Shadow Portfolio — 12 May 2026

Senator Michaelia Cash used three distinct Senate interventions on 12 May to run a coordinated cost-of-living and accountability attack against the Albanese government. In a matter of public importance debate, she cited a $29,000 annual mortgage increase per family, 15 interest-rate rises, a 32 percent energy-bill increase, and a planned cut to the private-health insurance rebate for Australians over 65 — directly naming Treasurer Jim Chalmers as responsible.

In question time she sharpened the accountability frame by pressing the Prime Minister on whether the government's housing 'every lever' language signals a tax increase, invoking his pre-election commitment that negative gearing changes were 'off the table' and asking how many election promises would be broken that night. She also backed the amendment to the Kumanjayi Little Baby motion, moved by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, framing systemic child-protection failure as an accountability issue requiring honesty and action — a register consistent with her broader day-long theme of government failure.