Andrew Leigh

TURNBULL KEEPS DIGGING ON SCARE CAMPAIGN

 Joint Media Release with Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen

“When you’re in a tax hole, stop digging” – Malcolm Turnbull, Question Time, 23 February 2016.

Mr Turnbull might want to take his own advice. His Government is split wide open on tax and its ‘scare campaign’ against Labor’s policy.

Malcolm Turnbull’s not so scary campaign that Labor’s policy will “crash housing prices” has been torpedoed by the Assistant Treasurer.

The Assistant Treasurer said on Channel 7’s Sunrise this morning:

“The Labor Party has a very irresponsible campaign, they have got a policy that will increase the cost of housing for all Australians, for those people who own a home and for those people who would like to get into the housing market through their negative gearing policy.”

Not even the Property Council of Australia has made a claim on the impact of Labor’s policy on residential house prices.

In fact a report the Property Council commissioned from ACIL-Allen Consulting said:

“it is not sound analysis to simply consider the effects of taxation arrangements on house prices. The cost of housing is shaped by a range of factors influencing demand and supply and hence it is hard to analyse the housing market in isolation from other markets and without considering the local, national and international interconnections.”

The fact is, the Government will continue to stutter from gaffe to gaffe until it finally comes up with – 2.5 years into the term - its own tax policy.

In the meantime, the Australian people will be left wondering, what does Malcolm Turnbull stand for – if not just a poor attempt at a Tony Abbott impersonator?

WEDNESDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2016

MEDIA CONTACTS: JENNIFER RAYNER 0428 214 856