Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended the government’s housing and tax changes, saying difficult decisions were necessary to address affordability pressures, as polling and political debate continue to intensify.
“It’s the week after Budget and we’ll be in four cities in four days, talking about a budget which is all about helping people through this global oil shock, at the same time as we take some difficult decisions to reform our economy for the future,” Mr Chalmers said.
The government used the announcement of a new housing agreement in Queensland to reinforce its focus on supply, with 50,000 additional homes planned, including more than 20,000 for first home buyers.
“This is a budget which makes hard decisions to get more Australians into homes,” Mr Chalmers said. “It’s a budget for workers, a budget for first home buyers and a budget for future generations who would otherwise be locked out of the housing market.”
He said the current settings in housing and tax required reform. “The status quo in housing and in tax is broken and we are fixing it,” he said, adding that the government was “taking difficult decisions, but the right decisions to get more Australians into more homes.”
Mr Chalmers acknowledged that the measures have drawn criticism and affected public sentiment.
“I understand that some people will focus on the politics of it, but it’s the substance that really matters,” he said. “The Budget was full of hard decisions and not handouts.”
He said the government did not expect an immediate improvement in polling. “We don’t hand down budgets expecting to make some kind of big near-term positive difference to an opinion poll five days later,” he said.
The Treasurer said the policy direction was aimed at long-term outcomes rather than short-term political gain.
“We’re not doing this for the polls, we’re doing it for people who have been locked out of housing for too long,” Mr Chalmers said.
Changes to capital gains tax and trust structures have become a focal point in the debate, particularly among investors and younger Australians with exposure to shares.
“When it comes to people under 35 with shares, we think about one in 10 people under 35 have shares,” Mr Chalmers said, arguing that existing settings had favoured housing over other asset classes.
“What we’re doing is introducing a fairer, more neutral treatment of different kinds of assets in the capital gains tax regime,” he said.
Opposition figures have raised concerns about the impact on investment and market behaviour. Senator Dave Sharma said Australia risks becoming less competitive as a destination for capital.
“Labor’s new minimum capital gains tax is HIGHER than the max in most nations,” he said, adding, “Higher taxes = less investment.”
The debate comes as polling shows limited movement in overall vote intention, despite sustained political pressure following the Budget.
Political analyst Kos Samaras said the stability in headline figures reflects broader economic concerns among households.
“A lot of noise. For what?” Mr Samaras said. “Vote intentions have hardly moved. But look at where the movement is. Over the last 6 months, all on the Right and it’s profound.”
He said the focus of public commentary does not reflect the financial pressures facing most Australians.
“The budget hysteria tells you everything about who the commentariat is actually talking to,” he said. “Shares. Investment portfolios. Family trusts. Negative gearing portfolios and super balances into the million.”
Mr Samaras said many households are focused on basic expenses.
“Most Australians don’t have any of that. They have a mortgage they’re barely servicing. Power bills, food shopping that costs more than it did last month. Rent that’s eating half their pay,” he said. “Aspiration for these people is a word that has a lot of relevance, aspiration to break even at the end of the month.”
He said the divide helps explain why support levels have remained stable.
“Hence, the people screaming about the budget aren’t the people the budget was written for. And Labor’s vote didn’t move. It held,” Mr Samaras said.
Mr Chalmers said the government would continue to focus on structural reforms despite criticism.
“We would rather do the right thing even if it’s difficult,” he said. “Even if we take a near-term political hit for it, we’d rather do the right thing.”
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