Senate — 1 July 2026

The Senate's 1 July sitting was dominated by cost-of-living politics, a dense legislative programme, and crossbench pressure on government accountability — all set against the backdrop of a new fiscal year in which several of the government's signature measures took effect simultaneously.

Cost-of-living and tax were the day's central contest. The opposition opened question time with repeated attacks on what it labelled the "widows' tax" — a change affecting grandfathered negative-gearing benefits on jointly held assets after death or divorce — alleging the government failed to act before the 1 July deadline [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s079].

Senator Collins put the government's new tax burden at $77 billion and questioned whether the measure was a deliberate deal with the Greens [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s081]. The motions segment intensified this line: Acting Deputy President Ciccone and Senator Cadell moved a formal widow-tax motion [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s107], with Senators Roberts and Nampijinpa Price describing it as a "grief tax" on older Australians [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s110 TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s111].

Senator Hume pressed the government on how many Australians would pay more tax and how inflation would affect grocery, petrol and rent costs [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s166]. Senator Wong defended the five-percent deposit scheme, noting only 13 of over 200,000 guarantees had been called and that most participants are ahead on repayments [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s185].

The government countered with a comprehensive positive framing of its 1 July measures. Senator Gallagher announced five tax cuts, a $30,000 paid parental leave entitlement, a $300 weekly wage increase for women and an improved gender-equality ranking [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s170]. Senator McAllister cited $220 billion in health funding, $20 billion to fully fund public schools, expanded Medicare urgent-care clinics and new PBS medicines priced under $25 [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s191].

Senator Ayres outlined a $3.8 billion small-business package including a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off, loss-carry-back provisions and increased CSIRO funding [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s179]. Multiple Labor senators repeated these figures across question time, the motions debate and senators' statements, creating a consistent factual record on the chamber's first sitting day of the new financial year.

Senator Tyrrell in the adjournment debate separately celebrated the introduction of Payday Super — requiring employers to pay superannuation with each wage payment from 1 July — and the Fair Work Commission's abolition of junior pay rates for 18-to-20-year-old retail, fast-food and pharmacy workers [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s136].

The Greens took a distinct position, declining to align with either major party and pushing separate agendas. Senator Waters labelled the diesel fuel tax credit scheme "insane" and highlighted billions flowing to BHP and Rio Tinto while NDIS reforms cut support [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s147]. Senators Allman-Payne and McKim called for a ban on fossil-fuel sponsorship in schools and a parliamentary inquiry into industry influence on curricula — a motion that connected directly to Senator Hodgins-May's committee referral of fossil-fuel industry engagement with children to the Environment and Communications References Committee for report by 14 October [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s132].

Senator Waters in senators' statements called for a $17 billion gas-export tax and accused both major parties of siding with the gas lobby [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s038].

The legislative programme was substantial. The Senate passed the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025, extending PBS prescribing to designated registered nurse prescribers after a process dating to 2017. The government, through Minister McAllister, rejected all amendments from Senator Steele-John (Greens) and the Jacqui Lambie Network — both seeking to include endorsed podiatrists and podiatric surgeons — positioning podiatrist access as a matter for a future, separate process [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s012].

Opposition Deputy Leader Senator Ruston supported the podiatrist amendments, noting that podiatrists can prescribe under state law but cannot access PBS subsidies [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s012]. The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 generated cross-bench debate: Senator Canavan warned the regulatory impact could cost $123 million annually with $103 million falling on small businesses [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s015]; Senator McKim criticised the bill's exclusion of the financial-services sector [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s017]; Senator Liddle moved coalition amendments to narrow the prohibition's scope and delay application to small businesses until 1 July 2030 [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s018]; and One Nation's Senator Whitten warned the broad prohibition delegates excessive discretionary power to the ACCC [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s020].

Minister Ayres defended the general prohibition as intentional to capture emerging harms [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s025 TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s027]. Senator Ayres also introduced the Trade and Investment Agreements (Consultation) Bill, which will establish a Trade Advisory Group and impose new consultation and transparency requirements on free-trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s091].

Senator Cash introduced the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Restoring Common Sense and Recognising Biological Sex) Bill 2026 and sought expedited first reading [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s098]. The Major Sporting Events and Online Safety Amendment bills were introduced together and adjourned to 11 August and 25 August respectively [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s131].

The higher education debate on the Greens' bill to reverse Job-Ready Graduates fee hikes remained unresolved, with Labor warning of a $1.3 billion annual funding shortfall for universities if the amendment passed [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s002 TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s003].

Accountability and procedural matters occupied significant time. Senator Shoebridge pressed the government on 27 unanswered Home Affairs questions on notice — covering Nauru contract approvals, a closed biometric facility in Iran, PALM-scheme support, border-search criteria and deportations [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s064]. Minister Watt attributed the backlog to a systemic surge in estimates questions, citing 12,294 questions in the October 2025 round [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s063].

The Online Safety Amendment Bill was referred to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry by 25 August, following a multi-party amendment package agreed by Walsh, Henderson and Hanson-Young [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s093 TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s094]. A contested procedural debate erupted over the 2025 election inquiry's interim report: Senator Shoebridge alleged Exclusive Brethren involvement in polling booths and undisclosed funding to the Liberal Party [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s119]; Deputy President Brockman defended the polling-booth volunteer registration process [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s120]; and Senator Collins described the inquiry report as intimidation [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s121].

Superannuation for workers under 18 produced a sharp crossbench confrontation. The Greens moved to disallow regulations that exclude under-18s from payday super coverage, citing $415 million in withheld contributions. The coalition opposed the disallowance on employer cost grounds, while the Liberals separately accused the Greens of having traded away the policy in a capital gains tax deal [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s075].

Senator Barbara Pocock gave notice of a bill to amend the law on this point, to be moved on 12 August [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s088]. Separately, Senator Shoebridge's suspension motion urging a human rights act — anchored to the government's rejection of 204 of 332 UN Universal Periodic Review recommendations — was agreed for consideration but the substantive question was not determined on the day.

Senator Askew announced her resignation from the Senate, reflecting on seven years of service [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s033]. Senator Cox delivered a comprehensive statement on violence against women and children, citing $4.4 billion in government investment including a $925.2 million Leaving Violence Program and a $218.3 million First Nations-led safety plan [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s032].

Senator Pocock highlighted a 640,000-unit affordable-housing shortfall and the end of the National Rental Affordability Scheme [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s037]. Senator Bell (One Nation) used the cost-of-living urgency debate to attack what he called a "grief tax" and the broader tax burden on families [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s099 TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s100], while Senator Hanson warned that foreign-student influx and AI use are degrading university standards [TA-260701-senate-9e9f426c67a1:s048].

Senator Bell separately pledged to abolish the multicultural affairs portfolio, a position the Greens' Senator Faruqi characterised in adjournment debate as reflecting the consequences of Labor and Liberal enabling of far-right rhetoric.