Interview with Kieran Gilbert on Sky News

Kieran Gilbert

Let's go live to the Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership, Andrew Bragg. Andrew Bragg, you're someone who is very much forward leaning when it comes to creative housing policy. What are your thoughts when it comes to negative gearing and capital gains taxes? Is there any room for reining those in, as Joe Hockey once argued in the Parliament as he left the Parliament in his valedictory?

Senator Andrew Bragg

Well, the last thing we need is more taxes on housing, Kieran, because about half the cost of a new house in New South Wales goes in taxes and regulatory costs. So the last thing we need is more taxes. That would only result in shocking the supply side of the market and there being fewer houses for people to live in.

Kieran Gilbert

Would that be the case even if it were grandfathered and only applicable to people with three or more negatively geared properties?

Senator Andrew Bragg

I think the spectre of the government giving up on policies that can promote, supply, and tilt the scales in favour of first homeowners is very depressing. And so even if you went for a modification like that, it would still chill the market and send a message that the government's only solution here is more and more tax.

Kieran Gilbert

Do you take some comfort in the fact that the Prime Minister is saying that this is not something he's been convinced of, and it's not part of the government's policy as we speak?

Senator Andrew Bragg

Not at all. I mean, the Prime Minister seems to be unable to completely rule this out altogether. And this is exactly the same show we saw with the Stage 3 tax cuts and also on superannuation tax. So the government has a very bad record here on taxation. But also, Kieran, they have a terrible record on housing. I mean, the fact is that they have almost killed the Australian Dream over the last couple of years by presiding over a massive collapse in housing construction, whilst also letting in over a million people in the past couple of years. So they have set fire to the housing market in Australia. And their only solution, apparently, is to impose more taxes. So it's pretty depressing.

Kieran Gilbert

You're talking about more super being accessed for first home buyers. Can you tell us where that policy is at? When is the detail going to be finalised?

Senator Andrew Bragg

We have two policies that we've announced so far in relation to housing. One, restricts foreign demand for Australian housing, and another is a policy around allowing people to access $50,000 of their super. That is still being looked at. There will be other policies that will be announced before the election on housing. But both of those two policies, on migration and on super, would have more effect.

Kieran Gilbert

On the super, you're going to bump that up, aren't you? That figure?

Senator Andrew Bragg

Well, look, it's under review because clearly, since it was announced almost three years ago, Labor has presided over a heavily inflationary environment and the house prices have continued to go up. So that threshold has been eroded in a real sense. So it's being looked at. But both of those policies on super and on foreign ownership of Australian housing would have more of an immediate impact than all of Labor's policies in the last two and a half years combined on housing.

Kieran Gilbert

Do you think, it's just on a separate but related matter, that we will see a rate cut before the election?

Senator Andrew Bragg

Well, that all depends on core inflation. If that can get back into the band, then it's possible. But at the moment, it's still 400 basis points out of the... Sorry, 40 basis points out of the target band for the RBA. So ultimately, the government can cut spending and they can help the Reserve Bank try and do their job. But unfortunately, the government has been doing everything it can to spend more money, and it's made the Central Bank's job so much harder.

Kieran Gilbert

We haven't hit recession, though. And as Andrew Charlton put it to me about half an hour ago, Angus Taylor and others are saying that other nations are cutting their rates much more quickly than Australia, but we have not been in recession, and the unemployment rate remains near record lows.

Senator Andrew Bragg

Well, that may be the case, But ultimately, it's anaemic growth. We're growing it under one per cent annually, and that is not good. And that's why small businesses and others are doing it tough. So what we want to see is more growth, but we want to see that happen in a more sustainable way. And at the moment, the country basically has been run on inbound migration and then public sector spending. So what we want to see is a private economy back in action and creating more jobs.

Kieran Gilbert

Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership, Andrew Bragg. Thanks. I appreciate it.

[Ends]