THE INTERVIEW

A tribute to Bryan Dawe and the late John Clarke

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DAWE: Prime Minister, welcome.

CLARKE: Good to be here, Bryan.

DAWE: Prime Minister, you said repeatedly before the election that you
would not touch negative gearing or capital gains tax. How would you
describe those statements now?

CLARKE: Weren’t the Socceroos fabulous against Paraguay?

DAWE: Prime Minister, it was a nil-all draw in one of the dullest,
most unimaginative matches in modern FIFA history. And that’s saying
something.

CLARKE: We’ve changed our position.

DAWE: Yes, but how would you describe the statements?

CLARKE: We’ve changed our position.

DAWE: The statements, Prime Minister. The ones you made.

CLARKE: They were statements that were made, and that’s why we’ve been
up front that we’ve changed our position.

DAWE: Were they promises?

CLARKE: They were statements.

DAWE: Promises?

CLARKE: Statements.

DAWE: Is there a difference?

CLARKE: A statement is what was said. A promise is a commitment to a
future course of action based on what was said. They’re related but
distinct.

DAWE: And which were these?

CLARKE: They were statements that functioned, at the time, in the
manner of commitments, yes.

DAWE: So promises.

CLARKE: Statements we’ve changed our position on.

DAWE: Right. Why?

CLARKE: Because we couldn’t sit back and watch young people being
frozen out of the housing market, Bryan. Young Johnny. Young Mary.
Locked out.

DAWE: Johnny and Mary.

CLARKE: Archetypal figures, Bryan. They represent a generation.

DAWE: You invented them.

CLARKE: I didn’t invent the problem. Johnny and Mary are a
convenience, but the locked-out generation is real. Although I grant
you Johnny and Mary themselves are doing the heavy lifting.

DAWE: And yet you yourself have negatively geared property.

CLARKE: We’ve changed our position.

DAWE: You personally —

CLARKE: Going forward.

DAWE: Right. Now, the government promised 1.2 million new homes by 2029.

CLARKE: Supply, supply, supply.

DAWE: The forecast is 938,000.

CLARKE: Supply.

DAWE: That’s 262,000 homes short.

CLARKE: Supply.

DAWE: Is “supply” a policy or just a talking-point?

CLARKE: It’s both, Bryan. It’s also resilience. And social cohesion.
And the productive side of the economy. And quite possibly a
productivity bonus.

DAWE: A productivity bonus from not building 262,000 homes?

CLARKE: From redirecting investment away from distorted asset classes
and toward the Australian dream.

DAWE: Which is home ownership.

CLARKE: Which is home ownership. For young Australians. For Johnny.
For Mary. Though as we’ve established, they’re doing a lot of work for
two people who don’t technically exist.

DAWE: But house prices will keep rising under your changes?

CLARKE: They’ll continue to increase, yes, but at a slightly slower rate.

DAWE: So they’ll still be unaffordable.

CLARKE: They’ll be slightly less unaffordable. That’s the Australian
dream, Bryan. We’re not going to stop dreaming.

DAWE: ACOSS says investors are buying almost twice as many homes as
first home buyers.

CLARKE: Which is why we’ve changed our position.

DAWE: To allow investors to keep buying them.

CLARKE: To allow investors to keep buying new ones. Which is supply.
Supply, supply, supply.

DAWE: When did you decide to do all this?

CLARKE: Very late in the process.

DAWE: How late?

CLARKE: Well, final decisions were taken very recently.

DAWE: After the election?

CLARKE: After a great many things. The global situation. The
volatility. December the 14th.

DAWE: What happened on December the 14th?

CLARKE: We changed our position.

DAWE: About negative gearing.

CLARKE: About a great many things, Bryan. Fuel tax. Capital gains. The
distortions created by the Howard government in 1999.

DAWE: Were you in parliament in 1999?

CLARKE: I was.

DAWE: Did you own investment property in 1999?

CLARKE: (pause) We’ve changed our position.

DAWE: Prime Minister, is there any position you haven’t changed?

CLARKE: Bryan, if you concentrate on good policy, the politics will
look after itself.

DAWE: And if you concentrate on good politics?

CLARKE: Supply, supply, supply.

DAWE: Prime Minister, thank you.

CLARKE: The Australian dream, Bryan. For every Johnny. Every Mary.
Going forward. Resilience.

DAWE: We’ll see you again at the Mid-Winter Ball? Is it true Angus has
only seventeen percent acceptance on his dance card?

CLARKE: Barnaby’s cracking his stock-whip. Wouldn’t miss it for quids.
And I’ll be tapping the odd investor-class organ-grinder’s monkey on
the shoulder in the Excuse-Me Waltz. My oath, I will be.

With bells on.

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