ACT Independent Senator David Pocock has congratulated the Treasurer on pursuing housing reform in tonight’s federal budget, but lamented the Albanese Government’s lack of courage in failing to implement a 25% gas export tax. The Budget papers show actual revenue from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax this financial year fell $100 million against what was predicted at the end of last year. The government is forecasting an increase of $400 million next financial year but it then drops off again and remains well below what Australians are paying in beer excise. 

“This budget is such a mixed bag – on the one hand some big reforms on housing that took real political courage, on the other a tragic missed opportunity to set us up for a more prosperous and secure future,” Senator Pocock said.

Senator Pocock expressed deep concerns at some big savings measures and reprioritisations in key portfolios including a $201 million cut from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources in “savings”, the bulk in year four (Budget Paper 1, p34), and cutting an additional $1.9 billion out to 2042-43 by “redirecting uncommitted grant funding”.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is losing $255.2 million in “savings” over the forward estimates to 2029-30, while the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is losing $283 million in “savings” as part of a bigger $2.2 billion “reprioritisation” over 14 years.

The budget reveals significant underspends on key housing programs. For example, of the $8 billion set aside by Treasury for the 100,000 new homes for first home buyer zero interest loans, only $57.2 million has been advanced to states and territories as at 30 June 2026.

Senator Pocock welcomed sensible reforms to negative gearing and the Capital Gains Tax concession that both protect existing investors but also send a strong signal that we need to start treating housing as a human right, consistent with options he and Senator Lambie had modelled by the Parliamentary Budget Office.

The Housing Australia Future Fund has been making returns at double its target rate and grown to $11.5 billion, however calls to increase the size of the fund and its annual disbursements to boost the number of social and affordable homes have gone unanswered. The Government is claiming that an additional $2 billion in enabling infrastructure, hard fought for by the independent Member for Indi Dr Helen Haines, will help build around 65,000 new homes over the next decade.

After huge advocacy from Senator Pocock alongside the Home Time Campaign and Homelessness Australia, the Government has also announced a supplement to stop young people on the Away from Home rate of Youth Allowance and ABSTUDY missing out on social and community housing. 

The Government will provide $59.4 million over four years from 2026–27 to provide states and territories with funding for community housing providers to supplement rental income for social housing for over 4,000 eligible young people, aged 16‑24, who are in receipt of these payments and who are at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness.

“There’s so much more to do to support growing cohorts of people experiencing homelessness or at risk of it, especially older women, but this is an important step forward,” Senator Pocock said.

While working Australians will benefit from a new $250 Working Australians Tax Offset (WATO), we are leaving behind the most vulnerable in our community including the one million Australian children being left in poverty with no increases to the base rates of social security payments or Commonwealth Rent Assistance.

In some good news, a strong campaign from the crossbench, led by the independent Member for Kooyong Dr Monique Ryan, which Senator Pocock supported including through estimates questioning, has resulted in a $508.5 million increase in disbursements from the Medical Research Future Fund which will grow year on year to reach $1 billion by 2030–31.

This is a short-sighted and tragic budget for nature with an absolutely paltry $110.8 million over two years for the Saving Native Species fund. No programs that protect and manage our incredible biodiversity were extended by more than a year or two. The government is not backing up their commitment to no new extinctions with the funding required to deliver that. 

It was a light touch budget for the Nation’s capital with the ACT missing out on additional funding for GP Bulk Billing that has been allocated to the Hunter, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle and Central Coast. 

“We’re getting $50 million in federal funding for a five-year project that will knock about 15 minutes off the 4-hour plus rail trip from Sydney to Canberra. In the context of almost $9 billion in new infrastructure investment nationally this feels pretty paltry and like Canberra is again missing out on our fair share,” Senator Pocock said.

The Budget also allocates $4.2 million to continue the development of Ngurra, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Precinct, and $9.9 million over three years from 2026–27 in additional funding to expand the National Film and Sound Archive and $3.0 million in 2026–27 for the Museum of Australian Democracy.

Senator Pocock welcomed the EV changes as a sensible compromise but said a failure to reform Job Ready Graduates or expand Paid Placements left the government’s rhetoric on intergenerational equity sounding somewhat hollow.  

Senator Pocock said it was a positive budget for productivity and small business, welcoming the decision to make the instant asset write off permanent, as something he had pushed for strongly, along with an increase to the amount. Incentives for start-ups were also welcome, especially given the ACT is the start-up capital of the country. 

For Senator Pocock’s full budget analysis visit www.davidpocock.com.au