Shadow Portfolio — 14 May 2026

Kennedy ran a coordinated three-part attack on 14 May centred on a single thesis: that Labor's budget imposes tax changes — bracket creep, capital-gains discount removal and negative-gearing restrictions — that lock younger and less-wealthy Australians out of the same wealth-building tools the Prime Minister and cabinet used themselves. In question time he directly challenged the PM on this hypocrisy, citing a report that 20 of 23 cabinet members own multiple negatively geared properties.

The aged-care system formed a second line of attack, with Kennedy using a constituent case — a 90-year-old hospitalised at least 20 times in two years — to argue that Support at Home delays cause preventable harm and higher costs. Across all three parliamentary interventions, Kennedy grounded national fiscal critique in electorate-level evidence, connecting household hardship and small-business cost pressures to specific budget design choices.