“Labor and the Coalition are engaging in the most reckless election campaign in living memory, according to economists who warn the major parties’ policies will inflate house prices, damage the budget and make the tax system worse. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton unveiled almost $24 billion combined in new spending on Sunday at their respective campaign launches as the leaders compete to woo swinging voters in an increasingly costly election. Economists warned that Dutton’s mortgage deductibility policy and Labor’s 5 per cent home deposit policy would make Australia’s housing affordability problems worse. Former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Ian Macfarlane said both policies would push up demand for housing and cause prices to rise. “They are stoking up the demand side, which will mainly show up in higher prices,” Macfarlane told The Australian Financial Review on Sunday. The major parties have cumulatively announced at least $105 billion in policies since the campaign kicked off, according to analysis by the Financial Review. UNSW economics professor Richard Holden said the federal election campaign was “fiscally reckless on an unprecedented scale”. “We have $10 billion here and $10 billion there promises on both sides being bandied around as if they’re rounding error,” he said.” AND “It is a deadly troika. The fusion of an election, inflation and a housing crisis has taken Australian public policy to a dismal low. The public, to a large extent, is being offered phoney and glib answers to its cost-of-living grief. The campaign bidding war between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton has scaled a new peak: witness Dutton's offering of a tax deduction for mortgage interest (a first in Australia), Albanese's plan to deliver for first-home buyers with only a 5 per cent deposit and Dutton's one-year tax relief offset of up to $1200, in addition to his fuel excise cut.” •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The two major parties are out of control, spending taxpayer dollars with no regard as to how it will be paid for. It’s rare for the Australian to criticise anything the Coalition does, yet even they are scathing of their policies. It is this kind of reckless spending by both major parties that has resulted in Australia having over a trillion dollars in debt. People First is the only party that has a comprehensive range of policies that will both relieve the cost of living and implement structural change to make our economy more productive to reduce debt. Our economic policies can be found here: https://t.co/F690JIhWgm Quotes from: https://t.co/pInFQIDMIj https://t.co/kpAovQQarn