Australia politics live: Labor ‘very confident’ that tax changes won’t lift rents by 30%; NDIS reforms to pass parliament today

Bill passed Senate on Wednesday evening and is due back in lower house today. Follow today’s news live Follow our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘Collapsing confidence’ in housing market, Wilson says Tim Wilson has jumped on that reporting around rent increases and says there has been a collapse in confidence since the budget which is hurting renters. We’ve had, since the budget, collapsing confidence, a lack of will to invest in housing that is going to be available for rentals. We’re seeing a complete disaster in the housing market, and we know that’s only going to do one thing while the government continues to overshoot its migration target, and that is an increase in rents on Australians struggling to save a first home deposit. There is an awful lot that goes into determining rents in Australia, and the thing that Treasury modelled in the context of the budget, what is the isolated effect of what the government actually changed about the housing market. And if I just step back for a second, we’ve got a broken housing system in our country, and it’s the renters of Australia who are bearing the brunt of really 40 years of government’s not doing enough about this problem. I think that Clare sadly needs to start taking a bit of responsibility for her housing policy. But also, Clare, stop gaslighting Australians, stop gaslighting the mum and dads who are currently watching this show and feeling the impact of your toxic housing taxes … She can sit on your show and defend her policies, but the evidence on the ground, the evidence from the experts, is that Labor’s toxic housing taxes are smashing the market. Continue reading...