Manufacturing union says Australia’s tax system is ‘rigged’ in bold manifesto ahead of Labor conference

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the 2026 NSW Labor conference. The AMWU has released a policy blueprint for discussion at the federal conference in Adelaide. Photograph: Steven Markham/AAP View image in fullscreen Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the 2026 NSW Labor conference. The AMWU has released a policy blueprint for discussion at the federal conference in Adelaide. Photograph: Steven Markham/AAP Manufacturing union says Australia’s tax system is ‘rigged’ in bold manifesto ahead of Labor conference AMWU calls for wealth and inheritance taxes, free education and more revenue from gas companies as it outlines ‘working-class agenda’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A new tax rate for the highest income earners, introducing wealth and inheritance taxes and extracting more revenue from gas companies form part of a new leftwing manifesto circulating ahead of the Labor party’s national conference . The extra tax revenue could help raise the jobseeker rate, make education – including university – free, and nationalise aged care under what the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) calls a blueprint for a “working-class agenda”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The AMWU describes the 32-page manifesto not as a “polite request” but a “working-class instruction to the government on how to build a society that actually works for us all”. The union’s agenda has not been costed and goes well beyond what the Albanese government would realistically consider adopting. But the suite of ideas will help frame the backdrop to Labor’s national conference in Adelaide this week, where MPs, trade unions and rank-and-file members will gather to thrash out the party’s policy platform . The union for manufacturing workers is one of the loudest progressive voices in the labour movement, strongly advocating for policies such as winding-back property investor tax concessions well before the Albanese government eventually pursued it. The new “blueprint for action” proposes a wide-ranging economic and social policies aimed at putting wealth and power into the hands of working-class people. There will be disagreement at next week’s Labor conference – but don’t expect the feuds of the past Read more Describing the taxation system as “rigged in favour of private wealth accumulation and speculation”, the document suggests a new marginal tax rate for people earning above $500,000 a year. The highest marginal tax rate is currently set at 47% – including the 2% Medicare levy – and applies to income above $190,000. The document advocates for an annual wealth tax on assets (excluding the family home) and an inheritance tax on large bequests to prevent the “intergenerational concentration” of wealth. The blueprint renews the AMWU’s support for higher taxes on gas exports, calling for a “fundamental reform” to the petroleum resource rent tax. Labor is set to make an in-principle commitment to the policy at the national conference, w