Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale said:“There is always room for improvement in national policy and the federal government should always be part of the discussion”.

“I won’t be drawn on specific policies as that is a matter for conference. But should we be debating housing policy? Of course we should be … it is entirely appropriate for Labor to have a discussion on housing policy as it is at crisis levels.”

Labor MP for Macnamara Josh Burns said the party needed to be honest about the effects of policies such as capital gains discounts and negative gearing that cost the budget tens of billions and affected the housing market.

“The latest statement of tax refunds put out plainly the cost of some of these arrangements,” he said,adding that housing supply was the key driver of affordability.

Labor MP for Macnamara Josh Burns said the party needed to be honest about the effects of tax breaks to investors,such as capital gains discount and negative gearing,that cost the budget tens of billions and distorted the housing market.

“The latest statement of tax refunds put out plainly the cost of some of these arrangements,” he said,adding that housing supply was the key driver of affordability.

He criticised the Greens,Coalition,One Nation and Senator Ralph Babet forblocking the government’s social housing fund,which he said was an important start to getting the federal government back into the business of building affordable homes.

A senior figure in the national Right faction,who asked not to be named so they could speak freely,played down the likelihood of any motion adopted by national conference leading to a shift in party policy in the current term of parliament.

However,that MP said housing was a huge issue for voters and “my own view is we need to do something radical on housing if this government gets a second term”.

“The current system is fundamentally unfair to younger people,we have to look at negative gearing. We run the risk of handing a generation of voters to the Greens,” the MP said.

The debate will reignite memories of the 2016 and 2019 elections,which Labor lost under leader Bill Shorten who campaigned on a platform of limiting negative gearing to new properties only. The policy was dumped in 2021.

Since then,housing has become a white-hot issue and Labor islocked in a Senate fight over the federal government’s $10 billion social housing fund,which the Greens have criticised while also demanding a dramatic increase in social housing and a national rent freeze that critics describe as unrealistic.

Greens members have been knocking on thousands of doors in Labor-held inner-city seats across Australia campaigning on increased public housing and rental reform.

Housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said there was an “emerging social class” of renters and people struggling to break into the housing market who could form a long-term voting base for the Greens if Labor didn’t act on rent control,negative gearing and investment in affordable housing.

“We’ve never encountered such strong support for any issue before. It’s a much broader cohort,” he said in reference to a Greens doorknocking campaign focussed on housing.

Former Labor political strategist Kos Samaras said the Greens were poised to capture voters under the age of 35 who were frustrated by the rising cost of renting and buying housing. At the last election,22 per cent of renters voted for the Greens.

“This political problem is going to land somewhere,and whatever that landing looks like it’s not going to look good for Labor,” he said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers did not respond to a request for comment,but in March said “we don’t intend to reheat the policies that we took to the 2019 election”.

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