2026 Budget Review: Matt Bowes, Jessy Wu, & Manning Clifford

In October 2023, Jim Chalmers told the Sydney Morning Herald about his chocolate-eating habits. He said: "I don't do moderation, in anything. I'm always going 100 miles an hour. If I eat a piece of chocolate, I eat a block of chocolate."On Tuesday night, he stood up in the House and ate chocolate.He scrapped the fifty per cent capital gains tax discount. He quarantined negative gearing on existing homes. He cut the growth of the NDIS from ten per cent to two. He pulled the private health insurance rebate off the over-65s and shovelled the money into aged care. He put two billion dollars on the table for states and councils brave enough to reform planning.It's the most interesting Budget since the Howard-Costello era.It’s not quite a whole block of chocolate. But it’s a start.Matt Bowes — Senior Associate at the Grattan Institute. Matt will take the reigns on infrastructure and housing.Jessy Wu — Founder and Managing Director at Encour, a comms agency for the AI era. Jessy leads us through productivity and innovation.Manning Clifford — Founding Editor-at-Large here at Inflection Points. Manning will steer us through state capacity and human flourishing. Get full access to Inflection Points at stack.inflectionpoints.work/subscribe