Greens leader Adam Bandt has vowed to compel a potential minority Labor government to fight to reverse “political bastardy” from previous leaders, which he claims has led to a housing market crisis.
Bandt spoke today at the National Press Club and singled out former Prime Minister John Howard as “perhaps the biggest bastard of them all” as he pledged action on skyrocketing house prices and fixing capital gains tax.
Howard halved capital gains tax for individuals in 1999, effectively making it easier for investors to snap up multiple properties.
Bandt said in the event of a hung parliament, priority would be implementing the Greens proposal of grandfathering and restricting negative gearing and the 50 per cent capital gains tax to one property by the end of this year.
Bandt slammed Howard’s move to introduce the capital gains tax discount as the reason why house prices are now eight times the average person’s income.
“Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry warned us that willful acts of bastardry from successive governments – including failing to fix capital gains tax to make housing more affordable – are robbing young people of their future,” Bandt said.
“If we don’t stop the bastards, house prices will get further and further out of reach. Rents will continue to keep rising.
“And there will be fewer and fewer genuinely affordable places to live.”
Bandt then touched on arguably the second biggest election issue of the moment: Trump’s ongoing trade war and the Australian markets going into meltdown.
He said Trump’s tariffs and the market volatility it has spurred could further push house prices up unless something is done post-election.
“This reform has always been urgent, but the threat of a Trump-fuelled attack on Australian renters and first home buyers in the next few months now makes this a matter of housing life and death,” Bandt continued.
“The Greens’ plan would see negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts scrapped for wealthy property investors but preserved for what are often called mum-and-dad investors, with one investment property.
“John Howard left us a time bomb. It needs to be defused.”
He said a minority government would untether itself to Trump and the US, including re-assessing its relationship with the current US administration.
Bandt’s fiery speech ended with a declaration that Trump is among the “powerful losers” making the world burn.
“At the moment, I get that a lot of people are really worried about what is coming out of the White House. There is a great deal of fear and apprehension,” he said.
“To paraphrase Bec [Shaw], we’re watching the world being burned down by powerful men – we just didn’t know they would be such losers.”
Bandt quoted a January headline written by freelance journalist Shaw in The Guardian which read: “I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers.”
His reference drew laughter in the press club before Bandt switched to a more serious note.
“But seriously – people are holding their loved ones close,” the Greens leader said.
“People are flicking through news articles in their feeds because it is too distressing.
“People are thinking about their future. And my message would be – you’re not alone.”
9news.com.au has reached out to Howard for comment.
