George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Well, Senator McLucas, it is an important issue, and the Australian government is committed to pursuing policies that will enable young Australians to get into the housing market, but not at the cost of reducing the price of homes, because, Senator McLucas, as you and I both know, the principal asset that most Australians will own in their life is their home. It is their home, and we view with very deep concern the Labor Party's suggestion that negative gearing arrangements will be interfered with, were there to be a Labor government. We know what would happen: asset prices would fall and rents would go through the roof. That is your prescription, Senator McLucas; that is the prescription of the Australian Labor Party; and we will not have a bar of it. We will not have a bar of it.

We believe that houses should be affordable. We also acknowledge, by the way, that this is also an issue for state governments and for municipal governments. We acknowledge that one of the ways in which this problem can be addressed is by releasing more land for development in our great cities. We acknowledge that, and we also acknowledge the importance of restoring the economic prosperity, which suffered so gravely during the period of the Labor government, so that more people can be in employment and more people can afford houses. Senator McLucas, that is what we intend to do. What you intend to do is to pursue a harebrained policy that would see the value of people's principal asset fall without achieving any enhancement of housing affordability and would see housing rents in particular go through the roof. We will never do that, Senator McLucas.