In a bizarre display in a doorstop this morning, Scott Morrison confirmed that he had criticised Labors housing affordability in total contradiction to the Treasury advice he received in 2016.
Mr Morrison claimed he knew more than Treasury on reforms to negative gearing because he was a policy manager at the Property Council in the early 1990s.
JOURNALIST: Around that time, in 2016, why were you saying things that were directly contradicted by your department?
MORRISON: Well I didn't agree with them. Thats why.
This latest outburst is a reminder of how much Scott Morrison has sought to politicize the Treasury over the last few years, selectively leaking and releasing Treasury advice if it supports his attacks on Labor policy, but burying any analysis that doesnt.
Mr Morrison went on to downplay his own Treasury Departments advice, instead backing a discredited 2016 report from BIS Shrapnel where even BIS Shrapnel itself admitted it hadnt modelled Labors policies.
MORRISON: I mean Treasurys advice is their advice but it wasn't based on any economic modelling or anything of thatonly the BIS report has done that which Labor don't accept but that says rents will go up and prices will fall
Unprompted, Mr Morrison then volunteered an attack on a very reasonable report in yesterdays Australian Financial Review entitled: Malleable home loan curbs may cease.
The article included these quotes attributed to Mr Morrison:
"The great thing about these macroprudential controls, as opposed to a structural change to your tax system, is that they are completely malleable.
"You can target them, you can fine [tune] - you can pull them back, you can push them forward, you can watch them all the time.
The Treasurer has been playing a dangerous game in claiming credit for the independent APRAs macroprudential measures and so hes now exposing his glass jaw in having his comments about APRAs actions reported.
Today was a reminder of how Scott Morrison is simply not up to the job and certainly is not up to putting in place housing affordability policies that see a level playing field for first home buyers.
