Opposition ‘reduced to a farce’, says Albanese
Why is the prime minister stopping the next generation from using the opportunities he’s benefited from, asks Liberal MP Simon Kennedy.
Anthony Albanese has said that he has used negative gearing and capital gains tax incentives, and has a $4.3m property in the central coast that he bought while occupying the Lodge.
The PM says he had access to home ownership in his 20s, despite him and his mum having lived in social housing. He gets pretty animated as he says:
It’s the aspiration that’s drilled into working class people, working class people who want the next generation to be better off than they are. And that is precisely what we are doing here.
It quickly erupts into something of a screaming match between Albanese, Angus Taylor and Tim Wilson, which the speaker interrupts and calls “completely unacceptable”.
Albanese then sticks the knife into the opposition.
Their idea of the future in young people is having a ballot between Tony Abbott and Alexander Downer over who will be the next leader of the Liberal Party. They are reduced to a farce.
The PM is referring to this.
Dan Tehan and Kennedy get up to protest but Albanese has already finished his answer.
Key events
Andrew Messenger
Robbie Katter to repeat Qld abortion motion
Maverick Queensland MP Robbie Katter has signalled he will virtually repeat a parliamentary manoeuvre that saw a government MP cross the floor to back a ban on abortion.
Mackay MP Nigel Dalton crossed the floor of the state parliament in February to vote for a Katter motion overturning the government’s gag on debate on the subject.
On Wednesday, Katter gave notice that he will move a second motion on the same subject, which would reverse a move allowing nurses, midwives, pharmacists and other health practitioners to terminate a pregnancy by prescribing the drug MS-2 Step.
Katter said the state health minister, Tim Nicholls, introduced the new regulation in March, after it was passed into law under Labor.
It’s unclear when the motion will be brought on for a vote, but the Guardian understands it is not expected to pass, but is a symbolic motion intended to give potential turncoats another opportunity to cross the floor.
Amanda Meade
SBS appoints new managing director
The SBS board has appointed marketing executive Jane Palfreyman as managing director of SBS for a five-year term.
The former chief marketing and commercial officer for SBS has been acting in the top role since James Taylor stepped down in August 2025.
It’s a privilege to be appointed managing director of SBS and I’m grateful for the board’s confidence. I care deeply about SBS, its purpose and the role it plays in Australia’s pluralistic society, particularly at a time when our community is navigating growing pressures and the media environment is increasingly complex.
Palfreyman has worked for SBS for 13 years and held senior strategic and marketing leadership roles at Nova Entertainment, Global Radio (London) and Southern Cross Austereo.
Krishani Dhanji
That’s all from me today, thanks so much for following along!
I’ll leave you with the brilliant Josh Taylor, and see you tomorrow for the opposition’s budget in reply.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
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It was all budget today – surprise, surprise – with the opposition focused on the government “lying” about taxing more, building less homes and stifling aspiration.
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The government countered by saying Labor is the party of aspiration, and quoting the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, who himself has said that there is “no intergenerational justice” from capital gains tax discounts.
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Michael McCormack asked why the budget had stripped money from essential health services for veterans. The government said that was to clamp down on overservicing providers, and that it was increasing access for veterans to healthcare.
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Independent MP Kate Chaney asked what consultation the government will do on the impacts of CGT changes for startups, and whether they’ll get a carve out. Jim Chalmers said he was thinking about it.
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Overall the energy was fiery at the start, with three Coalition MPs kicked out for being too disruptive, but the energy seemed to drop off a cliff about 2.50pm (about the time that I also mentally hit a wall).
Luca Ittimani
CBA loses $30bn in market value as bank shares slide post-budget
The Commonwealth Bank’s share price has fallen 10% and the other three big banks are down over fears their profitable investor home loans will be hit by the budget’s tax reforms.
Australia’s four biggest banks have chased property investors as a lucrative source of loans, with UBS analyst John Storey reporting CBA in particular has ramped up its investment mortgage book in the last four years.
The budget’s tighter capital gains tax and limits on negative gearing are expected to turn Australians away from property investing.
Investor home loans typically charge higher interest than owner-occupier loans, so fewer investors means less profit for the banks. Storey estimates banks’ profit margins will slip 0.5 basis points.
CBA also released disappointing financial results today and its share price is down 10.47%, from $171.57 to $153.89, taking its market value from $286.5bn to $256.8bn.
Westpac has chased investor loans and is down 1.4%. ANZ and NAB have smaller investor loan books but have fallen 0.85% and 0.62% respectively. The broader ASX200 is down 0.53% today.
With a final dixer to Kristy McBain, that ends question time for another day.
Monique Ryan asks about overdue medical research strategy
The independent MP Monique Ryan, who is also a doctor, asks the government when it will release the long overdue national health and medical research strategy.
She says she’s “thrilled” that the budget includes an additional $508m for medical research, because disbursements from the medical research future fund will increase to $1bn a year from 2030, but that it is contingent on the government releasing that strategy.
It’s an issue Ryan has pushed with the government for quite some time.
Mark Butler says he knows many – including Ryan – want to see the strategy. He says he’ll have more to say about it in coming days.
Capital gains tax arrangement was ‘too generous to foreign investors’, Chalmers says
Back to the opposition, Nationals MP Kevin Hogan asks the treasurer why the government is giving a capital gains tax discount for foreign multinationals investing in renewable energy projects, saving them $450m?
Jim Chalmers says that’s not quite right, and that the opposition isn’t accurately portraying the situation.
He says that Hogan is referring to “transitional arrangements” and that that sector is also facing a transition to less generous tax incentives.
What we’re doing in capital gains for foreign investors is equalising the relationship, the arrangement. Because it was too generous to foreign investors, we’re making it more consistent with the tax paid by Australians, and that means, in some important areas of the economy, a transition from the existing arrangements to the new arrangements.
What consultation will the government do on capital gains tax changes?
Independent MP Kate Chaney says she supports CGT changes but has concerns over the impacts it will have on businesses – particularly on startups, and asks what consultation the treasurer will do and whether they might get a carve out.
Jim Chalmers agrees that startups and venture capital are an important part of the economy, and says that the budget is positive for them.
I do acknowledge that even before last night, this sector had raised some issues with us. We had been consulting privately with the sector already before last night to make sure that we can get the right arrangements in place. I say to this part of the economy, we think that you are a really important part of the economy in lots of ways.
Funding reduction to clamp down on practitioners ‘taking advantage’ of veterans
Nationals MP Michael McCormack, asks why the government has ripped $600m from essential health services for our veterans.
Anthony Albanese says the government has increased funding in this budget to respond to the royal commission into veterans’ suicides.
The PM says that the government has been working on improving the time that veterans receive their claims. Then the veterans affairs minister, Matt Keogh, takes the mic.
As he answers, Milton Dick kicks out Nationals MP Pat Conaghan, for interjecting too much (that’s MP number three).
Keogh says the funding reduction is to clamp down on practitioners “taking advantage” of veterans and overservicing. He adds:
We are increasing the fees that will be paid to allied health professionals … That means it’s easier for veterans to access healthcare. Veterans and health professionals have been saying to us for a long time, you need to increase fees. The royal commission said to us, increase the fees. And that is what this budget is delivering so that our veterans get better access to health care.
Multicultural community underrepresented in the NDIS, Butler says
Independent MP, Dai Le, is next from the crossbench and asks Mark Butler about the government slashing money from social and community supports, that she says is vital for people in her electorate from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Butler starts by saying that the constituents of Fowler are winners from the budget due to increased funding for their local hospitals.
He says the multicultural community is underrepresented in the NDIS, evidenced because just 9% of NDIS participants are from a CALD background, while 30% of Australians have a CALD background.
Our CALD strategy was codesigned with more than 800 people working with us called NDIS participants. Over the last few months of last year, we had 68 sessions with more than 3,000 CALD participants and other stakeholders to inform that work.
Opposition ‘reduced to a farce’, says Albanese
Why is the prime minister stopping the next generation from using the opportunities he’s benefited from, asks Liberal MP Simon Kennedy.
Anthony Albanese has said that he has used negative gearing and capital gains tax incentives, and has a $4.3m property in the central coast that he bought while occupying the Lodge.
The PM says he had access to home ownership in his 20s, despite him and his mum having lived in social housing. He gets pretty animated as he says:
It’s the aspiration that’s drilled into working class people, working class people who want the next generation to be better off than they are. And that is precisely what we are doing here.
It quickly erupts into something of a screaming match between Albanese, Angus Taylor and Tim Wilson, which the speaker interrupts and calls “completely unacceptable”.
Albanese then sticks the knife into the opposition.
Their idea of the future in young people is having a ballot between Tony Abbott and Alexander Downer over who will be the next leader of the Liberal Party. They are reduced to a farce.
The PM is referring to this.
Dan Tehan and Kennedy get up to protest but Albanese has already finished his answer.
Chalmers and Wilson spar over capital gains tax
Tim Wilson is back and brings an example with him. He says “Jack” earns $25,000 and realises a capital gain of $10,000. Currently the tax on his capital gain is $1,400, which is equal to his marginal rate of 14%, but under Labor’s reforms his tax would more than double.
Jim Chalmers says that any objective observer of the housing market would conclude that it “makes it too hard for Australians, particularly younger Australians, to get a toehold in the housing market”.
Then he tries to quote from Wilson’s book – which immediately gets Dan Tehan standing up to stop him from doing so.
Someone from the Labor benches shouts “who would read his book” and they erupt with laughter.
Milton Dick warns that the quote needs to be directly relevant. He says “I haven’t read the book”, which again gets the House roaring with laughter, before he adds, “I haven’t read the book yet” which gets a nod from Wilson.
Chalmers continues:
The member for Wannon [Tehan] might not think the shadow treasurer’s views are relevant but I do, Mr Speaker. (Cue even more laughs.)
This is what the shadow treasurer said: ‘capital gains from appreciation of holding assets is taxed at half the applied rate, effectively entrenching the benefit of having and holding assets, which can only exist if you’re established. There’s no intergenerational justice in such preferential arrangements’.
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