CAMERON MILNER: Anthony Albanese must show some backbone and call election now

Anthony Albanese should make an honest man of himself and call a general election.

If he’s so confident he has the tax reforms right, what’s holding him back from letting the voters decide?

Instead, he stands in his bully pulpit of a 94 seat-majority and says “the election is a long way away”.

His reformist courage runs about as deep as asking the tax-and-waste Greens to vote up his package of deceit and lies.

He wants his death tax voted into law and a bigger piece of every Australian small business success.

The nature of extending the capital gains beyond existing residential property is seeing a reach back into family trusts over a century old.

It’s a dog’s breakfast. A complete mess and it doesn’t end there.

The changes to housing also go far further than what former Labor leader Bill Shorten previously proposed and runs a very real risk of delivering a wholesale revaluation of the housing sector.

The changes will hit home owners and investors in equal measure by having bank valuers reset their valuation assumptions.

Forget the slower growth projections from a truly politicised Treasury, there’s a real chance that values will actually materially lower and in turn deliver lower borrowing power for investors even for new builds as they’ll have less equity to access when they borrow.

This is a massive disruption to our housing sector where mums and dads are still the biggest investors in providing rental stock, far more than any government.

The impact if capital growth is curtailed will be to drive yield by raising rents. In an already constrained market with a million extra migrants looking for accommodation it’s a recipe for a rental firestorm.

Meanwhile the Treasury’s own secretary Jenny Wilkinson has belled the cat by saying the Budget wouldn’t increase housing supply but was all about a socialist agenda of redistributing ownership.

Her comments were unvarnished which is refreshing, but also reinforced the fact that someone has to pay for the Government’s out of control spending.

There’s not even a blush of embarrassment about the fact that simply addressing that out of control spending would achieve the same outcome — at a far lesser cost to the economy.

Instead, Treasury wants a public service growing fat, a care economy where everyone is on the teat of government paid entirely by the few who work, produce and drive our economy.

And it’s this sort of arrogance that voters deserve the opportunity to pass judgment on.

Voters should have a say on this Budget.

And honestly, what’s there to fear for Labor?

Polls show the Liberals will be wiped out and the Nationals lucky to have but a couple of senators.

One Nation would be on track to be the largest block on the non-government benches, but still no where close to challenging for government.

Albanese could go down as a Labor hero.

Perhaps he’s worried though the more he lies the more you see One Nation rise.

Maybe he’s fearful that 94 seats built on lies is vulnerable to some truth telling about his policies.

If the PM was so confident he’s got this right, then there’s simply no excuse to wear the liar label any longer.

When Gough Whitlam was wailing about governor-general John Kerr and Malcolm Fraser’s dirty deal, the argument was cleverly dismissed by Fraser saying words to the effect of: “An election being called? What could be more democratic than letting the voters decide?”

It’s the same now. Labor doesn’t deserve to be permanently stained as a party by Albanese’s lies.

As a party it should have the courage of its convictions to face electors and seek a mandate for it all — the Albanese death tax and the full frontal assault on aspiration in Australia

Every day though Albanese doesn’t call an election is another day he thinks lying will be rewarded and reduces the Parliament to his coward’s castle.

As Albanese has said, the next election is a long way away and yet the damage of unintended consequences and policy never tested in front of voters can do real damage now and well before the next election.

Albanese should have the courage to put his future in the hands of voters.

A future not based on lies and failed promises, but on the very legislation he claims is so vitally important to the nation’s future.

It’s time to let the voters decide. What can be more democratic than letting the people have a vote?

Cameron Milner is a former Queensland Labor State secretary