Michael Sukkar MP

LABOR STILL CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO DELIVER FOR HOME OWNERS, FIRST HOME BUYERS AND RENTERS

THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR MP
Assistant Treasurer
Minister for Housing
Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday, 26 July 2021

LABOR STILL CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO DELIVER FOR HOME OWNERS, FIRST HOME BUYERS AND RENTERS

After Labor’s housing policies were comprehensively rejected by the Australian people at the 2016 and 2019 elections, reports today confirm that the Labor Party still can’t be trusted when it comes to Australia’s housing sector.

After spending years trying to sell the lie that abolishing negative gearing would benefit Australians and the housing industry, Labor have realised that the Australian people aren’t having it.

In a cynical move that is unashamedly motivated by the pursuit of power, Anthony Albanese is now trying to convince voters that Labor doesn’t want to abolish negative gearing or raise taxes on capital gains.

However, if we are to take the Labor Party at their word, ending negative gearing is an issue that senior Labor figures are deeply committed to.

Anthony Albanese:

“Chris Bowen’s great policy work in areas including negative gearing, tax avoidance and family trusts have shown Labor is prepared to be bold in advancing a progressive economic agenda.” 15/11/18

“Well all of the changes that we’ve made – what we’ve done is made some hard decisions. Those hard decisions including changes to negative gearing, changes to various tax arrangements.” 4/10/18

“It’s a sensible policy. We’ve had it out there for a very long time now, since before the 2016 election, and we will continue to argue that that’s one of the measures that will deal with housing affordability.” 10/04/19

“Bold policies such as reform of negative gearing and other taxation reform proposals from Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen show that modern Labor is acting in the reform tradition.” 22/06/18

“We’re very confident, we’ve been out there on issues such as our housing affordability strategies, of changes to negative gearing and the treatment of capital gains. Now, not just for this election coming up, but the last election as well. So we think there is a very clear mandate for that. We think our other changes are sensible.” 20/05/18

Jim Chalmers:

“If you want to deal with housing affordability you need to start with negative gearing and capital gains.” 9/05/17

“I think it’s great that Labor, under Bill and Chris and others, is getting the credit they deserve for taking such a bold and courageous step [to abolish negative gearing].” 19/02/2016

“And negative gearing, I won’t go through all the arguments again, but that really is the best example of something that Government can change so that they can stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution.” 19/07/2017

Chris Bowen:

“This is the policy we will take to the election, it’s the right policy. People respect that we’ve had the guts to put this policy out, I’m not saying unanimously, there are people annoyed about losing it, but there are a whole bunch of other cohorts saying, I get it, this is unsustainable, I’ll claim it for as long as it is there, but it is unsustainable.” 31/01/19

“People say negative gearing is necessary to stimulate new construction well at the moment, to the degree that this is true, 96 per cent of negative gearing goes to existing houses not new construction so it’s a 96 per cent failure rate.” 31/03/19

“The fact is, the benefits of both negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount (CGTD) are skewed towards the wealthy, with the Grattan Institute estimating almost 70 per cent of the benefit of the CGTD accrues to the top 10 per cent of income earners.” 29/03/19

Bill Shorten:

“If I’m Prime Minister, I would rather invest in a world-class education and training system, than protect a tax write-off for a property investor’s seventh house.” 07/10/18

“We’re not for turning. To put it directly – do people want a government or do they want a piece of plasticine? Do people want a government with tax principles and fairness at their core or do they just want a lump of political putty?” 3/02/19

“The negative gearing tax subsidies proportionally favour the well off. Everyone else is missing out.” 18/06/16

We know from these quotes Labor really believes in axing negative gearing. Anthony Albanese has previously said that it is important politicians are able to talk straight. Now, it appears that Labor under Anthony Albanese will say whatever they need to prior to an election.

The Master Builders of Australia modelled Labor’s failed negative gearing policy prior to the 2019 election and found that if Labor had implemented their policy, there would have been:

• Up to 42,000 fewer new dwellings built across Australia,
• Up to 32,000 less full time jobs,
• Up to $11.8 billion less building activity,
• Up to $210 million less renovation building activity, and
• Within five years of Labor’s property tax policy being implemented, the construction of new housing would have fallen in all states and territories, coupled with a fall of employment over the same period.

So despite what the Labor Party may say in their shameless attempts to try and win power, the Australian people know that Anthony Albanese and Labor cannot be trusted to support home owners, first home buyers and renters.