Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull lacks "moral authority" and economic leadership following revelations in a new book that he and Treasurer Scott Morrison supported a crackdown on negative gearing but were rolled by cabinet.

The controversial tax write-off was a central battleground of the election campaign after Labor proposed significant changes that the Prime Minister lambasted as a "sledgehammer" through the housing market.

According to The Turnbull Gamble by Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington, Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison argued for changes that were "more considered" and "less extreme" than Labor's but the pair were defeated by conservative ministers in the expenditure review committee.

"Now we know Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison agree [with curbing the policy] but they were rolled in the cabinet, the first time a PM and Treasurer had been rolled in the cabinet since 1973," Mr Bowen told the ABC.