In short:
David Shoebridge will propose a $21-a-week tax cut for all taxpayers and an equivalent welfare boost in a speech at the National Press Club.

The Greens say the tax cuts could be paid for by taxing gas and other resources.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-27/greens-leader-proposes-tax-cut-and-welfare-boost/107315572

The Greens have called for a $21-a-week tax cut for all taxpayers and a welfare boost, in the party's first major policy launch since its new leader vowed to "replace Labor".

The new proposal would raise the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000 for all personal income taxpayers, a tax cut of up to $1,092 a year or $21 a week.

It would also add the same amount to all income support payments, including the JobSeeker unemployment benefit, student and carer payments, and the Age Pension.

"No matter who you are, whether you're working, studying, looking for work or on a pension, you'll get more," he will say, according to an extract of a speech seen by the ABC.

The policy would cost the budget $22 billion each year, according to the independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). Senator Shoebridge will propose the cost be offset by collecting "rivers of gold" from gas and mining companies.

...

The press club speech will focus on economic policy, although key details have not yet been fully fleshed out. The Greens's proposal for a 25 per cent gas export tax, adapted from The Australia Institute, has not been costed by the PBO.

Senator Shoebridge will use a figure by The Australia Institute, which suggested a gas tax could raise $17 billion a year.

A related proposal to apply a progressive royalties regime to mining has fewer details. Senator Shoebridge will claim the Greens "would raise" $28 billion from the tax, citing a report from the research organisation Prosper Australia.

But that figure is a ballpark calculation of how much state governments could raise if they all taxed royalties as much as Queensland does. The only federal tax canvassed by the report is offshore petroleum.

Senator Shoebridge's speech extract refers to a "Commonwealth tax" but does not specify which resources it would cover or how it would interact with state royalties, details a Greens source said were still to be determined.

The PBO also noted that the proposed welfare boost "may discourage [some] recipients from working additional hours" because of the way it is structured.

The Greens do not propose to means-test the $1,092 stipend, but the welfare payments themselves would remain means-tested. That means recipients would lose the full $1,092 all at once when they cross over the eligibility threshold for their welfare payment.

Ah another expense on top of the national debt. How novel.

Australians receiving a return on their gas, is not a debt.

Hung Uncut Black Muslim Jew wrote on Oct 28^th, 2026 at 12:57pm:

Australians receiving a return on their gas, is not a debt.

But some, no finger pointing say gas pays no tax. 8-)