Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

So they are putting the tax on real gains up, well above the top marginal rate. They are penalising investment.

The Labor Party would say: 'It doesn't matter as long as it is real estate, because our aim is to reduce the value of residential property'. If that is their goal, then I must say that the policies they have propounded will absolutely have that result. If they win office and implement those policies, they will not be disappointed; house prices will come down.

This is an already vulnerable market. In some cities it is estimated to decline anyway. In other cities—like my own of Sydney—it is estimated to rise at less than the rate of inflation. That is an anaemic level of growth. They are going to throw into that a massive shock which can have one and only one consequence. Every single homeowner in every single electorate represented in this House will be poorer if the Labor Party is elected to government.

Then what about every other form of investment? What about somebody who invests in a company, a mining company perhaps, or a technology company? What about somebody who invests in a cafe or a shop? You will be taxed at the highest capital gains tax rate in any comparable country. That is the Labor Party's plan. This can have only one consequence: lower house values; a poorer Australia; less confidence; fewer investors; driving the economy south; driving the economy down. That is the inevitable consequence. (Time expired)

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