CANBERRA, ACT, May 13 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release:

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: We have just been chatting to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he got mic'ed up and he joins us now. Prime Minister, welcome to News Breakfast.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning.

GLENDAY: Look, why now? Why did you decide this was the time to make these changes to property taxes?

PRIME MINISTER: We changed our position over a period of time. We've thrown everything at the housing market. We've had our increased public and social housing through the Housing Australia Future Fund. We've had our Build to Rent scheme to encourage private rentals, we've had our shared equity scheme. But it still wasn't enough to get young people in particular into the housing market. And what this change will do is allow 75,000 young Australians to buy their own home. The Australian dream of owning your own home is something that was increasingly disappearing, and importantly, that creates social dislocation. If you have two classes of people, homeowners and non-homeowners permanently shut out of the housing market, then that doesn't do anything for social cohesion. So, we wanted young people to have a crack. We were convinced that this was the right thing to do. We made sure as well, could we do it in a way that protected existing investors? Yes, we have, by grandfathering the negative gearing. And I think the principle is pretty clear, which is you can still negatively gear a property. The difference between the change in the system when it comes in is, as well as being able to invest in an investment property to help yourself and your future income and wealth, you'll be helping the nation if you invest in a new home rather than an existing home that's already there.

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Well, let's talk about that grandfathering. We spoke to a young woman earlier, you know, she's looking ahead to her future. She's saying, 'but all the property investors now, they get to keep everything as is'. So, what - should you have gone further now?

PRIME MINISTER: I think it's, it's a matter of getting the balance right and doing what's fair. We've done that by grandfathering so that if you had, even if you bought a house on Saturday and it's contracted, then the existing system that was in place when you bought that home will stay. The difference is going forward, it will change the balance. So, that young person you spoke about, when they go to an auction and are trying to buy their own home, instead of competing with investors as well as other home buyers, that won't occur. And that levels the playing field a bit, because at the moment so many stories, not just young people, but their parents and grandparents will say that 'my daughter or son went along to an auction and they're competing with someone who has an advantage', because the tax system is going to help them be able to bid higher because that just leads to a higher deduction.

GLENDAY: You're undoing with Capital Gains Tax, something that John Howard did a long time ago, I know you were in Parliament then. Did it make your decision easier looking across the Opposition benches and saying that they are effectively a fair bit of a rabble at the moment and really can't seem to get their act together?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, they are a rabble and they have, not surprisingly just said no to everything because they say no to everything. And that's what they've been doing for four years.

GLENDAY: Did they come into your thinking, though, did you go, 'now we've got the political opportunity because they're divided, we can get this done'?

PRIME MINISTER: This was about doing the right thing by the country so that when you look back and you go, 'is this the right thing to do?' People will say, 'yes, we firmly believe that'. Whereas the changes that John Howard made in 1999, of course, before 1985, capital wasn't taxed at all. Paul Keating brought that in, John Howard brought in this change. And what that's done as well is distort where investment goes towards less productive activity. Now, one of the things that the changes in Capital Gains Tax will do, is to bring back that productive side of investment as well, whether it's equities or other forms of investment, and stop the distortion that's there in the market at the moment.

REBELLATO: Prime Minister, what about young voters? We talked about this with the Treasurer, who - they're working their butts off. They can't get ahead. They're paying high rents, they're looking at shares, they're looking at investment properties elsewhere because they can't afford to buy where they are. They're going to get hurt by this.

PRIME MINISTER: No, they're not. They're going to get a further tax cut with our Working Australian Tax Offset.

REBELLATO: But that's not coming into until mid-2028.

PRIME MINISTER: They get a tax cut on July 1, then they get another tax cut next July, July '27. Then they get as well, the Working Australian Tax Offset in 2028. Then as well, they can benefit from the $1,000 instant tax deduction. So, they have all of these benefits. And importantly any of the tax changes, we're putting every single dollar back into reducing people's taxes and deliberately by changing that first tax rate, marginal tax rate, it's aimed at low and middle income earners that will particularly benefit young people and women in the workforce as well.

GLENDAY: Ahead of the next election, have you left yourself space for bigger income tax cuts? That's been something that's been discussed in your party since the 2019 election loss, that if you change something like this, you've got to give voters something big back.

PRIME MINISTER: We are giving them every single dollar back from these changes across the forward estimates. Let's get through this Budget. To be frank, it's just the morning after. So, you could ask me about next year's Budget in the lead up to it. And I look forward to coming on ABC Breakfast and doing that.

GLENDAY: We look forward to seeing you. Let's talk about the sell. Now you're out and you're trying to convince people that this is the right thing to do. But you are going to face a lot of questions about breaking promises. Do you regret saying that you wouldn't change negative gearing, capital gains?

PRIME MINISTER: Well we have changed our position and we're upfront about that, and we're explaining why we have changed our position. You know, in the last term we did change our position on Stage Three of the tax cuts because of the cost-of-living changes. We're changing these measures, but making sure we're doing it in a way that protects people, existing investors with their existing investments that are in place. We changed fuel excise as well. You might recall during the last election that was a big issue. We said we wouldn't change it. We did, in response to what was going on in the Middle East. What this is about, is simply saying we're in a position as a government, can we, knowing that the Australian dream of owning your own home was drifting away for younger Australians, could we sit back and say, 'now we're going to kick that can down the road again'. We're making this change because it's the right thing to do.

GLENDAY: Just before we let you go, you've got to get this through Parliament, obviously. The Greens look like they will probably support this sort of thing. Are you expecting you'll have to make some concessions, negotiate in some way with them? Or is this going to be take it or leave it, let's get it through?

PRIME MINISTER: I think these are changes which are serious changes. I think they're in the national interest. I would hope that everyone votes for it. I'm not naive about that. Of course, the Coalition tend to just say no to everything at the moment, which is why they find themselves in the position they are. But we will advocate, we hope to get support from as many Members and Senators as possible across the spectrum.

GLENDAY: Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining our show this morning.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.