Greens Propose $21-a-Week Tax Cut and Welfare Boost Amid Leadership Reset

The Greens' $21-a-week tax cut proposal

Greens leader David Shoebridge is set to address the National Press Club with a proposal for a $21-a-week tax cut for all personal income taxpayers, paired with an equivalent increase to income support payments. The announcement is the party's first major policy launch since Shoebridge became leader and vowed to "replace Labor."

According to an extract of the speech seen by ABC News, the plan would raise the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000. That amounts to a tax cut of up to $1,092 a year, or $21 a week. The same amount would be added to all income support payments, including JobSeeker, student and carer payments, and the Age Pension. Shoebridge is expected to say that whether someone is working, studying, looking for work, or on a pension, they would receive more.

Who would be affected

The tax cut would apply to all personal income taxpayers. The welfare boost would reach recipients of income support payments, although those underlying payments remain means-tested. The Greens do not propose to means-test the $1,092 stipend itself. However, because the welfare payments it is attached to remain means-tested, recipients could lose the full $1,092 all at once when they cross the eligibility threshold for their payment.

The independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has also noted that the proposed welfare boost "may discourage [some] recipients from working additional hours" because of how it is structured.

Cost and how it would be paid for

The PBO has estimated the policy would cost the budget $22 billion each year. Shoebridge proposes offsetting that cost by collecting what he described as "rivers of gold" from gas and mining companies.

The Greens have pointed to a 25 per cent gas export tax, adapted from The Australia Institute, which the think tank estimates could raise $17 billion a year. However, this proposal has not been formally costed by the PBO.

A related plan to apply a progressive royalties regime to mining is less detailed. Shoebridge will claim the Greens "would raise" $28 billion from the tax, citing a report from research organisation Prosper Australia. The ABC reports that this figure is a ballpark calculation of how much state governments could raise if they all taxed royalties at the same rate as Queensland. The only federal tax canvassed in that report is offshore petroleum. The speech extract refers to a "Commonwealth tax" but does not specify which resources it would cover or how it would interact with state royalties. A Greens source told the ABC those details were still to be determined.

Political context and leadership challenges

The proposal comes as Shoebridge seeks to differentiate the Greens more sharply from Labor. His first weeks as leader have been complicated by allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women by Senator Jordon Steele-John, which Steele-John denies. There have also been reports of a disagreement over Ukraine policy with leadership rival Sarah Hanson-Young.

The Greens recorded a 12 per cent primary vote in the 2025 election and lost three lower house seats. Party parliamentarians were divided on how to interpret that result, with some advocating a more constructive relationship with Labor and others urging sharper differentiation. Richard Denniss of The Australia Institute, a think tank influential in Greens circles, has publicly criticised former leader Larissa Waters, writing that she was not "shouty" enough and had too much "nuance and subtlety" to cut through.

Shoebridge's vow to "replace Labor" has been described as a decisive shift from his predecessor's approach. Social media ads featuring deputy leader Steph Hodgins-May appear modelled on the approach of left-wing politicians in the United States and the United Kingdom.

What readers can verify

The ABC article reporting this announcement is available at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-27/greens-leader-proposes-tax-cut-and-welfare-boost/107315572. Readers can check the ABC report for the speech extract and the PBO's cost estimate. The PBO's formal costing and any future Greens policy detail would clarify how the proposed resource taxes would be designed and whether they would raise the amounts cited.