Greens propose lifting tax-free threshold to $26,000

Greens leader David Shoebridge has proposed lifting Australia's tax-free threshold, the income below which people do not pay tax, from $18,200 to $26,000. He is scheduled to address the National Press Club in Canberra on 28 October 2026.

Shoebridge also proposed a $1,000 annual boost for people on income support, including pensioners, carers, students and job seekers. Those two measures together are the core of the Greens' plan.

The Parliamentary Budget Office, which costs proposals for parliament, has put the welfare and tax-threshold plan at about $22bn a year.

Shoebridge proposed paying for it through higher taxes on gas exports and a market-based tax on resources companies. The proposal is a plan put forward by the Greens and has not been enacted.

Separately, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John is on leave from parliament while an investigation into allegations about his conduct towards women is under way.

Eleven days before that, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told a Senate estimates hearing on the night of 27 October 2026 that she and her family had been subjected to online abuse and threats during the 10 years she has been in the role. Estimates hearings are the sessions where senators question public servants about government agencies' spending and operations.

In her opening statement to the same hearing, she warned that online abuse and threats can have dangerous and escalating consequences for female politicians. eSafety's published statement sets out that warning in full.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a swift response on the safety of members of parliament. He is considering panic buttons for politicians, according to reporting from the same day.

Economic data is also due on Wednesday. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release inflation figures at 11:30am on 28 October, and they are expected to show inflation of 4.2 per cent in the year to September, up from 4 per cent the month before.

Economists have predicted that the underlying measure, which tracks inflation after removing the most erratic price movements, will hold at 3.6 per cent in the year to the September quarter.

Financial markets were pricing in about a 65 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise interest rates on Melbourne Cup day.