It’s Simple Finance founder Joseph Daoud anticipates direct but respectful courtside discussion regarding controversial CGT, negative gearing shake up
Get your strawberries and cream ready because the will-they-won’t-they grudge match between a mortgage broker and a prime minister is officially on after months of speculation.
Joseph Daoud, the Sydney-based founder of It's Simple Finance, has confirmed his charity auction tennis match against prime minister Anthony Albanese will be played this spring, and he’s seeking back up.
Daoud won the tennis match in July with a last-second bid of $16,500 at Parliament House's annual Midwinter Ball charity auction, but silence from the MP’s office threw doubt over whether the match would go ahead or not.
While Daoud is pleased to be supporting a worthwhile charity, the tennis match has a very specific raison d’etre – he intends to use the opportunity to grill Albanese on the highly controversial capital gains tax (CGT) and negative gearing changes announced in the May Budget.
"When you see where the money from the Ball is going, from young people experiencing homelessness to families facing childhood cancer and farmers doing it tough, putting your hand up is the easiest decision in the world,” he said.
But “this match was never about me. It's about the thousands of everyday Australians who've backed this campaign because they're worried about what changes to capital gains tax mean for their future. The tennis will be one-on-one, but the conversation afterwards won't be”.
Under the terms of the auctioned prize, the tennis itself will have no guests courtside. But Daoud is looking for three everyday Australians to join him and Albanese for refreshments afterwards, each getting the chance to put a question directly to the prime minister. Travel costs for all three will be covered.
"No everyday Australian should be forced to pay just to ask the prime minister a question he should be answering anyway," Daoud said. "If you're selected, we'll get you there. All you need to bring is your question."
From billboards to backhands
Daoud has emerged as one of the loudest critics of Labor's tax reform agenda.
Back in May, he made headlines for his billboard campaign at Canberra Airport, spending more than $17,000 of his own money on signage timed to greet MPs and staffers as they flew in for a parliamentary sitting week.
That stunt even reached the floor of parliament, where a Liberal MP asked Albanese directly whether he'd explain to "Aussie legend" Daoud why his position on negative gearing and capital gains tax had shifted. Albanese's reply at the time leaned into the tennis metaphor rather than the substance:
"If it's a choice between someone who's in the sector somewhere and who's got enough money to buy billboards and spend all this, or first home buyers struggling to get into a home, I'm for the first home buyers,” Albanese retorted.
Serving up the questions
Nominations are open now at stoptheambitiontax.com/tennis, where entrants are asked to submit the question they would put to Albanese and why they want to be there. Entries close 30 August 2026, with the three winners announced the following day.
Daoud says he's taking his own preparation seriously too, training three times a week with a coach in the lead-up to the match. "Three sessions a week, a very patient coach, and a backhand that's a genuine work in progress," he said. "The PM might have the home court advantage at The Lodge, but I've got thousands of Australians in my corner."
Despite the political needling, Daoud struck a more conciliatory tone about the prime minister's willingness to show up. "Full credit to the PM for having the conversation. That's democracy working. We'll keep it friendly, we'll keep it respectful, and we'll make sure the highest office in the country hears exactly what the ambition tax means for people who are trying to get ahead."
