CHRIS KENNY: Let's head down to the nation's capital now and catch up with the Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Dave Sharma. And Dave, you probably get sick of people raising your former employment with you, but I need to mention too that you were the former Australian Ambassador to Israel, a very prized position, because I do want to ask you about this move to extend and refocus the Royal Commission. The fact that hate preachers like Sheikh Ibrahim Doudoun have not been called, and the leaders of protest movements have not been called, and we haven't seen the Prime Minister or the Home Affairs Minister called. I mean, these are the people people who need to explain their actions and their lack of action, surely?
DAVE SHARMA: I think there have been a number of omissions in who the Royal Commission has called to date, and that might not be so much of a concern if they had longer time to do their work, but the clock is ticking. We're in the last block of witnesses that they're hearing now, and I think you're right, there's a number of people who should be at least called to explain and account for their actions in this, and I don't think we can get to the hope to get to the bottom of some of the drivers of this huge rise in antisemitism in Australia unless we hear from those people directly, unless the Royal Commission is able to question them directly.
CHRIS KENNY: This is much more important than any political debate. This is about the social cohesion, the national security, the safety of this country after the worst terrorist attack in our history, allegedly. So I just want to ask you about the repercussions of this because The Royal Commission will be useless unless it helps us with recommendations to curb Islamist extremism and stamp out wider antisemitism. Are you worried about how limited its recommendations and therefore its outcomes can be?
DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, we fought long and hard for this Royal Commission to happen. The initial instinct of the Albanese government and Anthony Albanese was to pretend this was like a natural disaster, a terrible tragedy, but nothing really had to change as a result of this. We knew that was not the case. I mean, we had the worst-ever terrorist attack committed by— allegedly by an Australian citizen and by an Australian resident against their fellow Australians on Australian soil. Of course that should demand a forensic examination. Of course that should demand that some lessons be learned. And the Royal Commission was intended to be the vehicle for that. Now, I'm not going to pass judgment yet on the Royal Commission and its work, but it's incredibly important because I think everything hinges upon this. If the Royal Commission can do a good job, if it can highlight some of the grave deficiencies that led to that terrorist attack, then we can address them as a nation. But if the Royal Commission is not able to do that for whatever reason— because the time is too short, because the right witnesses are not being heard— there really isn't another vehicle to deal with this. And, you know, that's why there is a lot riding on this, more than— I think many other Royal Commissions in Australia's history. It's incredibly important it be allowed to do its job, and it does its job well.
CHRIS KENNY: I would just finish with a plea to the Royal Commissioner, Virginia Bell. She has enormous power. She carries enormous weight on these issues. If she was to either write a letter to the Prime Minister asking for an extension, explaining she needs to investigate more here, or say something like that publicly, then that would have to happen. So if the government won't act, Perhaps there is some hope that the Royal Commissioner herself might actually call for an extension and make sure that her mission actually does the power of good for this country that it could do. Dave, let me bring you back to the post-budget debate, and there was a bit of a breakthrough today. Angus Taylor and the Coalition held out against NDIS changes until you got rid of the so-called widow's tax, and Labor have rolled over. So that sounds like a pretty good outcome, although there never should have been such a tax in place in the first place, of course. DAVE SHARMA: No, it should never have been there in the first place, and the government spent, you know, the first month after the budget denying it was even an issue, denying that this scenario existed. But, you know, what it meant was that, you know, people who'd been through a divorce or people who'd lost their partner through death and suddenly took the full share of a property when they previously had half, they lost the negative gearing eligibility of that property as a result. And it made in many instances, the maintenance of these properties is unaffordable. I'm glad we've got the government to change their position, but it should never have been so difficult, and we had to engage in brinksmanship for them to fix something that was glaringly obvious to everyone.
CHRIS KENNY: We're about to get into the housing market with another guest, but in the post-budget environment and all the focus on capital gains tax and negative gearing changes, which are grandfathered— they don't apply to purchases before the budget, but is it surprising that with these sorts of tax changes and restrictions on investment we are seeing rents rise?
DAVE SHARMA: It's not at all. I mean, you've got to remember, Chris, the last time the government abolished negative gearing for properties was in 1985 in the Paul Keating government. Rents in Sydney went up by about 30%, and they had to undo those changes 18 months later because homes had become unaffordable. We are seeing that movie play out in exactly the same way. Again, we heard from the NAB today that they expect— National Australian Bank— rents will have to rise by 25-30% because of these tax changes. That is on the Albanese government. They're making life harder, not only for first-time buyers, harder for renters too.
CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, it's no surprise, and really, as you say, repeating the mistakes of Keating and the Hawke-Keating government back in the '80s. Thanks for joining us, Dave. I appreciate it. Dave Sharma there.
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