Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out any changes to negative gearing for property investors ahead of the next election, amid reports of a growing push from within Labor.
Mr Albanese was quizzed on a push by senior Labor rank-and-file members to cap negative gearing at one investment property, after talking points for MPs were leaked from his office on Tuesday.
“The government’s position is very clear and it’s a position for which we received a mandate at the 2022 election and I’m someone who keeps the commitments that we made,” he said.
The leaked talking points came as the nationwide housing crisis escalates as a political issues for the government. They advised MPs how to answer questions on “division on housing strategy” and the prospect of changes to tax concessions.
“We have no plans to change negative gearing rules, and don’t intend to reheat policies from the 2019 election,” it said. “Our focus remains on delivering what we promised the Australian people at the election.”
It follows reports in the Nine newspapers that three Labor MPs – Josh Burns, Jerome Laxale and Michelle Ananda-Rajah – had raised concerns about tax breaks for investors, housing supply and the crisis in the housing market.
The issue is set to be a hot topic at Labor’s national conference in August. Mr Albanese said it was not unusual for housing policy to be debated at the party’s conference.
“I note in [The Sydney Morning Herald] article that was published this morning there’s no mention of our build-to-rent scheme,” he said.
“There’s no mention of the extension of the Commonwealth State Housing agreement. There’s no mention of increased rental assistance. There’s no mention of the housing supply and affordability council. There’s no mention of the housing accord and all of the measures which we are doing.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton seized to accuse Labor of being involved in an “internal wrangle” that amounted to a divide between Mr Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers over tax breaks for housing.
“If you want your house price to go down, Jim Chalmers is working up the solution to kill off negative gearing, which will undermine investment,” Mr Dutton said.
“If you don’t have investment properties, renters don’t have accommodation to rent.”
Abolishing negative gearing was a Labor policy at the 2019 election, which was won by the Coalition. Campaigning for last year’s federal election, Mr Albanese promised no changes to the policy.
“If he’s proposing to change it, as Mr Chalmers is suggesting and his backbenchers are demanding, then we should have some honesty from the Prime Minister,” Mr Dutton said.
“People who are renting at the moment who can’t afford to buy, I don’t know what happens to them if property investors decide it’s an unsafe asset class.”
Mr Albanese instead took aim at the Greens for blocking Labor’s $10 billion housing fund while opposing new developments, saying they “can’t have it both ways”.
Speaking in Melbourne, Mr Albanese criticised Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather for his attacks on proposed housing developments in Brisbane.
“One of the things that I find remarkable is at the same time as the Greens are blocking additional support for social housing, they’re also running petitions of their housing spokesperson to block … development of more housing supply in Brisbane, ” he said.
“You can’t have it both ways.”
Mr Chandler-Mather, who holds the Brisbane seat of Griffith, has joined community residents in opposing proposals to build new apartment buildings, including the Bulimba Barracks site.
“Luxury apartment towers makes the housing crisis worse,” he wrote on Twitter.
“My suggestion to Labor hacks is focus your advocacy on stopping Labor outsourcing its entire housing policy to property developers and banks.”
Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund aims to build 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years, including 4000 dwellings for women and children experiencing domestic violence.
The government’s efforts to bring on a vote for its signature election policy were defeated when the Greens and the Coalition teamed up in the Senate last week.
The 49th ALP national conference will be the first to be held face-to-face in five years.
– with AAP
