2026-04-23
Built for the 1% - paid for by the rest of us
Senator Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens
It’s a question I keep coming back to: what will it take to make our economy fair?
People are working hard, doing everything they were told would set them up, and they still can’t even keep up, let alone get ahead.
Rent goes up again, groceries cost more than they should, and the idea of owning a home feels further away, especially for younger people.
But that experience isn’t universal. While many are falling behind, billionaires and big corporations are doing extraordinarily well.
That’s what our Tax the 1% campaign is about, making sure the wealthiest Australians and big corporations contribute their fair share - so we can fund the things people rely on.
A look at what’s happening around us shows why this work matters, now more than ever.
The cost of living is rising, and global instability is making it worse. Conflict in the Middle East is pushing up prices, and corporations are making enormous profits off it.
This gap is showing up in the federal budget decisions that are being made right now.
This week, Labor announced proposed cuts to the NDIS that will remove supports for 160,000 disabled people.
This is a government that promised they wouldn’t cut the NDIS, looking to balance their budget by selling disabled people’s dignity, and yet they have no hesitation when it comes to tens of billions in increased defence spending through AUKUS.
At the same time, news reports suggest the government is considering only minor changes to the massive tax handouts to professional property investors.
Negative gearing and capital gains tax settings have helped turn homes into a wealth-building tool, while renters and first home buyers are left to carry the strain.
That reluctance to act is just as clear when it comes to taxing excess gas profits.
A gas export tax of at least 25% would raise around 17 billion each year, that could be used to ease cost of living pressures and invest in essential services.
That’s what our Senate inquiry is examining. But most of the CEOs of the biggest gas companies have refused to attend.
And while that scrutiny is being avoided, the government has approved an expansion of Chevron’s Gorgon gas project in Western
Australia, handing access to hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Australian gas to a foreign-owned corporation.
Decisions like this are why money keeps flowing in the wrong direction.
They’re the reason that, in the time it takes to read this, Australia’s billionaires will have added more than $30,000 to their wealth.
We can see that wealth gap growing in real time, and we can see it in people’s lives. When rent or groceries cost more. When people put off visiting the doctor or dentist. When it feels like you just can’t get ahead.
This is what our Tax the 1% campaign is focused on - it’s the pathway to a fairer economy.
Making sure housing works for people, not just professional investors, that we get a fair return from our resources, and that big corporations pay their share.
Those are not radical ideas. They are the basics of an economy that works for everyone.