Former rugby league star Martin ‘Munster” Bella slams comedian Dave Hughes for ‘whinging’ about tax changes

A former rugby league star has blasted comedian Dave Hughes for ‘whinging’ about tax changes designed to get more younger Australians into home ownership.

Martin ‘Munster’ Bella’s epic rant was uploaded on his Facebook page where the no-nonsense former State of Origin player let rip at politicians.

The rugby player-turned farmer said he was sick and tired of hearing wealthy Australians whinging and complaining.

“Stop being so bloody selfish, and I’ll tell you what, that will actually be better for us in the long run,’’ he said.

“It’s time we stopped our whinging — cue Dave Hughes — and started to think of younger people rather than ourselves.

“Unbelievable, how selfish, how stupid, and the low standards that our so-called political leaders — Angus Taylor, you in particular — are holding yourself to.

“This is what happens when politics gets dragged down to three-word slogans. Make things more affordable. Let people be more able to have a stable home.”

Mr Bella, once floated as a potential political candidate in Queensland, said that too many younger Australians were locked out of buying a home.

Former rugby league star Martin ‘Munster” Bella slams comedian Dave Hughes for ‘whinging’ about tax changes.

“All of those things revolve around stability, not aspiration, and if you want to call it aspiration, aspiration to be stable,’’ he said.

“Not to have two, three , four or 25 investment properties, because it’s bloody hard to have a couple of investment properties when you haven’t got a place to live, simple as that.”

He added he was concerned about the birthrate in Australia.

Martin Bella in 1996.

“No one is doubting you worked hard, but no matter how hard young people work, they are unable to take advantage of the same thing you took advantage of, because, like I said, the change in the relationship between house prices and median income,’’ he said.

F***ed the joint

It follows comedian Dave Hughes’ claim that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had “royally f***ed this joint” with the CGT changes that had “tipped Australia over the edge”.

Speaking to news.com.au, Hughes said last month’s budget had finally tipped him over the edge, even though he supported Labor at the last election.

“I’ve always been a Labor voter,” the 55-year-old Aussie TV icon said.

“My dad was a factory worker, mum’s a nurse, so I grew up in that sort of working-class family and carried that through my whole life, long after I became financially independent.”

The stand-up comic said Australians were angry.

“The budget has tripped people’s wires – it’s tripped my wires,” Hughes said.

“That budget was bang out of order. You cannot make a change to the tax system that big without taking it to the election.

Australian Comedian Dave Hughes has been attacking the Albanese Governments tax reforms on his social media channels. Picture: Instagram

“The level of lying that took place, it’s so out of control. So many people made economic decisions taking these politicians at face value. There’s going to be so many people with houses they paid way too much money for now.

“You can’t bald-faced lie before an election. Chalmers and Albo were asked 100 times, they looked into the camera and said no.”

“You cannot sell a house in Melbourne,” he said. “In my suburb [Bayside], every house has had a board up wanting to sell for months, even before the budget. The percentage correction happening in my area is f**king massive. It’s bleak.”

Carve outs looming

The Albanese government has signalled that exemptions from its capital gains tax overhaul could extend beyond the technology sector, with the Prime Minister confirming consultation will canvas a wider range of business groups.

“Treasury are going about consulting, not just in tech, but consulting ACCI (the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry),” Mr Albanese said.

A policy position paper will be produced for broader consultation before a second tranche of legislation addresses implementation details.

How the changes will work

Treasurer Jim Chalmers claimed that changes to CGT and negative gearing would better support Australians aspiring to get ahead and own their own home.

The changes will not be retrospective and apply to existing investors with regard to negative gearing.

Capital gains on existing investments that accrue prior to 1 July 2027 will retain access to the 50 per cent discount, while capital gains that accrue from 1 July 2027 will be subject to the new inflation-based discount and the minimum tax.

However, he has described the push for greater exemptions as “legitimate” and has not ruled out extending CGT carve-outs for small business in or out on Wednesday, as he confirmed he was “aware” concerns with the proposal went beyond start-ups.

“There are legitimate issues when it comes to start-ups; there’s a legitimate conversation going on with the small business sector,” he said.

Martin Bella in 1995.

One option under consideration is the federal government lifting the thresholds for CGT concessions to companies with an annual turnover of up to $2 million up to $10 million.

“We’re obviously aware of treatment of start-ups, the calculation of the cost base, for example, when it comes to start-ups,” the Treasurer said.

“We’re obviously aware of issues that people have raised with us around the eligibility for four existing concessions and carve-outs in the small business system.”

‘Megaphone’ politics

Graeme Samuel, the former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said he believed that “private vested interests” opposed to the tax changes had grabbed the megaphone and were dominating public debate.

Speaking at the first session of a two-day inquiry into the government’s overhaul of negative gearing and the capital gains tax, he said this approach did not always best represent the public interest.

“One thing that I have learned over all these 35 years is this is that the measure of the public interest in relation to reform is generally in inverse proportion the noise that is made by private vested interests,’’ he said.

“And I can tell you now that the noise in relation to these tax reform proposals announced in the budget has been very, very loud indeed, which persuades me that the public interest is trying to be submerged by the loud voices of private vested interests.

“It was my experience right through the reform process of national competition policy, and that is that the private vested interests have got very, very good megaphones, and they’ll march up and down the street with their megaphones and their signs saying, ‘yeah, this is going to be disaster.’

“The public interest is very rarely represented, except by a few like might say so, Saul Eslake, and hopefully myself and some others that appeared before this committee, and they, those individuals and institutes are designed to try and wake up the public interest into really what’s going on.”

Source: https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/former-rugby-league-star-martin-munster-bella-slams-comedian-dave-hughes-for-whinging-about-tax-changes/news-story/b3a690259cd3f70c9c72ca686f335a71?utm_source=News.com.au&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=EditorialSB&utm_content=SocialBakers&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExVkRLcm9DM3RFM3czQXk2eXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR6GYo140qq4NI-bo-Z50LG60Jc7mfB5hftiBKx5GsqPGjvH4RKNEhbzB6dLGA_aem_GzU_QKhZspsFuJZKgdzdEQ