Prime minister nixes changes amid revolt
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has nixed any changes to negative gearing as he faces internal pressure to reduce tax breaks for property investors.
Rank-and-file Labor members are threatening revolt in an attempt to revise the party’s housing policies, according to a report from The Australian. Among those revisions is a push to restrict negative gearing to one investment property.
The internal squabble comes as the government deals with opposition from the Greens, who say the Albanese housing plan won’t cover rising demand or help renters.
Albanese tried to shut down debate on Tuesday and stressed that Labor’s policy on negative gearing remained the same, The Australian reported.
“There will be a policy debate at ALP national conference,” he said. Ho-hum. There are policy debates about everything. 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 honours the commitments that we made.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Tuesday that Albanese was harming “mum and dad” investors and that Australia’s housing stock would take a hit if Labor fiddled with negative gearing.
“If you don’t have investment properties, renters don’t have accommodation to rent,” Dutton told The Australian. “For mums and dads who save and, as a part of their retirement income, put some money aside and buy a rental property, they rent it out and that’s supplementing their income.”
Read next: What’s the property sector’s biggest worry?
A vote on Albanese’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund has been pushed back to the middle of next month after the Greens and the Coalition teamed to block debate in the Senate last week, The Australian reported.
The Greens are demanding that Labor increase its annual housing spend from $500 million to $5 billion and extend greater protections for renters.
There are millions of renters in serious trouble right now - many one rent increase away from homelessness. People are angry because a Labor Prime Minister will defend the $16 billion tax concessions for property investors - & refuse to support a national freeze on rent increases pic.twitter.com/KFNtvsyLlm
— Max Chandler-Mather (@MChandlerMather) May 16, 2023
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather told The Australian that Labor was “feeling the pressure” after the Greens launched a door-knocking campaign targeting Labor-held electorates.
The minor party is demanding that Labor restrict negative gearing to one investment property, revise capital gain tax concessions and incentivise states to freeze rent price increases, The Australian reported.
Does the Albanese housing plan go far enough? Too far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
