Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What their policy does is slam the door shut on aspiration. Let us talk about fairness and their negative gearing proposal. Under their proposal, a person earning $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 or $80,000 a year—average earnings are $80,000 a year—will not be able to deduct a net rental loss against their personal income. They will not be able to deduct the net loss of an investment in shares or in a business they have started to get going to stop being an employee and to be independent. They might have wanted to go into the trucking business. They might have wanted to be an owner-driver. Of course, the Labor Party has other ways of putting owner-drivers out of business.

Opposition members interjecting—

They had put 50,000 of them out of business until the coalition put them back into business. That is what Labor wants to do: slam the door shut on that aspiration. That is the absolute, inevitable effect of their policy. But if somebody has $50,000 or $100,000 of investment income from dividends, from interest or from rents, they will be able to negatively gear. Under the Labor Party's policy—

Opposition members interjecting—

They call out, 'What about the workers?' What Labor will do is deny a basic economic right, a basic freedom, to workers for people to offset against their income and allow those with massive—or, indeed, modest—investment incomes to do so. And they have the gall to talk about fairness.

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

We are setting Australia up with a budget that is for jobs and growth. It is fair and will bring our finances back into balance, and that is fair to every Australian.

See this speech in context