The hue-and-cry has gone up on what’s termed Labor’s tax on ambition. It appears that all the young and not-so-young would-be buyers without wealthy parents or without high-paying jobs do not have ambition. Spare a thought for those earning $60,000 or less who will never own their own home, not because they’re not hard-working and without aspiration. If Scott Morrison had won the last election, they would have been even worse-off because the Coalition did not even consider them worthy of a tax cut.

All those figures trotted out by the media of the number of people who utilise negative gearing are meaningless, because even if Bill Shorten’s policy in this area were implemented they would not lose a cent, simply because he envisaged grandfathering the scheme.

When Shorten took this policy to the 2016 election housing prices were soaring and the Coalition suffered a net loss of 14 seats. Only Malcolm Turnbull’s personal donations saved them from defeat.

Shorten tried again in 2019 when there was a housing market slump in Melbourne and Brisbane. He lost one of those so-called unloseable elections. Now that the housing market is soaring out of control, you’d think the policy would gain traction. This time Clive Palmer or Gina Rinehart’s affiliates would swell the coffers for Peter Dutton’s inevitable opposition campaign. Small wonder that Anthony Albanese says he is unconvinced about the merits of curbing negative gearing. Good policy is often thwarted by those with moneyed means.