Labor rift as Anthony Albanese's 'dear comrade' breaks ranks and slams the PM's ... trends now

One of Anthony Albanese's closest friends in politics has blamed a key Labor policy U-turn for fuelling Australia's housing crisis by giving landlords lucrative tax breaks.

Doug Cameron, a former Labor senator for New South Wales, said negative gearing tax breaks for landlords and the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount had made housing unaffordable.

'Negative gearing, capital gains tax are part of the problem - it's a complex issue,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'It is politically difficult but the test of political parties is whether they're prepared to deal with the political, difficult questions.'

In 2019, Mr Albanese dumped predecessor Bill Shorten's plan to scrap negative gearing for future property purchases and halve the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount.

He became prime minister three years later, having ditched the policies Labor took unsuccessfully to the 2016 and 2019 elections.

Mr Cameron is so concerned about unaffordable housing he will be co-chairing in May a two-day 'People's Commission into the Housing Crisis' with Everybody's Home, a homelessness advocacy group, and University of Sydney housing expert Professor Nicole Gurran.

In a statement, the former union leader blamed policies leading to property speculation pushing up prices.

'The dominance of neoliberal politics has resulted in housing being treated as an instrument of individual wealth creation and the "market" instead of a human right that facilitates effective participation in a good society and the economy,' he said.

'The commission will hear from many of the victims of a

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