It’s not a lie, I just changed my position Your Honour

While Labor's Federal Budget has copped a lot of flak from investors and potential property buyers including young people it is supposed to help, it may have created a new defence loophole in legal cases it was never designed to influence.

Anyone facing charges of perjury for lying in evidence, which can carry prison terms ranging from around 10 to 15 years - or even life if the lie is intended to get someone convicted of a serious crime - could now plead the equivalent of the US Fifth Amendment.

Let's call it the Albo First Amendment: "I didn't lie Your Honour, I just changed my position…"

Turn the clock back a few decades and even a US President facing impeachment over charges of having an inappropriate relationship with a young female intern could place his hand on the Bible and state "I did not have sex with that woman, I just changed my position.." Case dismissed, you're in the clear, Bill.

Seriously, none of this is too far-fetched in light of the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers back-tracking on repeated promises made before the last election that they would not change the existing rules on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and negative gearing.

Reporter: "Can you just be really clear - can you rule out any changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax settings if re-elected?"

Albanese: "Yes. How hard is it? For the 50th time."

But then they did, and in a big way. But they deny they lied, they just "changed their position". This "new position" has been dissected many times. It "grandfathers" existing tax arrangements but limits negative gearing to new builds and introduces a new complicated option for capital gains linked to a minimum of 30 percent plus inflation.

Naturally Labor politicians including "My word is my bond" Albo and many of his Ministers, some of whom own multiple properties, will be exempt from the new rules. But young people hoping to gain a foothold on the property ladder will be caught in the new net.

It should be obvious to all that the term "lie" or "lied" could be applied to the broken promise on the eve of the 2025 election, no matter the motive. But not according to the supreme overlord in the House of Reps where the Speaker, Milton Dick, ruled the term out of order when the Opposition fired up in the wake of the Budget delivery.

Well Mr Dick, my response would be if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck!

Meanwhile when it comes to property investment, my wife and I have some skin in the game dating back many years and we can attest that it might not be for the faint-hearted.

Rewards can be real, but just like a roller-coaster, it has its ups and downs and the tax man is always waiting at the bottom of the ride to grab a big slice of any profits.