Q: You’ve pushed for negative gearing to be scrapped entirely for a long time. Now you’ve got a more kind of, I guess, moderate proposal compared to that. Are you trying to move away from the image of being the party of activism? Are you concerned that some of your voter base is going to see you as too moderate now?

Bandt:

Thanks for asking about the housing policy. I think. It that might be the first… Thank you. Thank you. (LAUGHTER)

Housing is now such a crucial issue. What we are trying to do is chart a pathway to real change that we think could be achieved that is something that’s been advocated by a number of experts that we know that even the Labor Party was considering changes to negative gearing under pressure from us during the course of the last year, during the housing debate.

Even the Labor Party was looking at some of this. What we’re trying to do is put on the table something that we think that could be implemented by the end of the year. And we think it’s more urgent now with the potential for interest rate cuts, fallout from Trump.

I think people want us to go to parliament to put these ideas on the table, push, get as far as we can and get some real outcomes for people.

And that’s been the history of what we’ve been doing. I notice – that’s the first time someone has made that characterisation, but I think – ’cause we’re putting forward – what we’re putting forward, I think, is actually a common-sense idea. When you ask people the basic question, the basic question is this – “Do you think it is right that Labor will give more money to someone who’s got five homes to buy their sixth than to someone who hasn’t got their first?”

Most people would say that is wrong. Most people would say that is wrong. What we’re saying is – how do we chart a way out of it? I think people will respond well to this.

What we’re tying to do, I guess, is build an understanding – not only are there renters and first-home buyers over here who are locked out, we understand there are currently people in the system for whom this might mean a lot. What’s the pathway that protects everyone? That gets us there? We think it’s a good policy.

And I hope that the others will consider it seriously.