Full Breakdown
Greens Propose $1,000 Tax Cut for Workers Funded by Resource-Sector Levies
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Proposal and Funding Mechanism
At a National Press Club address on October 27, 2026, Greens leader David Shoebridge outlined a package that would raise the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000, delivering roughly a $1,000 annual cut to almost all workers. The plan also proposes a $1,000 increase to welfare payments such as the age pension, carer benefits and JobSeeker. Shoebridge said the funding would come from new taxes on the “windfall profits” of gas and mining companies, estimating a combined $45 billion in revenue. He further advocated a 25 percent gas export tax—rejected by the federal government—that could raise $17 billion per year, and an overhaul of resource-rent taxes (a proposal from the left-wing think-tank Prosper) projected to generate an additional $28 billion annually.
Cost and Fiscal Impact
The independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) costed the Greens’ policy at $65.1 billion over the next four years and $234.6 billion over a decade. The PBO also warned that the scheme would add $57.7 billion to the interest bill on total government debt by the mid-2030s.
Official Government Context
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has indicated that the government remains open to further tax cuts, but any action will depend on the state of the budget. The current government’s tax-cut agenda includes lowering the bottom marginal rate to 14 percent by the middle of next year and introducing a $250 “working-age tax offset” from July 1. It also plans to index the two lowest tax thresholds to inflation from 2028-29 and to index all thresholds from 2031.
Resource-Sector Opposition
Industry groups have pushed back strongly, arguing that higher resource taxes would deter new projects and reduce employment opportunities in regional areas. The government, rather than adopting the proposed gas export tax, has implemented a gas-reservation policy, a move criticized by the sector as insufficiently supportive of investment.
Why It Matters
If implemented, the Greens’ package would represent the largest tax-cut proposal in Australia since the 2012-13 carbon-tax increase, while simultaneously shifting a substantial portion of fiscal revenue from the resource sector to households and welfare recipients. The fiscal estimates suggest significant long-term debt servicing costs, and the debate highlights a broader political contest over how to balance inflation pressures, corporate profitability, and social welfare.