Greens leader Shoebridge proposes raising tax-free threshold to $26,000

Parliamentary Budget Office costing puts the package at about $22bn a year

David Shoebridge, the Greens leader, will address the National Press Club in Canberra today with a cost-of-living package aimed at helping Australians struggling with cost-of-living. The package is built on two measures: raising the tax-free threshold to $26,000 and adding $1,000 a year to income support. Shoebridge says the threshold change would leave people earning a wage paying no tax on their first $26,000 and would save the average working Australian more than $1,000 a year. He is also set to answer questions about allegations against Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, who is on leave from parliament while an investigation into his conduct towards women continues and who has denied the allegations.

Lifting the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000 would mean a person earning a wage pays no tax on the first $26,000 they earn, and Shoebridge says the average working Australian would be more than $1,000 better off as a result.

The second measure would provide a $1,000 annual boost to people on income support, including pensioners, carers, students and job seekers.

Shoebridge framed the two changes as a single guarantee: “No matter who you are, whether you’re working, studying, looking for work or on a pension, you’ll get more than $1,000.”

Costings from the Parliamentary Budget Office show the plan would cost about $22bn a year. Shoebridge proposes to pay for that cost through higher taxes on gas exports and a market-based tax on resources companies.

Together, the two proposals cover people earning a wage and people on income support. Shoebridge says people who work, study, look for work or are on a pension will get more than $1,000 a year. The Parliamentary Budget Office costing of about $22bn a year, and the resource taxes the party would use to fund it, are what the Greens have put alongside that claim.

Today’s address also covers allegations against one of the party’s own senators. Jordon Steele-John is on leave from parliament amid an investigation into allegations about his conduct towards women, and he has denied the allegations. Shoebridge is set to answer questions about the matter during today’s National Press Club address.

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