Losers of the 2026 budget

10:44 pm | Elsa Pritchard

Losers of this year’s budget include NDIS, landlords, and motorists.

Major cuts to the NDIS are projected to save $37.8 billion over the next four years, according to budget papers. The reforms aim to protect the ‘original intent’ of the program, which was to support people with permanent and significant disability. As a result of this, however, it will be much harder for Australians to access the scheme.

Negative gearing changes will mean landlords can no longer reduce their income tax by deducting the financial losses from renting out a property. Investors who buy new builds will still be able to take advantage of this strategy.

While the fuel excise was halved in the budget, this is only set to last until 30 June, and no other support is provided for drivers facing high fuel prices.

Budget winners for 2026

9:38 pm | Elsa Pritchard

Taxpayers, first home buyers and defence are among the winners of this year’s budget.

Chalmers announced a total of five tax cuts, including an instant tax deduction of $1,000 which taxpayers can make without needing to hold on to any receipts.

The government projects that reforms of negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions will help 75,000 first home buyers over the next decade.

According to budget papers, an additional $53 billion will be spent on defence over the next ten years, boosting Australia’s defence force in the face of global instability. Major items on the defence receipt include the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program, as well as autonomous systems for large scale drone deployment.

Negative gearing and capital gains tax changes confirmed

8:43 pm | Sam Lawrence

Budget documents confirm that negative gearing will be limited to only new builds from 1 July 2027, while the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount will be replaced by a discount based on inflation, with these gains after inflation taxed at 30 per cent.

In plain English, the budget changes aim to encourage investment in new housing, but will remove tax incentives on existing builds. Investors can continue to negatively gear and use the previous generous CGT discount on new builds.

These changes will increase government revenue by $3.6B over three years and, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, are directed to “level the playing field with workers and first-home buyers”. 

Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson said the Liberal Party “won’t be supporting these measures”, stating that “the solution the government is putting forward is to build less homes”.

The government will also be questioned on where its increased revenue can be invested. Despite raising an estimated $3.6B over three years, the budget forward estimates see housing expenditure decrease from $7.2B in 2026-27 to $5.9B in 2029-30, which includes government expenditure on social housing.

Fuel excise halved

8:05 pm | Elsa Pritchard

Fuel prices are another target area of this budget, with Chalmers announcing a $2.9 billion package to cut the fuel excise in half,  ‘taking the sting’ out of fuel prices for Australians.

The excise on petrol and diesel has fallen from 52.6 to 20.6 cents per litre, reducing pressure on households already struggling with cost of living.

According to budget documents, states and territories will provide the Commonwealth up to $400 million to support the excise.

Millions to receive tax cuts

7:49 pm | Elsa Pritchard

Chalmers says he is ‘proud’ to deliver another round of tax cuts to help Aussies with the cost of living as the fuel crisis puts pressure on households across the nation.

The treasurer has announced a total of five tax cuts, which he says will benefit the average worker by up to $2,816 in 2028.

One of these new tax cuts means over 13 million Australians will get a tax offset of up to $250, beginning in the second half of 2027.

The Working Australians Tax Offset (WATO) is a permanent and annual tax offset that will be paid automatically into your tax return each year, in what Chalmers calls the most ‘most meaningful’ permanent increase to the effective tax-free threshold in over a decade.

WATO will increase the effective tax‑free threshold for Australian workers by almost $1,800 to $19,985, or higher if workers are eligible for other tax offsets.

Of the 13 million Australian workers who receive the WATO, 97 per cent are expected to receive the full $250 offset.

 

Chalmers delivers fifth budget

7:36 pm | Elsa Pritchard

Chalmers is delivering his fifth federal budget as treasurer, calling it the most “important and ambitious budget in decades”.

The themes for this year’s budget are fuel supply and security, cost of living, productivity, tax reform, care and opportunity and security and investment.

The budget is still in the red, with Chalmers handing down a $28.3 billion deficit for the 2025-26 financial year. Projections are that the budget won’t return to balance until 2034-35, and it is not expected to return a surplus until 2036.

 

Will the budget back renewable energy?

7:25 pm | Christian Nevin

Ahead of the 2026 federal budget, the Albanese government faces mounting pressure to ensure Australia’s prospective tax and investments support the clean energy transition.

Beyond Zero Emissions’ Chief Researcher Matt McKee said, “getting the investment settings right is how regional communities see jobs materialise — not just promised.”

He argued that Australia has a major economic opportunity to leverage its “world-class” renewable resources to build domestic clean technology manufacturing supply chains, with data models from the think tank indicating that “capturing just 30 to 40 per cent of key clean energy supply chains could generate more than $215 billion in revenue and create 53,000 jobs by 2035.”

What is negative gearing?

7:23 pm | Molly Martin

Negative gearing refers to when expenses associated with an asset are greater than the income earned from the asset – which then can be deducted against other income.

An example of this is when rent for an investment property does not cover paying off the loan repayment, so the investor can negatively gear the loss made from their taxable income. 

By July 2027, negative gearing is proposed to be scrapped. However, it will be grandfathered for current investment properties which have already been purchased. This has been proposed to reduce investor competition for young people, hopefully giving them more opportunity to buy homes.

However, some negative outcomes have also been raised, for example, that it could significantly increase rent in the short term, make it more difficult for young people to invest and enter the property market, ‘lifting the ladder of opportunity up from behind them and denying young Australians a pathway to get ahead,’ according to Australian Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson.

What’s happening with education?

7:13 pm | Georgia Mandalakoudis

Based on early announcements, the 2026-27 budget for secondary education is estimated to be similar to the 2025-26 allocation, focusing on massive infrastructure upgrades across public high schools which have been continuing since 2025. 

 Last year’s 2025-26 budget provided around $135.7 billion for education funding and it is predicted that this will be recurrent in the coming years.

NDIS cuts predicted

7:03 pm | Caitlin Young

Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler announced in his National Press Club Speech on April 22 that over the next five-year period 160,000 people will be cut from the NDIS.

It is predicted that in this federal budget the government will be making large cuts to social and community support services as this stream alone has tripled in cost, going from $5 billion per year in 2022 up to $12 billion this year. 

What will the Commonwealth do with defence?

6:59pm | Oliver Mason

The government has earmarked $54 billion of defence spending in the next decade but what it will be spent on is still up in the air.

With China’s growing marine and air presence, reinforcement of Australia’s northern bases can be expected.

The government’s commission of military technology company Anduril and its Ghost Shark submarine fleet symbolises shifting priorities from manned to unmanned capabilities.

Watch out for a boost in research and development spending which is sure to receive attention as the advanced arms race heats up.

Good evening and welcome

5:31pm | Sam Lawrence

Welcome to Central News‘ rolling blog of the 2026 budget.

This budget is building to be the most significant and controversial since Joe Hockey’s 2014 budget, which swung the axe at government expenditure, including welfare.

This time around, Treasurer Jim Chalmers is notably proposing changes to the capital gains tax (CGT) concession and negative gearing. Although the details of these changes are not yet confirmed, they are expected to be tailored toward enabling home ownership. This is not without controversy: Labor took these tax changes to their unsuccessful 2016 and 2019 Federal Election campaigns, and critics suggest the changes could cause spikes in rental costs or a decrease in housing supply. Keep an eye out across Central News for an explainer of these changes.

Also controversial to this year’s budget is the much-discussed changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). In 2025, the NDIS costs the government approximately $51 billion, and the government has already revealed that it will aim to reduce the current participation of 760,000 to 600,000 by the end of the decade.

However, it wouldn’t be a federal budget without a few easter eggs. Defence spending, fuel policy, migration and infrastructure rollout are some of the areas of spending to keep an eye out for.

Jim Chalmers’ speech will be aired across major TV stations from 7:30pm AEST.

Main image of Jim Chalmers, Wikimedia