Angus Taylor broke into laughter in the House of Representatives after Anthony Albanese ridiculed a Liberal frontbencher’s call to ‘rebrand’ the party, turning a fiery tax debate into a pointed swipe at the Coalition’s crisis of identity.

Albanese seized on comments from Shadow NDIS Minister Melissa McIntosh, who called for a rethink of the Liberals’ image, and even their name, amid worsening polling.

The exchange began when Taylor made an attack on the government in which he accused it of imposing new tax burdens on many vulnerable Australians through the so-called ‘widow tax’.

This refers to a loophole in Labor’s property tax overhaul that removes grandfathered concessions for capital gains tax and negative gearing when ownership changes hands after a partner’s death or a divorce settlement.

‘How much more tax will widows, divorcees and victims of family and domestic violence pay because of the Treasurer’s bungled budget?’ Taylor asked.

Albanese dismissed the claim saying: ‘The answer is they won’t and we’ve made that very clear.’

The PM then pivoted to McIntosh’s remarks and her suggestion to bring in outside consultants, reading an excerpt from her interview that triggered laughter across the chamber – including from a very visible chuckle from Taylor.

‘We need to get some experts in, I was inspired by watching Sky News,’ Albanese said quoting McIntosh.

Anthony Albanese (pictured) mocked comments made by Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh during an interview on Sky News

Angus Taylor (pictured) laughed as Albanese read quotes from McIntosh 

‘That’s the problem,’ the Prime Minister said.

‘We have a Liberal Party that isn’t liberal, a National Party that isn’t national, and a One Nation party that wants to divide the nation,’ he said referencing the push for a Liberal’s name change.

Earlier, McIntosh had questioned whether the Liberal Party needed a broader reset as it faced setbacks in the polls.

Speaking on Sky News, she said the party must modernise its messaging while remaining true to its core values.

‘I think it’s time for the Liberal Party to rebrand itself,’ she said.

‘Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with Australia of today and the future.’

She urged the party to reset its identity and messaging. 

‘I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values, what we stand for and the way we project ourselves to Australians,’ she said.

McIntosh (pictured) said the Liberal Party needed a ‘rebrand’ after poor polls and that she had been ‘inspired’ by watching Sky News

The clash follows a series of sinking polls for the Coalition. 

Earlier that morning, Taylor acknowledged the scale of the challenge that the opposition is facing.

‘You can breach trust in an instant… but it takes time to rebuild it,’ he told Sydney radio station 2GB. 

‘You can’t turn around a tanker in a few months.’

During a Senate debate later on Monday, Labor Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah mocked Taylor’s analogy.

‘It is not a tanker, it is the Titanic and it is sinking fast,’ she said.

The latest Newspoll highlighted the pressure on the Coalition, with Labor rising three points to 33 per cent of the primary vote. 

One Nation fell two points to 29 per cent, while the Coalition slumped to a record low of 17 per cent.