The federal government has hardened its position against changes to property tax breaks, despite calls to wind back the concessions and reach a "sensible middle path".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has poured cold water on rumours his government may consider taking reforms to the next election with a number of his Labor colleagues flat out rejecting the idea.
Discussions have reignited over tax concessions like negative gearing, which allows investors to claim deductions on losses, and the capital gains tax discount, which halves the amount of tax paid by those who sell assets owned for a year or more.
Throughout the week, cabinet ministers batted away questions on whether Labor would take negative gearing reforms to the 2025 election after reports Treasury had carried out modelling on possible changes.
On Friday, Mr Albanese maintained his government was focused on increasing housing supply through its Help to Buy scheme, which allows first home buyers access to cheaper deposits through shared equity, and its Build to Rent proposal, which would incentivise developers to add rental stock through tax incentives.
"What we are doing is what we have before the parliament," he told reporters in Melbourne.
Asked whether the Labor government had ruled it out, cabinet minister Bill Shorten said he was "absolutely unaware and sure that we're not taking the policy to the next election".
"The PM has already ruled it, made it very clear," Mr Shorten told the Today show.
When made aware that the prime minister had not explicitly ruled it out, the minister said "I'm very sure we're not taking our 2019 policies to the 2025 election".
Mr Shorten led Labor to a narrow election defeat in 2019 after proposing to limit negative gearing to new investment properties.
Senior minister Jason Clare reinforced his colleagues.
"The PM's knocked that on the head," he told Sunrise.
"If we're going to fix the housing problem in this country, we've got to build more housing."
But politicians can take a "sensible middle path" on tax changes, independent Senator David Pocock said.
In April, he and fellow independent Jacqui Lambie presented commissioned research that showed limiting negative gearing to one property and allowing the capital gains tax discount for new builds, while grandfathering existing tax arrangements, would save up to $16 billion over the next decade.
These savings could be used to fund social and affordable housing projects, they argued.
"It's not that we either scrap the whole thing, or we don't touch it," Senator Pocock told ABC radio on Friday.
"There's a sensible middle path to reform."
Senator Pocock highlighted the urgency of the situation and called on the major parties to discuss a range of issues impacting the housing market including tax, planning, stamp duty and migration.
"For so long, housing has been an investment vehicle, a way to build wealth, rather than a human right, that is actually affordable and accessible to Australians," he said.
"More and more people, even people who have done well, are realising that this isn't working for us."
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor remains concerned about possible changes to the tax arrangements.
"We need more supply and adding a tax is not a way to increase supply of housing at a time when cost of living pressures continue to bear down on Australians," he told the ABC.
