Albanese visibly emotional after defending Labor’s capital gains tax and negative gearing changes

A visibly emotional Albanese has launched an impassioned defence of Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount and family trusts, saying he will “not allow Australia to become a country where aspiration is only for some”.

At Victorian Labor’s state conference on Saturday, Albanese said the reforms were “the right thing to do, not the easy thing” and would rebalance the housing market toward first home buyers instead of property investors. He said every Saturday, young people were “missing out” at auctions because they were bidding against investors who had the “Australian taxpayer on their side”.

It was at this point in the speech party members and unions gave Albanese a standing ovation, with the prime minister appearing to well up at the response.

He went on to say “Labor is the party of aspiration” – a direct rebuke of criticism, including from the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, that the budget was a “war on the self-starters and small businesses”.

“We will not allow Australia to become a country where aspiration is only for some. Our reforms are about backing aspiration for all, bringing the great Australian dream of home ownership back in reach for a new generation,” Albanese said, and the changes “add up to a better tax system”, particularly for people who “work their guts out for a wage” and “will never be able to access a trust”.

The prime minister has faced sustained criticism of the reforms, which include limiting negative gearing to new-builds while grandfathering existing properties, changing how CGT is calculated and imposing a new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts. Guardian Australia has reported some of his own MPs are wary that scare campaigns could “get out of hand” unless Albanese and treasurer Jim Chalmers begin providing a clearer explanation of the tax changes. Another Labor politician worried the government had failed to effectively explain the complex tax changes, lamenting: “I feel like we don’t necessarily have a clear strategy on complicated issues.”