Dutton dodges questions on stamp duty, accuses O’Neil of ‘thought bubbles’

Peter Dutton has accused the housing minister of voicing “thought bubbles” while dodging major housing questions.

Peter Dutton has accused Clare O’Neil of voicing “thought bubbles” after the federal housing minister said stamp duty was a “bad tax” that should be scrapped.

The Opposition Leader was out in the Western Sydney suburb of Austral on Wednesday morning spruiking the Coalition’s infrastructure-focused housing policy.

Asked by a reporter if he also backed axing the tax, Mr Dutton dodged the question and went on the attack instead.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has avoided taking a position on scrapping stamp duty, which is broadly seen as a major hurdle to home ownership. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“Well, I mean, it’s okay for Clare O’Neill to release these thought bubbles, but she’s the minister,” he said.

“What is she proposing? That the Commonwealth will provide subsidies, which would be in the many billions of dollars, to state governments for that lost revenue? Is she proposing a land tax?

“The only thing we know about the Albanese government is that they’re looking at stopping negative gearing, which would be a disaster for rental properties in this country.”

Anthony Albanese and his federal cabinet ministers have repeatedly ruled out changes to negative gearing.

Stamp duty is calculated by state and territory authorities based on the purchase price of a property, and must be paid on top of the deposit and mortgage.

Ms O’Neil said on Tuesday that it hampers movement in Australia’s under-supplied housing market, making it harder for people to get on the property ladder and to downsize.

Her backing to scrap it was welcomed by real estate peak bodies and the Business Council of Australia (BCA), which put the idea forward this week as part of a number of recommendations to fix the housing supply crisis.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says stamp duty is a ‘bad tax’ that hampers movement in Australia’s undersupplied housing market. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The latest official figures showed state and territory governments yielded a whopping $35.2bn in stamp duty in 2021-22, making up just over a fifth of their total direct revenue.

Ms O’Neil said on Wednesday that while she backed phasing out stamp duty, it was up to the states and territories.

“Is isn’t a great tax,” she told the ABC.

“That being said, it’s a matter for the states and I don’t want to take away from the hugely bold and ambitious things the states are doing on housing.”

She also said introducing a land tax as an alternative was “for the states” to discuss.

LABOR ‘INSPIRED’ BY OPPOSITION’S PLAN

Mr Dutton also reacted to Ms O’Neil announcing fresh federal funding for civil infrastructure in Sydney’s southwest, saying the Albanese government had been “inspired” by the Coalition’s housing plan.

Ms O’Neil said the government would pump $26 million into “roads, sewerage, water and power to deliver hundreds of new homes in south west Sydney” to create new lots ready for development.

“The government wasn’t doing this before our policy announcement,” Mr Dutton said.

“Our money is going into infrastructure to pull out those road blocks, and to get the land released to market as quickly as possible so we can get young families into homes.

“As we’ve seen from the government, there’s a lot of talk and very little action.”

He said that if “the government has been inspired by our announcement and they’re now putting money into real projects, we would welcome that.”

“But frankly, they’ve had two and a half years to do it, and they’ve turned a housing problem into a housing crisis because over the last two years they’ve brought in about a million people, but only built 350,000 homes,” Mr Dutton said.

The Albanese government has said it is already putting funds into infrastructure projects to support the development of greenfield sites, and accused the Coalition of copying its policy.