Guardian Australia writers from different generations reflect on the 2026 federal budget, which overhauls capital gains tax and negative gearing to promote ‘intergenerational fairness’. (L to R) Molly Glassey, Ima Caldwell, Jonathan Barrett and Susan McDonald. Illustration: Guardian DesignView image in fullscreenGuardian Australia writers from different generations reflect on the 2026 federal budget, which overhauls capital gains tax and negative gearing to promote ‘intergenerational fairness’. (L to R) Molly Glassey, Ima Caldwell, Jonathan Barrett and Susan McDonald. Illustration: Guardian DesignWhat the budget means for your generation – gen Z, millennial, gen X or boomer Ima Caldwell, Molly Glassey, Jonathan Barrett and Susan McDonaldJim Chalmers has sold the budget as a historic shift in favour of intergenerational fairness. Four Guardian Australia staff members assess what it means for their age group
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Gen Z: not off the treadmill yetMillennials: young parents can’t catch a breakGen X: a late shot at home ownershipBoomers: we also have children and parentsGen Z: not off the treadmill yetView image in fullscreenZoomer Ima Caldwell: ‘Perhaps somewhere down the line, housing in Australia could be viewed as a human right rather than a good investment.’ Photograph: The GuardianIt’s hard to speak for the millions in the gen Z collective. We were born in the mid-to-late 90s to 2010, making up at least 18.2% of the Australian population, and are at many wildly different stages of life. Some zoomers have started families; others live in share houses or childhood bedrooms. Despite our varying circumstances, we are largely united by a sense of uncertainty.
I was born in Y2K. Each morning I scroll through real-time global conflict that feels apocalyptic. The Treasury’s “worst-case scenario” modelling felt weirdly comforting.
Jim Chalmers said this year’s budget would address “intergenerational equity”. I hope reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax will fulfil their purpose for my generation, most of whom are locked out of the housing market. Rebalancing the property market away from investors should make it easier for first home buyers to enter the market. The government estimates 75,000 first home buyers will be supported over the next decade.
Read moreAn investment of $59.4m to provide social housing for more than 4,000 people aged 16 to 24 at risk of or experiencing homelessness might perk gen Zers up a little. Perhaps somewhere down the line, housing in Australia could be viewed as a human right rather than a good investment.
It’s unclear whether young renters will eventually benefit from the property tax reforms. But no change will be quick enough to remedy the unaffordable rental increase my housemates were just slapped with, forcing us back on to the Sydney market with a month’s notice. The weight of Hecs debt also brings down the vibe, and the budget offered no relief here. We’ll see how effective any changes to strengthen Medicare are when we’re no longer paying out of pocket for basic healthcare.
A lot of gen Z is on a treadmill, funnelling their wages into rent and bills – or living at home with mum and dad while saving for a home deposit.
It sounds great to have a budget based around intergenerational fairness but that goal still seems a long way off. – Ima Caldwell
View image in fullscreenMillennial Molly Glassey: ‘What’s in this for me and my kids? Well, not a whole lot unless I decide to have another.’ Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The GuardianI have a painful mortgage and two kids, and live in a regional Queensland town with bugger-all public transport. Jim Chalmers has been promising reform, which means change – and candidly, life is a bit of a pressure cooker at the moment.
The first question young parents across Australia will be asking on Wednesday morning is: “Where is the relief for my family?” And sadly for us, this doesn’t feel like a cost-of-living relief budget.
With the capital gains tax changes and scrapping of negative gearing for all bar new properties, the land of the investor market skews slightly more favourably towards that of the first home buyer, which I am not – but I’m happy for them. For all my millennial friends, especially those in capital cities still renting, this budget does offer some hope. An optimist might even say my kids may enter a very different housing market when they’re grown up.
Plus there’s an extra $2bn to enable infrastructure for housing developments around the country, helping deliver an estimated 65,000 new homes over the decade. It’s a housing announcements-galore budget, which I hope will be enough to move the dial, allowing young Australians to buy their own home.
Great. What’s in this for me and my kids? Well, not a whole lot unless I decide to have another. From July the government will provide paid parental leave for a full six months.
And the $10bn fuel security package and $2.55bn to cut the fuel excise and heavy road user charge for three months may help my diesel-driving partner’s costs. It may also mean the supply chain costs associated with getting groceries to the regional hub where I live will go down, as long as Woolworths and Coles decide to pass on these savings to their customers. Which, historically …
This is the budget from a prime minister who said he wanted universal childcare to be his legacy, yet childcare wasn’t mentioned once in the treasurer’s speech. The government will say there’s only so much it can do, especially with the backdrop of the war in Iran.
But the costs of childcare, doctor’s appointments and groceries were barely mentioned, which makes it hard to believe there’s the requisite political pressure for parents to get a break. And as a millennial mum, I often find myself too busy fighting off daycare bugs to apply for lobbying passes. – Molly Glassey
View image in fullscreenGen Xer Jonathan Barrett: ‘Finances can be tight but it’s generally harder for those born after us.’ Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The GuardianMembers of the small cohort known as generation X – a group with first-hand knowledge of Walkmans, Discmans and iPods – are generally defined as those born between 1965 and 1980.
We are the sandwich generation, many of us caring for ageing parents while also raising children. Time is scarce and expenses high.
The budget is light on cost-of-living relief and big on reform, with no obvious measures that will immediately aid daily life. But the additional spending on healthcare, including for public hospitals and urgent care clinics, is welcome.
Read moreMy budget reaction is not a lament, because it is better to enact reforms than offer short-term spending sugar hits.
Finances can be tight but it’s generally harder for those born after us, with many gen Xers having been able to secure mortgages and start raising families before the burden of high living and education costs accelerated.
The budget changes to property taxes, namely the end of negative gearing for most future investors and less favourable capital gains discount arrangements, are a societal good.
The tax benefits have been heavily concentrated among Australia’s highest earners, according to government data.
The reforms, which target future investors and leave most of the tax benefits enjoyed by boomers intact, might prevent some Xers from becoming powerful landlords but it is good for the country and for younger generations, including our children.
The changes might also help some Xers who had all but given up on home ownership buy their forever home.
The writer Damian Barr likened the inequity of the pandemic to all of us being in the same storm but on different boats.
The quote could apply to the re-emerging cost-of-living crisis. Boomers have the cruise ships and younger generations have the dinghies. Gen X has an old fishing trawler; it’s not luxurious but it’s better than a rubber ducky. – Jonathan Barrett
View image in fullscreenBoomer Susan McDonald: ‘The changes won’t fix the housing affordability crisis overnight but I think they pass the pub test.’ Photograph: The GuardianNot all Australians in their 60s and 70s are bloated plutocrats – boomers are pensioners, too! As a cohort though we are disproportionately wealthy and, with Labor focused on intergenerational equity, it’s no surprise some budget savings fall squarely on asset-rich boomers.
The showstopper measures are the winding back of the CGT discount and negative gearing, which have helped propel property prices into the stratosphere and out of reach of the young. There’s also a crackdown on the use of family trusts to minimise tax.
Read moreLike the already enacted tax rise on large superannuation balances, the rationale is fairness.
The changes won’t fix the housing affordability crisis overnight but I think they pass the pub test, even among boomers. Intergenerational equity requires trade-offs; I want my twentysomething children to be able to buy a home in the near future (preferably without the bank of mum and dad).
In health, the private insurance rebate for over-65s will be reduced and the savings redirected to aged care. Labor says it has become “harder to defend” such an age-based concession. But I wonder whether it will put extra pressure on public hospitals if too many seniors are pushed to dump their private coverage.
On the spending side, ageing boomers were always going to put pressure on health and aged care – and there are extra funds for public hospitals, urgent care clinics and new medicines, including vaccines, on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. There’s also more for aged care beds, home care and dementia units. I’m at the young end of the cohort, so aged care doesn’t affect me yet. But it matters to my parents’ generation, who are in their 80s, so it matters to me.
I’m disappointed there isn’t more on clean energy. The global fuel crisis seems just the time to turbocharge the shift away from fossil fuels (and the budget could have included a gas windfall profits tax to fund renewables). Future Australians would have thanked us for it – intergenerational equity anyone? – Susan McDonald
