Anthony Albanese visibly emotional after defending Labor’s capital gains tax and negative gearing changes | Australian politics

A visibly emotional Anthony Albanese launched into an impassioned defense of Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax relief and family trusts, saying he “will not allow Australia to become a country that only some desire”.

The Prime Minister has faced sustained criticism over reforms such as limiting the negative charge to new developments on the grandfathering of existing properties, changing the way CGT is calculated and introducing a new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts.

Guardian Australia has reported that some of its own MPs say scare campaigns could “get out of control” unless Albanese and treasurer Jim Chalmers start giving a clearer explanation of the tax changes.

At Victoria Labor’s state conference on Saturday, Albanese said the reforms were “not easy, they are the right thing to do” and would rebalance the housing market towards first home buyers rather than property investors.

He said young people were “missing out” at auctions every Saturday because they were bidding against investors who had “the Australian taxpayer on their side”.

“This is not an equal process because of the tax cuts,” Albanese said.

“Because they know that if it’s an extra $20,000 to bid or $30,000 to bid, they can do that with the peace of mind that there will be an increase in tax deductions and that all of you and every Australian taxpayer will be their partner here.

“But if you’re trying to buy your own home, you don’t have that, and so, simply put, we’re reforming negative gearing and capital gains.”

At this point of the speech, party members and unions applauded Albanese, and it appeared that the prime minister was satisfied with this answer.

He went on to say “Labour is the party of aspirations”, in a direct rebuke of criticism, including from shadow treasurer Tim Wilson, that the budget was “a war on self-starters and small businesses”.

“We won’t let Australia become a country only dreamed of by some. Our reforms are about supporting everyone’s aspirations and making Australia’s big dream of homeownership attainable again for a new generation,” he said.

“Our changes are aspirational and supply-side, so we can help people find a home of their own.”

Albanese said the changes “contribute to a better tax system”, particularly for people who “work their hearts out for a wage” and “will never have access to a trust”.

“They never sat down at the kitchen table and thought about starting a foundation. I mean it,” he said.

“The biggest investment the majority of Australians have ever made and the best hope they have is to work hard and buy a home of their own… if you know the next generation is doing it harder than my generation, then you have to do something about it, which is why we are rebalancing the way working Australians pay taxes.”

Earlier this week Labor MPs told Guardian Australia they were confident the negative gearing and CGT changes were ultimately good and important, but the government needed to do a better job of explaining and “selling” the reforms.

Another Labor politician worried that the government was failing to explain complex tax changes effectively, complaining: “I don’t think we necessarily have a clear strategy on complex issues.”

Federal opposition leader Angus Taylor described the budget as “an attack on young Australians” and “an attack on targets” in a speech to a Victorian Liberal state council meeting in the town of Caulfield.

“This will crush the ‘reward for hard work’ spirit that underpins our nation’s success,” Taylor said, while reiterating his commitment to repealing the proposed reforms if elected.