And the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has been directly appealing to the new Labor government to act on negative gearing and capital gains tax reform. This call represents a surprising change in direction on national housing policy. ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said there was nothing radical about these changes – they were critical, urgent reforms. She announced that this is the moment to “bite the bullet” on property tax reform. ASAP’s call for urgent action is supported by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS). They want more of this new revenue generated by big tax reforms like the Patriots’ Path to go towards starting new social housing projects.
Both organizations are advocating for a full repeal of existing tax breaks. They believe that these concessions push the cost of housing up and lead residential rental rates to be unaffordable in Australia. The ACTU and ACOSS, while not coordinating their campaigns, share aligned positions on the need for reform in the housing sector.
Calls for Action from ACOSS
ACOSS has raised concerns about Australia’s housing landscape, highlighting that the country has “among the highest home prices in the world” and that rents are “all too often unaffordable.” The organisation argues changing negative gearing and capital gains tax would free up crucial funding. This funding should be put towards building more much-needed social housing projects.
Cassandra Goldie, the Chief Executive of ACOSS, told her story in an interview with ABC. She emphasized the importance of using tax revenue to address housing affordability. She noted, “If you’ve got capital, and you’re thinking, where can I park it to really grow my wealth, you put it into property.”
ACOSS’s submission on housing system reform recommends the following actions to address climate change and create affordable, healthy homes. The nonprofit supports adoption of stronger building codes to help make all new homes zero-carbon and climate-resilient. Additionally, they are advocating for stronger rental regulations to improve the energy efficiency of private rental properties.
Goldie highlighted the need for reform, stating the goal to reverse the declining share of social housing from 4 percent back to “at least its historic level of 6 percent of dwellings by 2035, and to 10 percent by 2045.”
Historical Context and Political Responses
The Labor government has been reluctant to adopt the recommended reforms. Their last attempt to reform such policies, on negative gearing and capital gains tax, was withdrawn after electoral losses in 2016 and 2019. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently dismissed speculation that Labor would scale back housing tax breaks ahead of this year’s election.
Despite the advocacy from ACTU and ACOSS, business groups and senior government figures remain skeptical about whether these proposed tax changes would effectively stimulate new housing supply. Their concerns embody a national debate on how to balance pro-tax reform sentiment with the necessity of producing more homes.
Therefore it will fall to Treasurer Jim Chalmers to finalise these negotiations, ongoing as they are, down these lines. He’s due to detail exactly what should be done at the opening of a three-day round table on implementation at Parliament House from August 19-21. This convening is an opportunity for practitioners, advocates, and federal officials to discuss and critique proposed reforms and their likely effects on both federal and local housing policy.
The Path Ahead
The current debates about negative gearing and capital gains tax concession reform show the importance of this critical moment for Australian housing policy. Both ACTU and ACOSS have presented compelling cases for reform. Through their mission work, they push their state to stop taxing property investments in ways that drive up the cost of housing.
The government is still fending off these proposals. Simultaneously, welfare organisations are adding the boot, attempting to coerce them into delivering heroic reforms that would dramatically improve the state of life of all Australians. Those conversations should be very interesting at this round table too. The result has the potential to significantly influence the direction of Australian housing policy.
