Sydney entrepreneur Joseph Daoud used his $16,500 charity tennis match with Anthony Albanese to press the Prime Minister over Labor’s changes to capital gains tax.
Mr Daoud, the founder of mortgage broker It’s Simple Finance, paid $16,500 at the Midwinter Ball auction in August for the chance to play the Prime Minister at The Lodge on Tuesday.
The match was billed as a charity event. But for Mr Daoud, it also became an opportunity to take his campaign directly to Mr Albanese.
He leads the “Stop the Ambition Tax” campaign, which argues Labor’s CGT changes will hit small business owners, young investors and people building side businesses.
Speaking to News24 host Paul Murray after Tuesday’s match, Mr Daoud said he had used the event to bring the concerns of ordinary Australians directly to the Prime Minister.
“This was about taking the concerns of everyday Australians to the Prime Minister,” he said.
Mr Daoud said he told Mr Albanese that people campaigning against the reforms had been trying to make their concerns heard.
He said the Prime Minister responded by pointing to the timing of the legislation.
“I turned around and I said to him, ‘we were trying to get the opinions of everyday Australians heard’,” he said.
“But when he said to me, ‘oh, the law doesn’t really come into effect until July 1, 2027’, that’s when I was like, ‘okay, so our concerns still aren’t being heard’.”
Mr Daoud said the response had not ended his campaign.
“Truthfully speaking, we’re not being listened to. So, guess what? We’re going to keep going and we’re going to keep being loud about this because we don’t think these tax changes were very fair to the everyday Australians,” he said.
The entrepreneur had spent weeks preparing for the match, joking before the event that his previous tennis experience had largely been limited to Wii Sports.
The Prime Minister had the home-court advantage at The Lodge.
Mr Daoud suggested he was more interested in what happened around the match than the final score, which Mr Albanese allegedly won 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, according to the Australian.
He accused Mr Albanese of awarding himself a point after a double fault and questioned a disputed call during the game.
“Mate, I’m not making any allegations. I’m just very, very confused as to how somebody could hit the net and then I turn around to the umpire and go, ‘was that in or out?’” he said.
He also joked about Mr Albanese taking a 15-minute break while the pair were playing, and propositioned him for the possibility of a round two.
“If the Prime Minister really is about helping the everyday punter and he really wants to raise more money for charity, maybe the next tennis match, he will actually allow my guests to come along and he will allow the Australian public to watch it,” he said.
Asked who won, he had one response.
“Mate, how can you call the score for a rigged match? That’s all I want to say,” he said.
However, Mr Daoud said he remained grateful for the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister and wanted the focus to remain on the people affected by the policy.
“We are very happy that we were able to have some consultation with the Prime Minister but truthfully speaking we just hope that it didn’t fall on deaf ears,” he said.
The campaign against the tax changes centres on Labor’s decision to scrap the existing 50 per cent CGT discount and introduce cost-base indexation alongside a 30 per cent minimum tax rate.
The government has argued the reforms will create a fairer tax system and help level the playing field for workers and first home buyers.
The changes also limit negative gearing to new builds, while existing arrangements are grandfathered for landlords who benefited from the system before the May 12, 2026 cut-off.
The legislation passed Parliament in June.
Mr Daoud’s campaign has included skywriting over Canberra and Brisbane on Tuesday, with messages calling for an end to the tax changes.
Read related topics:Labor PartyAnthony Albanese