Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Labor has ruled out retrospective changes to negative gearing. Will the Prime Minister now also rule out retrospective changes to negative gearing?

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

There are 16 minutes left in question time and there is still time for the Labor Party to ask a question on the defence white paper. There is still time for the Labor Party to ask a question about national security. There is still time for the Labor Party to ask about the revitalisation and the modernisation of the Australian Navy. There is time for all of those things, but the sand is running out of the glass and we have one cheap political question—stunt questions—after another. The honourable member knows very well the consequence of making up policy on the run. His own negative-gearing policy has been exposed to be damaging, undermining and threatening to the single most important asset of most Australian families by proposing to take investors out of the residential property market. Currently, 34.7 per cent of new loans for housing are to investors. No-one is going to be borrowing money to invest in housing under a Labor government.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. It is a very clear question: is the government contemplating retrospective changes or not? Yes or no.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have heard the Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister is being relevant to the question. He is speaking on the topic of negative gearing and tax and as much as some members would like to demand yes/no answers, the standing orders and the practice do not provide for them.

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

The Labor Party asks the homeowners of Australia to believe that you can take one-third or more of the market out of residential property—take all of those investors out—and nothing will happen to prices. They have a policy document that says that negative gearing influences people to buy properties and causes prices to go up, and now they say that removing it will have no effect on prices. If there is no behavioural response, why would you do it? The Labor Party is a threat to the home values of Australia. Their policy is reckless, it is ill thought out and it is inconsistent. The government's policies are developed carefully, methodically and through traditional, careful processes that are appropriate. Labor is proof positive of the dangers of making it up as you go along. They have demonstrated their ineptitude in economic management.