{"id":25713,"date":"2026-06-06T00:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T00:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25713\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T00:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T00:38:37","slug":"albanese-rules-out-cgt-backdown-as-one-nation-poll-hits-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25713\/","title":{"rendered":"Albanese rules out CGT backdown as One Nation poll hits 27%"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Albanese says his government needed to undertake contentious tax reform <\/a>to protect Australia from joining the \u201csocial and economic dislocation we see overseas\u201d amid surging support for One Nation. <\/p>\n

In a speech to the Australia\u2019s Economic Outlook 2026 summit jointly hosted by Sky News and The Australian on Friday, the Prime \u00adMinister will strongly defend his budget of broken promises<\/a>, rebuff calls for big changes to the capital gains tax discount hit on businesses and investors and declare Australia open for international business investment under his government.<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese will shift his \u00adnarrative on the rise of One Nation<\/a> amid polling showing it tracking towards being Labor\u2019s biggest electoral threat, empathising with supporters of Pauline Hanson\u2019s party rather than attributing its rise to the dysfunction of the \u00adCoalition.<\/p>\n

\"Angus<\/p>\n

With business demanding major changes to the capital gains tax regime unveiled in the budget and passed through the House of Representatives on Thursday, the Prime Minister will rule out a \u201clong, drawn-out process that ends with fiddling around the edges of the status quo\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mr Albanese\u2019s hosing down of calls for changes to his tax \u00adpackage will come after Treasury \u00adsecretary Jenny Wilkinson \u00adacknowledged it was not entirely \u00adaccurate for the Labor leader to claim his government was \u00adreturning to the pre-1999 CGT discount method.<\/p>\n

As One Nation\u2019s surge threatens to replicate sustained right-wing populist revolutions in the US and parts of Europe, Mr Albanese will declare the moment \u00addemands \u201cpractical solutions, not slogans\u201d in a speech that alludes to the rise of Senator Hanson without mentioning her movement by name. He will describe concerns of aggrieved Australians driving One Nation\u2019s support as logical rather than just emotional. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look around the world, you can see what happens to countries and economies when people make up their minds that the system is broken beyond repair,\u201d Mr Albanese will say, according to a copy of his speech provided to The Australian. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision for Australia is clear. We can choose whether the social and economic dislocation we see overseas is a warning that we act on or a preview of what is to come. Our government has no intention of standing around and wringing our hands about the consequences of a system that isn\u2019t working for people. Instead, we are acting to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Hanson told Sky News over the weekend she had the ability to be prime minister, with the once-fringe party\u2019s primary vote increasing from 6 per cent at last year\u2019s election to higher than the Coalition at 27 per cent in the latest Newspoll. <\/p>\n

Mr Albanese will say the budget hits on CGT, negative gearing and trusts were important for \u201cour democracy and social cohesion more broadly\u201d, as it better aligned the way Australia taxed income from wages compared with income from assets. <\/p>\n

Declaring it problematic that Australians felt like the economy wasn\u2019t \u201cworking for them\u201d, Mr Albanese will nonetheless say the sentiment was justified as more voters consider dumping the major parties for One Nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sentiment hasn\u2019t come out of nowhere; it is pressure that has built up, over years,\u201d he will say. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just a vague feeling; it\u2019s a reality that working Australians are up against. It\u2019s something they can see for themselves. It is a logical response, not just an emotional one. And it \u00addeserves practical solutions, not slogans.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a shot at Senator Hanson, Mr Albanese will declare people \u201cmight be able to build a brand of politics out of amplifying frustration and seeking to harvest it\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut that doesn\u2019t take our country forward,\u201d he will say. \u201cWhat counts, what matters, what makes a difference, is whether you have a plan to do something about it. If big change was easy, Australia would not be two decades into a national conversation about why we urgently need tax reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not doubt the challenges we are up against.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first tranche of Labor\u2019s budget package passed the House of Representatives on Thursday, despite by the Coalition and teal independents to change it .<\/p>\n

The bill, which includes capital gains and negative gearing changes, faces an uncertain path in the Senate, as the Greens demand the Treasurer extensively wind back the significant discretionary powers in the legislation.<\/p>\n

With business groups demanding major changes to the CGT discount and calling for a longer period of consultation than Labor\u2019s plan to make the reform law by July, Mr Albanese will talk up the four existing concessions available to 90 per cent of employers with a turnover of up to $2m. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have said all along, we will engage in good faith on the detailed design of the legislation that will follow,\u201d he will say.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last four years, my door has always been open to discussions with business. But this is not going to be a long, drawn-out process that ends with fiddling around the edges of the status quo.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause this moment presents a bigger opportunity for deeper co-operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will also reject claims from business that the tax reforms will deter international \u00adinvestment and encourage entrepreneurs to move overseas. \u201cWhenever I meet with investors in New York, or Abu Dhabi, or Jakarta, or the EU, they want to do business here in Australia,\u201d Mr Albanese will say. \u201cBecause whether they are building a data centre or opening a retail chain they recognise that investing in this country means buying in to a stable democracy with a skilled workforce. With an abundance of clean, cheap energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In parliament on Thursday, Angus Taylor and the Coalition failed to change the legislation to separate the CGT and property crackdown from the $250 working Australians tax offset. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese cost-of-living measures could have passed this parliament easily with bipartisan support, but tricky Labor, this tricky Treasurer has deliberately tied these measures to its toxic taxes,\u201d the Opposition Leader said.<\/p>\n

Labor also voted down attempts from teals Allegra Spender, Zali Stegall and Monique Ryan to limit the CGT changes to property, put an income-averaging mechanism on the new system, and offer more leeway for small businesses.<\/p>\n

In Senate estimates on Thursday, Ms Wilkinson admitted several times that features of former prime minister Paul Keating\u2019s CGT model were not in the new proposals, despite Mr Albanese saying that Labor was just returning to the system that was in place.<\/p>\n

When asked if the pre-1999 system imposed a minimum 30 per cent tax rate as the new system, Ms Wilkinson said: \u201cNo it didn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n

She also played down Jim Chalmers\u2019s significant ministerial powers in the current tax laws.<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Anthony Albanese<\/a>One Nation<\/a>\"Greg<\/a>Greg Brown<\/a>Chief political correspondent<\/p>\n

Greg Brown is The Australian’s chief political reporter. He was previously Canberra bureau chief and before that spent five years covering federal politics for The Australian, where he built a reputation as a newsbreaker consistently setting the national agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese says his government needed to undertake contentious tax reform to protect Australia from joining the \u201csocial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2419,124,468,483,297,22,23,133,21,24071,24064,11671,2038,24067,24068,6609,24069,24056,19521,24063,8463,10403,24055,19847,3180,24066,24065,3977,8778,13619,119,135,120,8457,1926,24061,24062,489,24053,24058,1763,24059,24057,24060,24054,11055,22829,16074,21856,13049,3979,16757,24070,117,282],"class_list":["post-25713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-america","tag-angus-taylor","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-austrlia","tag-budget-hit","tag-business-leaders","tag-capital-gains","tag-capital-gains-tax","tag-contentious-tax-reform","tag-country-means-buying-in","tag-data-centre","tag-drawn-out-process","tag-economic-dislocation","tag-european-union","tag-gains-tax-regime","tag-greg-brown","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-international-business-investment","tag-jenny-wilkinson","tag-jim-chalmers","tag-michelle-bullock","tag-monique-ryan","tag-negative-gearing","tag-negative-gearing-changes","tag-new-york","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-paul-keating","tag-pauline-hanson","tag-pouring-cold-water","tag-practical-solutions","tag-prime-minister","tag-property-crackdown","tag-reform-law","tag-reserve-bank-of-australia","tag-retail-chain","tag-right-wing-populist-revolutions","tag-status-quo","tag-sustained-right-wing-populist","tag-tax-changes","tag-tax-laws","tag-tax-offset","tag-tax-package","tag-tax-rate","tag-tax-reform","tag-tax-reforms","tag-taxes-income","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-western-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}