Pauline Hanson clashes with Australia's youngest senator over Albanese's tax reforms: 'Absolutely ridiculous'

By NICHOLAS COMINO, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 00:51, 23 June 2026 | Updated: 00:51, 23 June 2026 One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has clashed with Australia's youngest senator, Charlotte Walker, over the Albanese government's proposed tax changes. In a Senate debate on Monday evening, Walker praised plans to limit negative gearing to new builds and cut the capital gains tax (CGT) discount. The senator, who was elected in 2025 at the age of 21, said the changes would help rebalance the market and give first-home buyers, including her generation, a fairer go. 'For years Australians have been told that housing affordability is too hard, too complicated, too politically sensitive, too difficult to tackle,' she said. 'This government has decided that simply talking about the problem is no longer enough.' But Ms Hanson took aim at the South Australian senator. 'I've got to reply to this because it's just absolutely ridiculous that this is for the young ones,' Hanson said. 'It's not, it's ripping the guts out of the young ones.' Senator Charlotte Walker (pictured) said Albanese's tax reforms would help young people  Under the Albanese government's reforms, negative gearing would apply only to new builds from May 12, with existing arrangements grandfathered. The 50 per cent CGT discount would be replaced with a 30 per cent rate indexed to inflation. New housing would retain access to the current discount. Walker, who represents Labor in South Australia, said the changes were a matter of intergenerational fairness. 'It's about recognising that young Australians deserve the same opportunities previous generations enjoyed,' she said. 'Because if you're in your 20s or your 30s today, the housing market looks very different to the one your parents entered.' Walker rejected claims the CGT changes would increase tax burdens, citing Treasury estimates that the average tax rate on gross capital gains will rise from 19.3 per cent to 21.4 per cent over the medium term under the reforms. She also criticised memes and false social media claims the tax rate would be as high as 47 per cent. 'Not 47 per cent, not the figures being thrown around in memes, a modest increase that creates a fairer system,' she said. Pauline Hanson (pictured) said Walker's speech was 'absolutely ridiculous'  But Hanson dismissed Ms Walker’s argument, saying the reforms would harm young Australians by limiting housing options. She added the negative gearing changes would push younger buyers away from established communities. 'What you're doing is you're forcing young ones to move away from areas that they've actually grown up in, away from their parents, away from that support,' she said. 'You're not giving them a choice, an opportunity to buy a house where they want to buy the house.' Hanson also warned that the changes would add further complexity to the system. 'This is just more compliance and red tape you're putting on everyone while claiming you're helping,' she said.  'You're not helping anyone at all with this tax.' Hanson and Walker first clashed in 2025, after Walker criticised Hanson's stance on climate change.  'She's no sooner out of bloody university and out of her nappies than she's telling me I don't know what the hell I'm talking about when I've been on the floor of parliament for the last nine years,' Hanson told Sky News at the time.  The Senate debate on the bill is set to continue over the next fortnight, with Labor hoping to secure Greens support to pass the changes. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.