- WA Senator Fatima Payman left the Labor Party in July.
- On Thursday, his former colleague launched an attack on him.
They were once parliamentary allies but Finance Minister Katy Gallagher today fired back at Labor defector Fatima Payman for asking basic questions about housing affordability in Australia.
Senator Payman left the ALP and became an independent senator for Western Australia in July, citing irreconcilable tensions with her former Labor colleagues over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
During Senate Question Time on Thursday, Ms Payman asked Senator Gallagher whether Labor would remove tax breaks, such as negative gearing, to reduce prices for potential home buyers.
He also questioned whether Labor would curb foreign investment (which has historically pushed house prices well above levels affordable to the average Australian wage earner) and criticised the government’s help-to-buy scheme.
The scheme allows first-time home buyers to purchase a property with a deposit below the standard 20 per cent, lowering the barrier to entry.
Ms Gallagher said she would have expected that question from a member of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, rather than Ms Payman.
Independent Senator Fatima Payman is pictured in the Senate on Tuesday
“She has changed her position on the buy-back program since it crossed the floor,” Gallagher told the Senate.
One Nation has previously called for reforms to Australia’s foreign investment rules to make essential services (such as electricity, water, telecommunications, roads, ports and housing) off-limits to non-citizens.
Ms Gallagher continued: “It was part of a set of policies that we took to the election, and when we go to the election with policies, we intend to carry them out.”
He said the government would not change negative gearing and that Labour planned to tackle the problem by building more than 1.2 million homes.
Ms Payman said her constituents felt the property market was “rigged” against them and had asked whether the government would limit negative gearing or prevent foreign investors from buying properties and driving up prices.
Ms Gallagher responded by saying the question about foreign ownership was “very similar” to a recent question from One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher took aim at Fatima Payman in the Senate on Thursday.
“It’s a very small amount, I don’t remember the figure I gave to Senator Roberts, but it’s absolutely minuscule in terms of housing,” he said.
The minister said there were strict conditions on foreign ownership, such as a rule stating that owners had to live in the property rather than rent it, and insisted the shortage was not due to foreign investment.
“I’m much more used to those questions coming from One Nation,” she said.
“It’s a very small part and it’s often talked about as if it’s a pressure on housing, but that’s simply not the case. We need to build more housing.”
Negative gearing refers to a case where an investment property owner’s expenses are greater than the income they earn from their home. Australia’s tax system allows workers who have negative gearing to deduct that loss from their other income, such as their salary.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten adopted a policy of abolishing negative leverage at the 2019 election; however, Anthony Albanese abandoned the policy in the wake of Labor’s defeat that year.