‘House price decline was deliberate,’ Liberals say

Treasurer Ben Wyatt said that while these comments bring little comfort to those who are currently facing negative equity, “they are now aware that their plight was the direct result of misguided Liberal Party policies which were planned with that result in mind”.

“The comments by the deputy leader of the Opposition show that the Liberal Party still have no idea how to manage an economy, nor do they care for the damage that their time in office inflicted on the State of Western Australia,” Mr Wyatt said.

The Liberal Party plan worked, with the median house price falling under the previous government by about $40,000, which represents a 70 per cent decline since its peak.

The members for Nedlands now admitted this was a deliberate strategy of the Barnett Harvey government, which increased land tax three times between 2013 and 2015.

“This is an Opposition who clearly are yet to learn anything despite being in Opposition now for more than two years and continue the same way they did when in government — that is, to fail to think carefully about future consequences,” Mr Wyatt said.

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