“Freedom to choose is at the heart of our plan...and just as critically,the NSW Labor opposition wants to stop young people from ever getting that choice,”Perrottet said in an opinion piece for theHerald.
“They are already running a fear campaign based on fabrication and smear. Remember Labor’s
shameless ‘mediscare’ campaign? This is worse because the aim is to actually deprive aspiring homeowners from ever getting a choice that gets them into a home faster.”
However,NSW Labor leader Chris Minns said the premier was not being upfront about the true burden of an annual property tax.
“If you’re a first homebuyer,and you elect to buy a house say for $1.2 million,you will pay probably around $50,000 in stamp duty. If you keep that property for 30 years,you’ll pay $175,000 worth of land tax over that period of time,” Minns said.
In the upper house,the legislation is likely to secure the backing of One Nation. Party leader Mark Latham supports the reform pending further details of the legislation. However,the bill will not have the backing of the Shooters,Fishers and Farmers,who have already indicated they would oppose it.
While the Greens,Animal Justice Party and independent Justin Field support a shift away from stamp duty,all have told theHerald they would like to see the legislation sent to an inquiry for further scrutiny.
NSW upper house MP Fred Nile did not respond when contacted by theHerald.
Upper house Greens MP Abigail Boyd said the government had not approached the Greens,despite its history of supporting similar reforms,pointing to the ACT Labor-Greens government which was the first jurisdiction to move towards the abolition of stamp duty.
“You’d think they would want to come and talk to us about getting it right,” she said.
Loading
Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst said her party was supportive of reforms that help first home buyers but called for a committee to “tease out” any unintended consequences.
Field said he believed the legislation should go to a committee,not because he did not support the policy,but because careful review of major reform pieces was key to the democratic process.
Perrottet on Monday said the government would work very closely with the crossbench and continue “constructive discussions”.
“I’m not going to deal with the hypothetical. I believe this policy will pass the parliament as it should,” he said. “We’ll deal with those issues in the upper house.”
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.