Policy comes as debate continues over causes of and solutions to housing issues. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Don’t judge the housing market over a few months of data, says Chalmers The government is facing heat over a cooling housing market across Australia, which the treasurer says is due to a range of factors, not just the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax announced in the May budget. You shouldn’t judge the housing market by volatility over a period of a few months. If you think about house prices in this country in the 2000s, even with that quite remarkable house price growth over that period. If you take the last 10 years or so, we’ve actually seen prices go down at least seven times by our count … The Reserve Bank Governor said yesterday, I’ve said on a number of occasions, the private sector market economists have said as well, what we’re seeing in the housing market is a consequence of a whole range of factors, economic conditions, interest rates, policy changes, not any one factor on their own. The Liberals have absolutely lost the plot here. They are referring this podcast matter to the Australian federal police. My personal view is that the Australian federal police should be allowed to focus on their job, which is keeping Australians safe and fighting crime for Australians. This has now gone from embarrassing to extraordinary. A sensitive diplomatic cable from one of our closest allies has ended up in the media, and the AFP should investigate that. But I actually think the hypocrisy from the Labor women like Clare – that is an utter disgrace. You have just defended the grubby, dirty comments of our prime minister. Continue reading...