time the government puts forward a measure like that, it’s outstripped by inflation. The tax cuts they gave at the last election were stripped out by December. The tax cuts that are being proposed by this government will ultimately be stripped out by the end of this year. So until they get their spending under control and stop inflation, Australians will continue to be worse off.”
It seems the Liberals and Nationals have learnt their lesson from last year’s budget, when their decision not to support a tax cut was heavily weaponised against them during the 2025 election campaign.
Wilson confirms Coalition won’t back property tax measures
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has confirmed the Coalition will not support any of Labor’s property tax changes contained in the 2026 federal budget.
“We won’t be supporting these measures because it fundamentally undermines the pathway for young Australians, on their own data, to be able to buy their first home,” Wilson told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
