Shadow Portfolio — 14 May 2026

Anne Webster ran a coordinated two-front attack on the budget on 14 May, using a ministerial statement to catalogue its costs for regional Australia and question time to personalise the negative gearing argument against everyday workers. In her statement, Webster characterised the budget as a Trojan Horse concealing $80 billion in net-zero commitments and leaving rural health, aged care, and communications without funding.

In question time she sharpened the political edge, asking the Prime Minister directly why nurses, teachers and police — she cited roughly 88,000 such workers holding negatively geared properties — would have their wealth-building opportunities removed while the PM had benefited from the same arrangements. Together, the two interventions frame the Nationals' budget position around a single theme: a government that favours insiders and the cities over regional workers and communities.