Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
A listener production.
Hey, it's Chris Spear with you. Happy Friday and welcome to The Briefing. Australians have battled a lot in the years since COVID, from global conflicts to a persisting housing crisis. So it might surprise you to learn we're actually pretty optimistic when it comes to how we view our own lives and finances. And it's shaping how we make decisions about money.
When you see Aussies looking for substitute products, you've got them more actively using the value stored in their rewards card to get better petrol prices, get better grocery deals, whatever it is. And they're also reporting that they're more likely to shop at multiple stores in order to get better deals. So Aussies are choosing cost over convenience.
A deep dive into how we're thinking about and treating money in 2026 is coming up in the second half of this episode.
Chapter 2: What tax reforms are being proposed in Australia?
First, though, let's get into the headlines with Sasha Barber-Gatt on Friday the 29th of May.
Hey Chris, happy Friday. Anthony Albanese has pushed ahead with his contentious budget bill, introducing all the changes announced two weeks ago to Parliament.
So, a reminder, it includes changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, a shake-up of how trusts operate, and also changes to personal income tax, including the Working Australians Tax Offset, or WAITO, and also instant tax deductions up to $1,000.
Now, we were reporting yesterday that additional carve-outs could be added to the legislation to the CGT changes, which would make small businesses exempt, but that was not included, Chris.
Yeah, it prompted heated debate on the floor of Parliament yesterday with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor apparently heard calling the Prime Minister an arrogant prick.
The Speaker there was an interjection made by the Leader of the Opposition, which was way beyond unparliamentary at the start of that answer.
Order. I can't hear, because of the issues I've raised to this House, I can't hear every interjection. But if the Leader of the Opposition has made an unparliamentary remark to assist the House, I'll just get him to withdraw it. To assist the House, I withdraw. I thank the Leader of the Opposition.
So that was what you heard Tony Burke getting up. Anthony Albanese had just delivered a long winded, you know, blah, blah, blah. This is why this is all so great. And yeah, you actually, you cannot hear Angus Taylor saying these words. However, a lot of news channels have zoomed in on his face and have lip read. And also other members of the house reported him saying that.
So that's where these reports are. And yes, that was the little exchange that went down after that alleged remark.
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Chapter 3: Why did Anthony Albanese face controversy in Parliament?
Oh, yeah, we love a blue washer. That was the call on nine. The 12-4 win is also history-making, Chris. So this New South Wales side has become the first team to win a women's series 3-0 and also the first New South Wales outfit to go unbeaten in a series since the men in 2000.
Ah, well done.
Yeah, the girls. There have been some complaints though from players about the timing of the women's origin. Some are unhappy that it's actually the first major fixture of their season. So they're expected to be at this extremely high level straight off the bat. Whereas in the men's, it's intertwined into the season. They've had a few rounds to warm up.
So there are calls to change that and to have it actually intertwined with the NRLW season.
Yeah, and speaking of complaints, we received one from listener Natalie. Natalie asked us if you and I were delusional and she accused us of colluding with the NRL because of our coverage of the men's origin yesterday. Now, for context, a Queensland player named Kalem Ponga was sent off in the 57th minute for a high tackle on a New South Wales player.
And according to Natalie, that essentially handed New South Wales the opportunity for the comeback. you and I we got bogged down in the fact that we were performing terribly New South Wales was doing a horrible job and we both tuned out of the game to then wake up in the morning and see that we had won we were like wow that is a comeback how did that happen um
Yeah, look, Natalie claims that this is all part of a ploy, that we played with an extra player for a quarter of the match and that was by design because otherwise we would have lost on home ground. So there you go, Natalie. We see your feedback. We respond in kind. And sorry for your loss.
Yeah, sorry for your loss, Natalie. And before we get into today's deep dive, a reminder about our weekend briefing eps, which drop early Saturdays.
Yes, and tomorrow is your chat with John Safran, who has done some genuinely insane things. And you actually talked about him in the episode, including when he squatted at Kanye West's abandoned Calabasas mansion.
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Chapter 4: How are young Australians impacted by the tax overhaul?
We hadn't been able to travel. So the last time we ran this report, things like spending, travel, all of those things ranked a than saving money and being really focused in terms of small financial wins and financial discipline, if you'd like. So we have also seen a slight change from 23 to 26, simply because of what we were coming out of and now how Aussies are thinking about the future.
I found it interesting in this report was the adaptability and, you know, the, well, I can't control it. I'm going to control what I can. And that looks like some of the things I picked up on in the report were like joining loyalty programs, choosing how to invest money, even something like rent vesting where it's like, well, I can't necessarily afford to buy where I want to live.
So I'm going to buy in another city or another suburb in my city so that I can be on the property ladder, but still living where I want to. Now, I think that shows resilience and strength.
However, there is a part of me that kind of goes, well, it's a little bit sad that we can't, what used to get us onto the property ladder, which was having a full-time job, essentially, you could even have be a one-income household and still quite easily buy a house. That has shifted. Do you see how that's kind of a little bit
discouraging for people who might be coming through going, okay, well, I have to diversify and I have to do all these different things just to even think about being able to save part of a deposit?
Of course. For me, housing is not about becoming richer. It's about security. It's about having a roof over your head. It's about not having to move houses every time a landlord moves puts the rent up by too much or decides to move back in or sell.
So if you think about housing from a human perspective rather than a financial one, ensuring that we make it easier for Aussies to enter the housing market if they choose to is actually really important. The fact that we have not built enough affordable housing for the number of Australians or the population growth that we've experienced, that is the way through here.
So I absolutely acknowledge it's not a positive outcome. It's not okay. And not just government, but private industry, enterprise, business leaders, we all need to be working together to solve that housing supply problem.
I just want to ask on that as well in terms of getting into the property market. Entering is one thing, but then being able to stay is another because of things like interest rate hikes. Now, banks obviously play a huge role in that.
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Chapter 5: What is the current state of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement?
Do you think that has permanently shifted now?
Yes, I do. In Australia, we have not built houses at the right pace for our population growth. The other side of the coin is things like technology, mobile, apps, side hustles, the gig economy.
the accessibility of shares, ETFs, all of those things have also given Australians more options when it comes to saving money, when it comes to searching for a good deal for saving their money, or indeed looking for other ways to build income and build wealth on their pathway.
We will always have, you know, a number of Australians who don't want to own property, who do want to rent, who want to have that freedom. But fundamentally, the housing market has changed and therefore the pathway to home ownership has changed.
Melanie Evans, thank you for joining us on The Briefing. Thank you. That was ING CEO Melanie Evans speaking with me there. And that is it for this episode of The Briefing. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Sasha Barbagat. Catch you next time.
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