An Australian senator has pressured an elected MP to flatly rule out her support for changes to negative gearing, resulting in a tense exchange.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie on Tuesday demanded independent MP Monique Ryan rule out backing the investment scheme, which allows taxpayers to offset the costs associated with an investment property against their taxable income, after Dr Ryan signalled her support for wider tax reform.
“Would you support any changes to negative gearing?” Today show host Karl Stefanovic asked the crossbencher.
“Australians need certainty and they need to understand what their tax system looks like in the future,” Dr Ryan said.
“I think that, as I’ve said again, all things should be on the table in terms of tax reform in this country, but we shouldn’t be making these willy-nilly changes. We shouldn’t be tinkering around the edges of the tax system.”
Senator McKenzie said Dr Ryan raised “an interesting point” given the Albanese government’s backflip on its stage 3 tax cuts.
“When you appreciate and understand that over 2.2 million Australians are property investors as a way to actually deal with some of the debts, rental impacts of bracket creep, they’re the types of things that people like Monique need to flatly rule out any changes to,” she said.
“Australians rejected the Labor Party the last time they put that on the table. We’re concerned now, given you can’t trust a thing these guys and gals say that this could be on the table come May.”
Dr Ryan, who said she supported “measured” tax reforms, including Labor’s changes to its stage 3 tax cuts, issued a curt response to the senator’s probing.
“I think that this sort of wedging in is the sort of thing that Australians hate about politics. They want politicians to lead and to make decisions and not to try and trap each other in this sort of way.
“Sorry, Bridget.”
The Liberal Party is expected to announce on Tuesday that the Coalition will not block Anthony Albanese’s revamped stage 3 tax cuts.
All eyes are on Labor’s changes to the cuts that would redistribute tax savings from high-income earners to workers earning under $150,000.
The changes would reduce the lowest tax bracket from 19 per cent to 16 per cent for earnings under $45,000 and retain the 37 per cent tax rate for those earning between $135,000 and $190,000.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the changes were a “Band-Aid” for a “gaping wound” in people’s finances.
He confirmed the Coalition would reveal any proposed reforms to the package before the middle of next year.
“We will stand for lower, simpler, fairer taxes and we want to see the type of pursuit of a tax system that incentives work is what stage 3 tax cuts sought to do,” Senator Birmingham told Sky.
“We will release our policies in the lead-up to the next election.”
Burke bids to ‘win’ IR changes
Workplace Minister Tony Burke said he was hopeful his second tranche of workplace laws would pass this week despite not having the majority in the Senate.
Labor is expected to introduce the second tranche of its Closing Loopholes legislation to parliament on Thursday.
The “right to disconnect” amendment was added to the Bill after a deal with the Greens but is yet to be made public despite being due for debate in the Senate on Wednesday.
Mr Burke told ABC radio he had to have “constructive” discussions with key independents Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock, who have raised concerns over some of the changes.
He explained that under the right to disconnect option, employers could be fined if they continued to contact workers outside agreed hours after being ordered to stop by the Fair Work Commission
“Some people are paid an allowance to always be on call, but if you are on a job where you are only paid for the exact hours you are working – some people are in a situation where they are in trouble if they are not constantly checking their emails,” he said.
“That’s just unreasonable.”