James Thomson

I think those are reasonable questions to be asking.

And I think the government is going to face some reasonably heated debate on those over the next little while as they try and push these changes through parliament.

Is the debate going to be nuanced enough to pick up on that idea that we need a different treatment for asset classes, though, Anthony?

That's the question I still have.

Yeah, well, and I think some of these questions, and as this was said, they were picking up on some common threads, feel like the government's listened on housing, but then sort of whacked these generations on the way down.

Andrew in Queensland says, do you think the budget will increase residential rents in two ways, the withdrawal of investors and supply and an increase in rent by remaining investors?

For years, Australian investors wore losses because they were able to negatively gear against salary and wage income.

As that rolls off over time, will rents rise to cover expenses and be high enough to at least break even?

Yeah, I think that's right.

I think you raised some good points.

And as you say, Anthony, the budget does...

foresee a small increase in rent.

So I think they're talking something like seven bucks a week over the next decade.

They think the impact is going to be fairly limited based on their modelling.

I guess we'll see if that's right over time.

Yeah, I'd take Dean's point.

You can make the argument that those are three steps in the right direction, but it's the other side of the coin that's missing here, Dean.

You can do part of this, but then you've got to say, all right, here's the ways we're changing the tax settings and government spending to try and incentivise this type of behaviour.

Where's the program to drive productivity and growth and economic dynamism at the same time as we're asking some Australians to sacrifice more?

Yes, those are steps in the right direction, but they've got to be matched with the sort of reform that Jim Chalmers was talking about at the economic roundtable less than a year ago.