Page 552 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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because it actually goes to that point, that there are some good things and there are some bad things in there and that is the complete story.
Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a classic wicked problem that requires a whole-of-government response. I have confidence that Minister Berry not only recognises this but is also taking it up more broadly in a range of fora. We know there is indeed more work that can be done at both ends of the housing and homeless continuum, and this is work that involves commonwealth levers as much as ACT government land releases and funding opportunities.
As both local and national Labor and Greens parties agree, this country needs to have a serious conversation about negative gearing and other tax issues that can impact on housing affordability. I have been pleased to see a serious discussion about negative gearing nationally taking place. I must note that the Greens have been talking about this for some time.
In May 2015 the Australian Greens announced a fully Parliamentary Budget Office costed proposal to reform negative gearing and use the proceeds to boost affordable housing supply and provide accommodation for people experiencing homelessness. My federal colleague Scott Ludlam has also similarly released fully costed policies on capital gains tax reform proposals, and there will be more to come in the near future, because it is quite clear that we need to make changes in this space.
I think that for too long it has been seen as too politically hard to tackle these issues. I welcome the fact that across all the main political parties—the Greens, the Labor Party and even the coalition—at a national level there does appear to be a serious discussion going on about tax reform in this space. I hope that we can get to a point where we get agreement through the federal parliament on an amendment to tax legislation that actually puts downward pressure on the housing market in a way that takes away some of those bubbles that are driven by some of the current policies. Of course, this is always a tricky area, because people have got so much equity in their homes. There needs to be an orderly and careful transition. I think there are levers that can be pulled through the tax system and in other spaces to help address some of the issues that we have seen in national tax policy.
I certainly would echo my Greens colleagues in calling on Mr Turnbull not to let the ultra-conservatives in his party bully him into ruling out reforms they do not like. I would be interested—I might have missed it in her earlier remarks—to hear Ms Lawder’s views on these proposed reforms given her background working in this area and the tax and policy reforms that the Liberal Party might put on the table. In the ACT the local Liberals have been very critical of government attempts here to reform tax policy. I would be interested to hear where the Canberra Liberals are on these issues.
Madam Deputy Speaker, as a former minister for housing, I know that the portfolio is a challenging mix of bricks and mortar and social work, with regular landlord duties over the top of both of these components. Housing affordability includes multiple government agencies and functions, and responding to homelessness requires strong partnerships with a broad range of community sector service providers. I believe we
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