Portfolio — 4 June 2026

Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh drove two distinct streams of House business on 4 June 2026. The substantive centrepiece was the second reading of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026, through which Leigh advanced a Working Australians Tax Offset framed as a direct tax cut for all working Australians [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s088]. The bill pairs that offset with constraints on negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount — provisions Leigh argued have suppressed homeownership rates by inflating investor-driven demand [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s088].

He drew on research from the Grattan Institute, the McKell Institute and the Economic Reform Roundtable to support both the tax offset and the housing-market diagnosis, framing the reform package as evidence-based rather than ideological [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s088]. Leigh also made an explicit pitch for coalition support, invoking a bipartisan homeownership tradition stretching back to the Curtin and Chifley governments — a historical framing designed to put opposition members on the defensive about blocking the bills [TA-260603-house-804d9cb5f6e1:s088].

The portfolio's positioning links tax reform directly to productivity and housing supply, treating the tax offset as a mechanism to lift first-home purchase rates rather than simply a cost-of-living measure.

Later on the same day, Leigh handled the procedural close of three bills, moving third-reading motions that the House passed in each case [TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s081 TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s083 TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s085]. He also moved the appointment of four members — Mr Abdo, Ms Clutterham, Ms Sitou and Ms Templeman — to the Select Committee on Cyber Security for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses and Organisations, with the House agreeing [TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s087].

The committee appointment sits outside Leigh's core portfolio but reflects his floor-management role on the day.

The two streams together show Leigh operating across the full arc of a legislative day: making the substantive second-reading case for a significant tax and housing reform, then executing the procedural mechanics to close multiple bills through the chamber. The tax reform second reading is the policy signal to track; the bipartisan appeal and the think-tank citations are the key messaging choices.