Back in November, the Coalition erupted into civil war when NSW Planning Minister, Rob Stokes, threw a hand grenade at the Turnbull Government’s housing policy, arguing that changes to negative gearing were necessary to make housing more affordable. From The Australian:
“We should not be content to live in a society where it’s easy for one person to reduce their taxable contribution to schools, hospitals and other critical government services — through generous federal tax exemptions and the ownership of multiple properties — while a generation of working Australians find it increasingly difficult to buy one property to call home”…
Former NSW Premier, Mike Baird, backed his planning minister’s comments about negative gearing, telling the National Press Club that negative gearing ought to be considered as part of plans to deal with housing affordability.
The NSW Government’s disunity followed similar comments made by Liberal MP John Alexander, who in October questioned the merits of negative gearing, noting “owner-occupiers ought to be put in front of investors, but at the moment there is no restraint on how many [properties] investors can buy, which means they are dominating the market”.
Today, several federal Liberal MPs have called for the Turnbull Government to consider winding-back negative gearing as part of the upcoming May Budget. From The Australian:
…backbench MPs say the government should revisit its opposition to negative gearing reform that is being aggressively promoted by Labor…
Sydney MP John Alexander, who chaired a government inquiry into home ownership, told The Australian there needed to be a “contest of ideas”, including a debate on negative gearing, to ensure the best policy response to the housing affordability problem…
He said the government’s position to flatly oppose any change to negative gearing should be revisited in the wake of the election…
The member for Canning, Andrew Hastie, said housing affordability was a “moral issue” that was threatening the fabric of communities, adding that “everything should be on the table” as the government prepared its policy response…
Another Coalition MP, who did not want to be named, said there was support in the Coalition partyroom for the concession to be capped…
It is worth pointing-out, yet again, that both Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison took a proposal to Cabinet to reform negative gearing in the lead-up to the recent federal election. However, they were rolled by the conservative wing of the Coalition that backed former prime minister Tony Abbott in last September’s leadership spill.
Clearly there are divisions within the Coalition on this issue, along with many others. The Labor Party must be sitting back and enjoying watching the Coalition eat itself from the inside.
