Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

With all respect, I was trying to get some advice to answer components. You had quite a lot in that; it wasn't a single question. There was a range of issues that you raised that I was seeking advice so that I was in a position to answer you. If you make a loss on an asset, you can offset that against other income, so that doesn't change. I hope that addresses that question.

Just to be clear, we are changing the way a concession operates. We are not changing the fact that there is a concession. If you look at the budget papers across all asset classes, there are big periods of time where the current arrangements under compensate investors because it's a flat 50 per cent. It's all there in the budget papers. The model we are moving to adjusts that rate so your concession is made based off the real gain adjusted for inflation. So it's not that there is no concession. The way the concession is calculated is different and is more neutral to ensure that there isn't an overwhelming advantage to investing in established housing, which has had flow-on impacts onto the housing market.

In relation to your criticism of the budget as a whole, this government are proud of this budget, accept that you disagree with large parts of it and accept that you wouldn't support the decisions we have made. But we are determined to make sure that younger generations are able to purchase a house and are not competing against investors, which is the problem that's happening at the moment. Now, you can shake your head, Senator Hanson, but that is a problem. You talk to first homebuyers, and I've talked to some since the budget, where they have attended auctions and for the first time are not competing against investors who get a tax concession to bid against them. They don't get that same opportunity, so we are very focused on making sure that happens and also on making sure that wages earned through work are not doing the heavy lifting, or are more fairly balanced with the tax arrangements that exist for tax on assets, because at the moment that isn't treated as equally as these reforms would allow.