‘Uninformed or dishonest’: Negative gearing question the government can’t answer
Liberal Senator Jane Hume grilled staff after Anthony Albanese refused to model negative reforms in the election debate, claiming the Prime Minister was “clueless or dishonest”.
Mr Albanese claimed he was “absolutely not commissioned by us” during last year’s modeling debate between ABC leaders on reforms that were not announced until the federal budget earlier this month.
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers has since stated that the Treasury is modeling changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax relief as early as September 2024.
At a tense Senate estimates hearing on Monday, Senator Hume questioned staff and Industry Minister Tim Ayres about whether Mr Albanese was aware of the advice ahead of the election.
“The Prime Minister was either ignorant or dishonest when he said that this modeling was definitely not commissioned by us,” he said.
“And I’d like to know which one it is.”
Senator Ayres said he found it difficult to talk about cabinet processes, which is standard practice, and that there would be “plenty of opportunities” to question Treasury staff in later hearings.
“As far as what meeting led to certain changes, you know, I’m not in a position to offer any more than I already have,” he said.
Senator Ayres later emphasized the benefits of the reforms and said officials were “trying to help as much as we can.”
“This is the best we can do,” he said.
Senator Ayres continued: “This, as I said, is a decision that this government has.
“As a government, we embraced it, the Prime Minister announced it, the Treasurer announced it… I stated very clearly that the government has changed its approach.
“This is a decision announced within the scope of the budget.”
Asked earlier by Senator Hume if anyone had spoken to him following the debate about Mr Albanese’s comments, one official said they would take that into account at the hearing.
