Shorten to skewer government over negative gearing
Opposition leader Bill Shorten will use a speech at a progressive think tank today to take the government to task.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten will use a speech at a progressive think tank today to take the government to task.Shorten will speak today the launch of a new policy blueprint by left-leaning think tank the McKell institute, the Australian Financial Review has reported. Shorten will use the speech to argue for Labor’s plan to limit negative gearing to new housing, and to halve the capital gains tax concession.
Shorten will argue that Australia’s housing affordability problem ”is not going away”, the AFR said.
"As this report points out, the cost of the average house here in Sydney is now more than 12 times the median annual income,” Shorten is expected to say.
Shorten will accuse the government of supporting policies that price the middle class out of the housing market, the AFR said.
”A major reason for the shrinking of middle-class disposable income is the growth in the cost of servicing a mortgage. Yet you have a government persisting with a policy that actively pushes the price of housing beyond the reach of middle-class and working-class families."
Shorten is also expected to accuse the government of "spending more taxpayer money on discounts for property speculation than Australia spends on infrastructure, childcare or higher education".
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