Estimates exposes shambolic Albanese Budget
The shambolic Albanese Government Budget continued to unravel in the second week of Senate Estimates hearings with Ministers and officials unable to explain basic details or give adequate reasons for decisions that have angered the nation.
The key Economics committee heard alarming and often contradictory evidence from what the Albanese Government has been trying to sell to the public.
Simple questions about how the tax changes work remain unanswered or are clouded in confusing explanations.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Michaelia Cash said: “The more this Budget is interrogated the worse it looks.”
“The Australian people have called out the Albanese Government for a Budget built on lies and fraud and nothing they said during Estimates could explain their decisions,’’ Senator Cash said.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Anne Ruston said: “The Opposition has been able to hold the Albanese Government to account across all portfolios, despite this Labor government’s aversion to transparency.’’
“While Labor members in the House of Representatives were voting 11 times against the Coalition’s lower taxes, including our Tax Back Guarantee, their Senators were either dodging questions or doing a poor job of explaining their budget at estimates,’’ she said.
Treasury Secretary confirms Prime Minister either does not understand his tax changes, or is lying about them
Under questioning from Shadow Finance Minister Claire Chandler, Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson confirmed that contrary to the Prime Minister’s claims, a 30% minimum tax rate was not a feature of the pre-1999 taxation system. The Prime Minister doesn’t have a clue what is in his budget. He claimed that all the government was doing was returning the CGT regime to the pre-1999 system. This is just another Labor Lie.
Government failed to model budget’s impact on productivity
Despite selling the budget as a ‘productivity budget’ - under questioning from the Leader of the Nationals, Senator Canavan, the government was unable to say how the budget increases productivity. This came in the wake of the Treasurer misleading the House of Representatives where he claimed that inflation in the March quarter of 2022 was -2.3%, when it was in fact 0.6%. The Secretary and Finance Minister were unable to explain the productivity impact of the budget and instead referred senators to a “glossy”. This is just another example of Labor not having a clue about what is in the budget, and the impact it will have on Australians. Productivity has declined by more than 5% under Labor, and they don’t have a plan on how to fix it.
Even the public servants who designed Labor’s tax changes can’t explain how they work
Labor has spent weeks claiming its $77 billion tax package is simple, fair and well-designed. But Senate Estimates showed even the Treasury officials who designed the program struggled to explain how the changes would apply in basic real-world scenarios. When Coalition Senators put simple examples to officials, including examples based on the Government’s own Budget papers, the answer kept coming back: “It depends.” Will low-income taxpayers be worse off under Labor’s new minimum 30 per cent tax on capital gains? It depends. That is despite the Government’s own Budget papers showing the tax increase applies to low-income taxpayers like self-funded retirees and part-time working parents. On trusts and other capital gains tax changes, the answer was the same. It depends on the structure, the timing, the taxpayer and the detail. If Treasury’s own tax experts cannot explain Labor’s reforms in plain English, what chance do small businesses, farmers, investors, retirees and families have of understanding them?
Treasurer using Department to do political dirty work… again
It was revealed that Jim Chalmers is using Q&A briefing documents from his department to issue media briefing documents on Opposition policies. Senator Claire Chandler uncovered that the Treasurer’s office requests Q&A briefing documents from the department and then uses them to distribute background information on the Opposition’s policies. These documents confirm that Australians will pay $212 billion more over the next 9 years in income tax because of the stealth tax of inflation. The Coalition’s Tax Back Guarantee would provide an automatic permanent tax cut every year that gets larger when inflation is higher. The Treasurer should spend more time fixing the inflation crisis, productivity crisis, and getting taxes on working Australians down instead of wasting his department’s time preparing secret hit pieces on the Opposition’s plan for lower taxes.
Inflation too high before Iran
The RBA Governor confirmed, again, that inflation was too high before the conflict in the Middle East began. Jim Chalmers might try and blame external factors for all of the economic problems, but that claim just doesn’t measure up to reality. Inflation was too high before the Iran conflict began because of the Government’s addiction to spending. Labor’s economic model is to stoke the inflation, tax the inflation, spend the inflation, and keep the vicious cycle going. Wash, rinse, repeat. The Government’s active inflation agenda is making Australian families poorer. The Coalition’s Tax Back Guarantee would protect Australian workers from bracket creep caused by inflation. It would deliver automatic, permanent and larger tax cuts for every working Australian, every year.
Government failed to assess financial stability impacts on tax changes
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has told Senate Estimates it was not consulted on the Government’s capital gains and negative gearing tax changes despite its core responsibility being the stability, competitiveness and efficiency of Australia’s financial system. For changes of this magnitude, consulting every relevant authority and agency is not optional, it’s the bare minimum. The Government’s failure to do so should concern every Australian.
Industry Minister refuses to meet with industry affected by tax changes
Industry Minister Tim Ayres has failed to name a single business or start up that he has met with to discuss the impact of Labor’s toxic taxes. Nor could he name a business that has expressed support for Labor’s Budget despite insisting there is “strong support and interest”. At a time when Australian industry requires support, the Albanese Government has its head in the sand.
Labor can’t say when or why it decided to break its promises
With the Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson at the table, Senator Hume attempted to get to the bottom of when the work on Labor’s so-called ‘tax reform’ package began and whether it was done through a hunting license process or not. Minister Gallagher denied media reports that the tax reform process was conducted via hunting licenses. There were few real answers but plenty of defensiveness from Minister Gallagher about the “busy budget session”.
Ministers Gallagher – responsible for the budget process - and Minister Ayres – responsible for business - repeatedly refused to outline the timeframe or circumstances of their broken promise under questioning across the two weeks. Despite claiming to be ‘upfront’ about why the government broke its promises – Labor refuses to answer basic questions about how and why they decided to break them.
Tim Ayres does not care about business impacts of tax start ups
Despite business.gov.au receiving more than 355,000 online enquiries since 5 May, Minister Ayres admitted he has not asked his department for the feedback it has received from Australian industry on Labor’s Budget saying, “it’s not a polling exercise”. This is a Minister who is ambivalent about genuine concerns Australian businesses have about Labor’s toxic taxes.
Ayres unaware of Charlton’s roundtables
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary, Andrew Charlton, seems to be taking matters into his own hands and doing the Minster’s job for him. Dr Charlton recently hosted a series of industry roundtables in response to concerns about Labor’s Budget. Not only was the Minister not present, but neither he nor his department were aware that Dr Chartlon’s roundtables had taken place.
Defence refuse to outline capability cuts
The Department of Defence has refused to detail $10 billion of secret cuts to defence capability at Senate Estimates, in further evidence of Labor’s contempt for transparency on defence. Defence officials confirmed that the Albanese Government has cut four projects from the IIP, but refused to outline what these are other than the C-27 Spartan aircraft and Integrated Air and Missile Defence command and control, saying “it is up to the Government to announce that.” Defence also confirmed that 18 unidentified projects had been delayed or de-scoped.
Labor’s 1.2 million jobs created is a lie
In response to questioning from Senator Hume about the latest Labour Force data on Tuesday, officials from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations confirmed that Labor’s 1.2 million jobs is just keeping up with population growth.
DEWR: I can say that as at April this year, the employment to population ratio was 63.7% as I mentioned before. So that’s 63 per cent of civilians aged 15 and above were employed. That is exactly the same as it had been in May 2022. So unchanged employment to population ratio over that period.
Senator Hume: So essentially, while the number of jobs has grown, it has grown directly in line with population growth.
DEWR: In percentage terms, that is, I believe, correct, Senator
$10.2 billion regulatory reduction may never eventuate
Last week, the Department of Finance was unable to provide a timeframe for when this figure would actually materialise.
Minister Gallagher said: No, it's 10.2 per year in gross regulatory burden. But, you know, once fully implemented.
Senator Hume: And when are they expected to be fully implemented?
Finance: They'll be implemented over a period, Senator. And of course, a number of these, as the minister has alluded to, will require engagement with the States and Territories. And so this is the estimated burden reduction once all of those are implemented. That that will take some time…
And then in Economics Estimates this week, the Minister again couldn’t give an answer.
Senator Hume: When do you think 10.2 billion per year in gross regulatory burden will be realised?
Minister Gallagher: Well, it's dependent…
Private health insurance fail
The Albanese Government doesn’t know how many pensioners will be affected by their Budget changes to the private health insurance rebate. Department officials admitted an independent report to Government confirms the additional PHI rebate for older Australians provides value to money to Government. The Government has not modelled the impact on people downgrading their cover nor the impact on public hospitals,
Labor’s brazen behaviour called out
At 10:01pm, one minute after the Education and Employment Committee had wrapped up for the evening, the media drop for Labor’s Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026 went live. The very same day the Workplace Relations branch of the Department had been at Estimates, as well as the Fair Work Commission. It’s no wonder they chose to introduce the Bill after the relevant witnesses had already appeared though, as they’ve snuck in changes that would corrupt the integrity of Commonwealth procurement, alongside changes to ease the workload of the FWC. Senator Hume raised her displeasure with the Department the very next day.
IR missing from Labor’s productivity agenda
Despite industrial relations settings being a key driver of productivity, Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood confirmed the Government had not requested any specific analysis of workplace relations or industrial relations reforms. The Commission also has not been asked to investigate whether Labor’s recent IR changes were affecting productivity. If Labor is serious about lifting productivity, it can't keep pretending industrial relations has nothing to do with it.
ASIC blames small business as insolvencies surge
ASIC has conceded that corporate insolvencies remain at concerning levels, with more than 10,600 first-time insolvencies recorded in the first nine months of 2025-26 and almost 15,000 businesses entering external administration in FY2025. Under questioning from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, ASIC acknowledged the significant human and economic impact of business failures and accepted that COVID-related explanations for rising insolvencies had diminished over time. In response, ASIC pointed to poor strategic management, trading losses and poor financial controls as leading contributors to insolvency. Senator Nampijinpa Price challenged this assessment, noting that insolvencies have increased by almost 200 per cent since FY22 and questioning whether thousands of Australian small business owners had suddenly become poor managers at the same time.
Labor's aged care algorithm says no
The Department of Health and Aged Care deployed an algorithm to determine aged care package classifications without any prior live trial, without consultation with providers, advocates or older Australians, and without being able to explain how the tool was validated or what its acceptable error rate is. The most common complaint from assessors was the removal of human override from the decision-making process, and the Department declined to confirm whether legal advice was even sought before removing that override capability. The Coalition is calling on the Government to release the evidence underpinning the algorithm, disclose how often assessor recommendations differ from algorithm outcomes, and restore meaningful human oversight to the assessment process.
Labor's faceless aged care revelation
One in four aged care assessments are now conducted remotely with no in-person contact before being fed into the algorithm. The true aged care waiting list stands at nearly 200,000 older Australians - approximately double the figure cited by Minister Sam Rae the previous day. Department officials confirmed the decision to allow an algorithm to override clinical judgment was made as part of the 2024-25 Budget process, with vulnerable Australians living with conditions including ALS and dementia already having their support cut as a result. The Coalition is demanding the Government immediately reinstate human override and take meaningful action to reduce the waiting list.
Inspector-General of aged care
Labor's aged care reforms are failing the very people they were meant to protect. The government's own Inspector-General of Aged Care has exposed a broken assessment algorithm that is locking vulnerable older Australians out of care, with people battling Parkinson's and dementia waiting over 12 months for a package, and an outrageous situation where only 129 people out of more than 100,000 were deemed urgent enough to prioritise – this is a Labor-made crisis. The Inspector-General also confirmed qualified, trained, human assessors are quitting their jobs in protest over Labor’s faceless algorithm.
Medicare refusal
The Government has refused to provide details on which services will become more expensive under the Government's cuts to the Medicare safety net.
Labor MPs bullying GPs over bulk billing
The Albanese Government has refused to condemn Labor MPs bullying and cajoling local GPs into bulk billing, even when it they will be financially worse off.
New-born screening
Labor's commitment to increase the number of conditions screened under the New Born Screening Program to 80 conditions is still woefully short with just 34 conditions screened, 4 years after making this promise to Australian parents and parents to be.
More Chinese solar under a “Future made in Australia”
Labor continues to push ahead with Net Zero at any cost, conceding it will continue to rely “significantly” on imports of Chinese made solar panels to achieve its aggressive agenda. The Minister says that industry wants the lowest possible electricity costs, but it is his government’s push to Net Zero that has forced electricity costs up 40 per cent, making manufacturing in Australia unviable. This is what a Future Made in Australia looks like under this hypocritical Albanese Government.
No money and no timeline for Tomago
It has been six months since the Albanese Government announced the bailout of the Tomago Aluminium smelter, yet there was no money for the facility in Labor’s Budget. Despite the pomp and fanfare in December, the Minister was forced to admit that not only was there no money for Tomago – the government doesn’t have a timeline for when support will be delivered.
Labor’s lack of transparency
Industry Minister Tim Ayres says he does not have “a high level of interest” in what is published on his departmental website – despite officials confirming Mr Ayres’ office is responsible for directing whether transcripts are published or not. It appears the Minister is cherry picking which of his comments go on the public record – with remarks around Tomago and the influence of China on Australian industry notably absent. Under Labor, there is a culture of secrecy and a lack of transparency.
Right-of-entry permit contested
When questioned by Senator Kovacic, officials confirmed the Fair Work Commission granted a right-of-entry permit to CFMEU NSW Coordinator Dean Riley on 27 May despite the Fair Work Ombudsman opposing the application. The Ombudsman told Estimates it argued Mr Riley was not a “fit and proper person” to hold a permit, citing five separate proceedings involving ten contraventions of industrial laws and approximately $48,000 in penalties. Officials also confirmed the Commission relied in part on evidence from CFMEU administrator Michael Crosby supporting the application, and that the Ombudsman had sought stronger conditions, including automatic revocation if Mr Riley breached workplace laws again, which were not imposed.
Department published Labor political attack material
DEWR officials admitted a political media release drafted by Minister Giles’ office attacking the Coalition was published on the Department’s official website. Officials conceded the release should not have been published, described the incident as a “process failure” and “human error,” and were unable to fully explain how the material bypassed department safeguards. A detailed timeline was taken on notice.
CFMEU administrator security costs millions
The Government confirmed taxpayers are funding millions of dollars in security costs for the CFMEU administrator, including a further $5.3 million allocation over two years. The Government defended the decision despite evidence that the CFMEU holds over $215M in net assets, while officials were unable to explain whether the costs could ultimately be recovered from the union itself.
Workplace department underpaid 201 staff
Following questioning from Senator Kovacic in the February estimates, Senator Hume continued scrutiny of DEWR’s underpayment allegations. Officials confirmed that approximately 201 departmental staff have been underpaid and that the Department has spent close to $250,000 on internal audits with McGrathNicol and Cobalt Consulting to identify and remediate the underpayments.
No dedicated anti-Semitism training implemented
When questioned by Senator Hume, DEWR officials claimed no dedicated anti-Semitism training had yet been implemented following recommendations made by the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism almost a year ago. Officials acknowledged they were still awaiting broader APS training materials and could not confirm whether existing programs specifically addressed anti-Semitism.
Corrupt enterprise agreements may remain in force
When questioned by Senator Kovacic about the consequences of former CFMEU NSW Secretary Darren Greenfield’s bribery conviction, officials were unable to explain whether enterprise agreements secured through bribery or corrupt conduct can be cancelled or overturned. Officials could not advise whether workers and employers remain bound by agreements obtained through criminal conduct.
No modelling of Pilbara industrial action impacts
When questioned by Senator O’Sullivan, officials confirmed they were monitoring industrial disputes affecting iron ore operations in the Pilbara but had not undertaken modelling of the potential economic consequences for Port Hedland, Australia’s largest export port.
Government cannot explain future mutual obligations
When questioned by Senator Hume, officials were unable to explain what specific mutual obligation requirements jobseekers will face under Labor’s new employment services model, confirming major design decisions remain unresolved.
Jobseekers return to Workforce Australia within a year
When questioned by Senator Hume, the Department acknowledged that approximately one in six participants who exit Workforce Australia return to the system within 12 months, raising concerns about the sustainability of employment outcomes.
Mystery over how many students complete courses
Officials confirmed that there had been 742,000 enrolments and 245,783 competitions of Fee-Free TAFE courses but could not confirm whether the remaining 496,217 places are students still studying, on deferment or had withdrawn. Department officials confirmed to Senator Kovacic the reason why they are unable to confirm the remaining figure is because they do not have a set definition of what a “withdrawal” is.
How many TAFE places are going to visa holders?
When questioned by Senator O’Sullivan, officials confirmed while non-citizens are able to access some Fee-Free TAFE places, they do not hold comprehensive data identifying how many Fee-Free TAFE participants are Australian citizens, permanent residents or temporary visa holders.
Government relying on apprenticeship hope
When questioned by Senator Nampijinpa Price, officials acknowledged that they are concerned by the downward trend in apprenticeship commencements however, they conceded their expectation that large employers would maintain apprenticeship numbers following incentive cuts was based on “hope and intent” rather than certainty.
Senate denied scrutiny of workplace laws
When questioned by Senator Hume and Senator Kovacic, officials acknowledged they were aware workplace relations legislation was imminent, despite senators being unable to scrutinise the legislation during questioning.
Young not consulted on tax changes
The Albanese Labor Government has been caught out in Senate Estimates after officials confirmed young Australians were not formally consulted on Labor’s controversial tax changes before they were announced. Despite repeatedly claiming its policies are about “intergenerational equity” and helping young people, Labor did not seek advice from the Office for Youth, nor receive any briefing on the impact of its tax changes on young Australians.
Mystery cost of PsiQuantum’s abandoned site
Two years after Labor announced $1 billion going to American company, PsiQuantum, all that's been delivered is an abandoned site and more questions. After repeated questioning in Senate Estimates, the Department of Industry, Science and Resource was unable to tell Australians how much was spent in planning or site preparations at the now abandoned Brisbane Airport site. Instead, the Department said, ‘it's difficult to give a specific answer to that question’. Australian’s should be concerned that it is ‘difficult’ for the Albanese Labor Government to know how of their money was spent to not deliver a quantum facility.
Aged care assessments
Under questioning from Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Anne Ruston, officials admitted Labor’s aged care assessment algorithm has never been live trialled or validated and could not confirm whether preventing assessors from overriding the tool’s recommendations is legally sound. The Inspector-General of Aged Care also revealed that 99.9 per cent of older Australians assessed for care have been deemed non-urgent, leaving many waiting more than 12 months for support they have already been assessed as needing. In response, Senator Ruston will introduce a Private Senator’s Bill to restore human oversight to aged care assessments.
Claimed savings from AUKUS change withheld
Defence has withheld projected savings from the updated AUKUS “optimal pathway”. The Secretary declined to substantiate Richard Marles’s assertion that the transition to three in-service Virginia-class submarines would yield “significant savings”. It was later revealed, during an interview with Richard Marles on ABC 7.30, that these “significant savings” will not fundamentally change the cost of the wider AUKUS project, both of which cannot be true. Defence also conceded that quantifying savings remains guesswork until negotiations are concluded.
Defence budget relies on uncertain estimates
The Albanese Government’s claimed “historic” increases to defence expenditure are reliant on at least $5 billion of unconfirmed private financing. The Defence Secretary and Chief Financial Officer acknowledged that market testing is in preliminary stages, with no private partners identified and no contracts signed for private financing of major infrastructure projects. Defence was unable to provide a breakdown of how these private investments over the forward estimates. Officials could not guarantee the Defence capability budget would be insulated if current estimates prove optimistic, nor the proceeds from the Albanese Government’s defence estate fire sale.
Defence refuses to disclose $4.7 billion in secret cuts
Defence has refused to detail $10 billion of secret cuts to defence capability at Senate Estimates, in further evidence of Labor’s contempt for transparency on defence. Defence officials confirmed that the Albanese Government has cut four projects from the IIP and that 18 unidentified projects had been delayed or de-scoped. Defence officials confirmed net savings from cancelling the C-27 Spartan would be $300m, and around $5 billion was “reprioritised” from Integrated Air and Missile Defence command and control, leaving $4.7 billion in cuts unaccounted for. The Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF) told the Senate that the other projects were “for the government to announce”, making clear he has been muzzled by the Albanese Government.
Minister’s mystery $10 billion “reprioritisation” figure
Senior defence officials, including the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, were unable to verify or explain a $10 billion defence savings figure that was shared by the Deputy Prime Minister during a private briefing with journalists. The figure was widely reported in the media following the launch of the National Defence Strategy, but senior officials expressed surprise when questioned about it by Senator Paterson. Subsequently, the Defence CFO shared that he “thinks” the $10 billion figure was briefed to journalists by the Richard Marles and Pat Conroy, but officials could not confirm whether they had made it up.
Prime Minister breached operational security
Defence faced questioning over Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's decision to publicly disclose the presence of three Australian submariners aboard a US Navy submarine during its sinking of an Iranian warship in March 2026. Defence leadership confirmed that while the personnel performed defensive and platform-maintenance duties during the sinking of the Iranian warship, the public announcement went against standard operational security policies. Senior officials acknowledged that operational details are typically strictly protected and reviewed on a case-by-case basis after personnel return. The Prime Minister’s decision to confirm the deployment to the media, and before the crew had been formally debriefed, could set a dangerous precedent, suggesting operational security was set aside for political reasons. The Foreign Minister also defended the Prime Minister's decision to publicly disclose classified information, directly contradicting the Minister's own statement to the Senate just 24 hours prior, where she had refused to provide details due to operational security.
Double speak on AUKUS
The Foreign Minister made it clear that the Albanese Government’s policy of speaking with "one voice" on foreign affairs is really a “both sides of our mouth” policy. The Foreign Minister refused to criticise Albanese Government Minister Josh Wilson MP’s public opposition to AUKUS, which has led to other members of the Albanese Government calling the AUKUS agreement into question within its own caucus. Penny Wong declined to clarify whether the Minister had revised his stance since becoming a Minister or if any disciplinary actions had been taken. This failure to enforce cabinet solidarity is undermining confidence in AUKUS.
More smoke and mirrors on returned ISIS Brides cohort
The Foreign Minister has declined to confirm whether individuals within a specific cohort of returned women with historical links to ISIS are being investigated for offences under the Passports Act.
The Rolex of redundancies: $20 million payout
Officials from the Department of Social Services revealed they will be paying out the Rolex of staff redundancy payouts: $20 million for the 312 staff who have accepted voluntary redundancies this year. Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services, Melissa McIntosh MP said: “The Department is going to hand out the Rolex of redundancy payouts this year. It epitomises the bloated bureaucracy that defines the Albanese Labor Government. For the past four years, this Government went on a public servant hiring spree. There were 172,000 bureaucrats when Labor was first elected, and now there are 217,000.
ANU lecturer under investigation for social posts
Questions were put to the Australian National University over a lecturer in Middle Eastern politics who remains on the taxpayer-funded payroll while under investigation for social media posts that allegedly denied the October 7 rape of Israeli women, called the attacks a “Zionist dream time,” and shared calls to wipe Israel off the map.
$2.2b research funding cut confirmed
Department of Education officials confirmed that the government is taking $2.2billion out of research over a decade, following cuts to Australia’s Economic Accelerator.
Unis to be interrogated on Iran drones
High risk research collaborations between Australian and foreign universities have been referred to government agencies for potential “criminal or regulatory follow up”, the Federal Department of Education revealed at Estimates. Shadow Minister for Education, Julian Leeser, said Australian universities' first loyalty should be to Australia.
Scandal-plagued ANU loses $100m
Scandals at the Australian National University have led to donors and international students walking away, blowing a $100m hole in the budget.
ANU Chancellor selection process
Questions raised after TEQSA told ANU not to proceed with a selection process for a new Chancellor before TEQSA took over the selection process themselves.