{"id":11396,"date":"2026-04-24T03:13:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/the-day-of-the-baby-boomers-is-finally-done-in-australian-politics-michelle-grattan-for-the-conversation-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T03:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:13:42","slug":"the-day-of-the-baby-boomers-is-finally-done-in-australian-politics-michelle-grattan-for-the-conversation-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/the-day-of-the-baby-boomers-is-finally-done-in-australian-politics-michelle-grattan-for-the-conversation-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"The day of the baby boomers is finally done in Australian politics | Michelle Grattan for the Conversation – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labor is well aware of the resentment from younger people who see themselves as paying for their elders while struggling to afford housing
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Politically, it\u2019s a very bad time to be a baby boomer.
It is not just that intergenerational equity has become, rightly, a priority for Labor.
It\u2019s also that this government, which always has an ear cocked to public opinion, is fully aware of the resentment towards boomers from many people aged 25\u201345 who see themselves paying for their elders while often unable to afford the housing that was more readily available to a \u201clucky\u201d generation.
When the health minister, Mark Butler, on Wednesady announced the government would scrap the top-up private health insurance subsidy for those over 65, brought in by John Howard, he cast the decision in generational equity terms.
The extra subsidy \u201cmeans two households on the same income receive different levels of government support, based only on their age,\u201d Butler said. \u201cThat\u2019s not fair between generations.\u201d
Removal of this (income-tested) benefit will save the government $3bn over the forward estimates. With an ageing population putting an increasing burden on the budget, the government is repurposing this money into aged care, including paying the full cost of showering for those on home care packages. (So, the government might argue, there are swings and roundabouts for boomers.)
The politics says housing unaffordability remains red hot among voters. It is now accepted the capital gains discount will be hit; also, negative gearing is likely to be altered.
Other sweeteners in the tax or housing areas are possible \u2013 if they come they would have, at least in part, an intergenerational equity lens.
The government is under pressure not to splurge in the budget, not least because the Reserve Bank will be watching closely. But Butler\u2019s announcement of a \u201creset\u201d of the national disability insurance scheme has given Chalmers some funds to play with.
The estimated savings from the NDIS overhaul are huge: $22bn over a four-year budget period.
The government is absolutely right to tackle the NDIS\u2019s multiple problems. Despite initial curbs in Labor\u2019s first term, when Bill Shorten was its minister, the expenditure trajectory was still unsustainable.
But achieving the projected savings will be a herculean endeavour. The states will drag their feet and drive hard bargains. Much detail hasn\u2019t been worked out, and discussions with stakeholders will be difficult. Stories of people thrown off the scheme by the cuts will abound. The program\u2019s new rate of cost growth will be only 2% annually in the next four years \u2013 a big cut in real terms.
But much of the pain will be delayed until long after this budget. And getting the NDIS announcement out now means Chalmers\u2019 budget night can concentrate on the good news.
Early signs are the opposition will back the thrust of the changes (while noting that when the Morrison government tried to make some reforms, they were demonised by the then Labor opposition).
As the government puts together its budget \u2013 with the prime minister saying \u201cresilience\u201d will be at its centre \u2013 the context is dominated by the Middle East conflict and the alarming prospects for fuel supplies if the situation is not resolved soon.
The government is now confronted with a campaign, which has considerable community support, for a new tax to be imposed on gas exports<\/a>, as companies stand to benefit from the higher prices brought by the international crisis.
This week the battle over the tax was ventilated in often heated hearings at a Senate inquiry, chaired by the Greens, which will report before the budget.
One of those arguing for a new tax is Ken Henry, formerly head of treasury, who chaired the far-reaching tax inquiry commissioned by the Rudd government (which recommended a mining super profits tax).
In his submission to the Senate inquiry, Henry dwelled on generational equity. Canvassing how the proceeds of a gas tax could be used, he said: \u201cConsideration might be given to three dimensions: public debt management, nature repair and boosting productivity.
\u201cAll three dimensions are highly significant for the living standards of future generations and thus o\ufb00er the opportunity to address sources of intergenerational inequity.
\u201cRevenue raised from a windfall gains tax could be invested in a sovereign wealth fund for the benefit of future generations.\u201d
While that thinking would fit naturally with the inclination of Chalmers, other considerations are pushing against the government going down this path.
These include warnings about the potential disincentive for investment coming from the companies, which have an advertising campaign running, and from countries that take our gas.
In his recent \u201cfuel diplomacy\u201d trips to Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia, Anthony Albanese\u2019s mantra was that Australia is a dependable supplier of LNG.
His messaging has flagged that he is disinclined to the tax. In a podcast this week with the Daily Aus, Albanese rejected the suggestion the companies were paying little tax.
\u201cSome of the facts haven\u2019t been out there,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThe truth is that the gas taxes in the last financial year [\u2026] were around about $22bn. So, I\u2019ve seen there are reports suggesting that there\u2019s more on beer tax than gas. It\u2019s just not true.\u201d Pressed for detail, he pointed out the petroleum resource rent tax was not the only relevant tax \u2013 the gas producers also paid company tax.
Albanese said he understood people would like to see more taxes paid. \u201cIn budgets, we look at the full suite of measures. What I am saying very clearly though is that we honour contracts and we honour those arrangements with countries.\u201d
The resources minister, Madeleine King, is cautious with her words but is obviously against a new tax.
Perhaps more important is what the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, said this week, when he opposed a new gas tax. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019d be good for Western Australia and I\u2019ve made those views clear to the prime minister,\u201d he said. Cook\u2019s views hold a lot of sway with Albanese.
The Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, will visit Australia in early May, just before the budget. She is likely to get reassurance there will be no new gas tax.
<\/span> Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra. This article was originally published in the Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n

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Labor is well aware of the resentment from younger people who see themselves as paying for their elders while struggling to afford housingFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPolitically, it\u2019s a very bad time to be a baby boomer.It is not just that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}