Budget 2026

The Hawke-Keating era is remembered for consensus, but its most contentious reforms drew the kind of backlash facing the Albanese government today.

If every reform is treated as a betrayal, we risk preserving a tax system that is less fair, less efficient and less future-ready.

Skills Minister Andrew Giles says the Coalition should put aside its obsession with migration and focus on policy, including in skills and training.

The startup sector is furious over Labor’s capital gains tax changes, but Anthony Albanese says the government always planned to consult after the fact.

It echoes similar moves by Westpac and Macquarie, with CBA and ANZ still reviewing their policies in the wake of the government’s negative gearing ban.

The Opposition leader’s personal standing is slowly improving in the polls. Yet the Coalition remains well behind One Nation.

Australia’s digital health sector is growing fast — but the companies building the next generation of regulated medical technologies say they are being cut off from the capital they need to survive.

The proposed 10-year RDTI cap misunderstands the long commercialisation timelines behind biotechnology and medical technology.

We’ve heard a lot about tech. But any reforms risk excluding bootstrapped professional services founders, despite the value they create.

The government hoped breaking an election promise on capital gains tax would be a vote winner. The latest Capital Brief/DemosAU poll suggests otherwise.

Jim Chalmers’ fifth budget focused on tax changes and housing has received a negative response from voters, according to exclusive new polling.

Party figures are concerned a ‘good story’ on housing is being drowned out by the capital gains tax furore, as opposition leader Angus Taylor goes on the offensive.

High tobacco excise has created a booming black market for cigarettes, which could cost the budget $65 billion by 2030. But the shadow treasurer isn’t sure how to fix it.

The federal budget has united startups in outrage — but as the sector heads into consultation, its fragmented demands could leave it walking away with nothing.

No one said framing a budget during a global energy crisis would be easy. But the backlash over Labor’s tax reforms is threatening to derail its pitch.

A little-noticed budget measure capping the refundable R&D tax incentive at 10 years threatens to cut off Australian biotech companies at the moment they are most expensive to run.

Jim Chalmers says he expected a political hit from the budget. But Labor’s capital gains tax changes are proving a harder sell than hoped.

The federal budget has thrown Australia’s biggest banks into a frenzy as they begin restricting property investors.

The senators keen to determine the fate of the government’s capital gains tax changes span the full spectrum of Australian politics — and many have never engaged with the startup sector.

The VC and startup sectors view the former industry minister, knifed in a factional standoff, as a lost ally on innovation. But Ed Husic tells Capital Brief the government is committed to getting the settings right.

Startups and VC were clearly meant to play a starring role in this week’s budget. Now, anger over capital gains tax is overshadowing the innovation pitch.

Despite the framing, the budget falls short on shoring up Australia’s economic prospects and creating a fairer path to home ownership.

After decades of timidity from governments and opposition leaders, Australia has now seen two radical tax reform proposals in as many days.

Jim Chalmers has opened the door to negotiations with the startup sector over changes to CGT. The question now is who walks through it.

We should applaud the budget for trying to shake us out of complacency on housing. But higher taxes on productive assets risk killing Australia’s alternative future.

Young Australians need a credible path to wealth. Instead, this budget protects existing property owners and taxes risk-taking harder.

Forget the tax debate. The budget’s real housing reform is a $2 billion push to scrap rules that make it illegal to build homes.

Measures in the budget long championed by the Productivity Commission to slash red tape have been largely overlooked. They could be the first step to solving an intractable problem.

Anthony Albanese says circumstances changed, and he could be right. But after two major backflips in two terms, voters might ask whether his word is still his bond.

The far left party is firming as the sole kingmaker in the Senate for Labor’s tax changes, with the Coalition and One Nation both strongly opposing the reforms.