The Prime Minister is correct. There are a lot of mum and dads with negatively geared property investments. Once upon a time, I was one of them. It was great for me. Not so much for you.

The property was a glorious old art deco building in Bondi, about a minute and a half from the water's edge. It was built in the early 1930s and in spite of facing into the teeth of the southerlies that came howling into the bay, it was a solid, well-maintained piece of architecture, regularly renovated and lovingly cared for by the handful of owners lucky enough to have grabbed up one of its four apartments. I owned the garden apartment downstairs at the rear.

Thanks for paying for it, because that's what you did while it was negatively geared. What you didn't do was increase the stock of housing for first-time buyers or add to the country's productive capacity. You just helped me lower my tax bill for a while.