Portfolio — 11 May 2026
Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered the 2026 Budget, framing it as the most responsible and ambitious in decades. The centrepiece is a $14.8 billion fuel security package — including a $3.2 billion fuel reserve and halved fuel excise — in direct response to the Middle East oil shock. Tax reform is the second major signal: the Budget restricts negative gearing to new builds, replaces the 50% CGT discount with inflation-adjusted indexation and a 30% minimum rate, and introduces a $250 Working Australians Tax Offset, pairing immediate cost-of-living relief with structural changes to the tax-housing nexus.
A $3.5 billion business tax package, $10.2 billion in annual compliance savings and $2 billion in housing infrastructure spending complete a Budget that threads fiscal consolidation through every major spending line.
The official records this note draws on — the raw primary documents themselves, as published.