Oxfam Australia calls for bold action on inequality in 2026-27 Federal Budget

Oxfam Australia Media Release

Oxfam Australia is calling on the Australian Government to use the upcoming Federal Budget to tackle rising inequality, invest in communities, and ensure big polluters and the wealthiest Australians pay their fair share.

Oxfam analysis reveals a widening gap between extreme wealth and poverty. In Australia, billionaires earned more than half a million dollars a day on average last year – over 2,000 times more than the average Australian. Meanwhile, 3.7 million people live in poverty and one in three households struggle to put food on the table.

Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Jennifer Tierney said the Federal Budget is a critical opportunity to reset the balance.

“Australia is part of a deeply unequal world, where extreme wealth is growing at unprecedented rates while millions of people are being left behind,” said Ms Tierney.

“This Budget is a chance for the Government to make deliberate choices that reduce inequality, ease cost-of-living pressures, and invest in a fairer future for everyone – not just the wealthiest few,” she said.

Oxfam Australia’s First Peoples Program said the Budget must invest in First Nations-led solutions and self-determination.

“This Budget is an opportunity to back First Nations-led solutions that are already delivering for our communities. Real change means investing in self-determination, from justice reinvestment and community-led economic development to Indigenous-led climate action, so that First Nations people can shape the future on our own terms.”

Oxfam Australia is urging the Government to take bold, progressive action across five key areas:

• Fairer taxation: Close tax loopholes that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, including capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing, and introduce a net wealth tax on the richest Australians.
• First Nations justice: Invest in Indigenous-led solutions, including fully funding the Wiyi Yani U Thangani First Nations Gender Justice Institute, expanding justice reinvestment, and establishing a First Nations Climate Adaptation Fund.
• Climate finance and making polluters pay: Commit at least $11 billion in climate finance from 2025–2030 and introduce a Climate Pollution Levy so fossil fuel companies contribute to the cost of climate damage.
• Increased aid: Lift Australia’s aid budget to 1% of the Federal Budget immediately, with a pathway to 0.7% of GNI, and strengthen support for locally led development and gender equality.
• Stronger humanitarian response: Double the Humanitarian Emergency Fund and increase long-term funding for protracted crises.

Ms Tierney said failing to act now risks entrenching inequality for generations.

“Without decisive action, the gap between those with the most and those with the least will continue to widen, both here and globally,” she said.

“We have the resources to address poverty, respond to climate change, and support communities doing it tough. What’s needed now is the political will to act.”

Oxfam said the 2026–27 Budget represents a pivotal moment for Australia to demonstrate leadership at home and in the region, ensuring economic fairness, climate responsibility, and support for those most affected by poverty and crisis.

“A fairer future is within reach – but only if this Budget prioritises people over profits and long-term wellbeing over short-term gain,” Ms Tierney said.

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