Help/Idea/Thoughts needed

If you set up a family trust it will not be possible to transfer the losses out the trust.
see https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/getting-technical/legal-accounting/17659
I recommend you talk to an accountant on tax deductible of hybrid trusts / PITS for your situation.
One point to mention
You pay about 40% tax
Your partner pays 32% tax
So to reduce your tax bill you are going to spend $100 in property expenses to get back $40
or your partner spends $100 in property expenses to get $32 dollars back

Where you may be able to reduce your tax more is to buy a newly constructed dwelling and claim building cost write off over 40 years. However you pay for it later as each year the depreciation is taken off your cost base which increases capital gain.
As an example say you buy a new house that costs say $400,000 and the construction costs were $200,000 as an example figure then at 2.5% depreciation then you can add $5000 building cost depreciation expenses each year to your property expenses.

I recommend you talk to an accountant on tax deductible for your situation.

Also employ a quantity surveyor for a depreciation schedule report.

Property investment is also about leverage and time.
If the property grows in capital value then you make money from borrowed money.
Say you put $75,000 in and borrow 80% so 375,000 borrowed house 450,000 as an example
guessed rent of $18000 a year then expenses of $3000 a year plus interest 7.5% of $28125 total of $31,125
assuming 7% p/a average capital growth on $450,000 for 10 years this becomes $885,000
Take your money of $75,000 and working out growth on your money (885000 – 450000)/75000 *100 = 580% return
$13125 loss each year >> minus tax return at 40% $5250 annual loss of  $7875
over ten years you pay $78,759 but you could make a capital gain of $435,000

Another way to make money !
Buy a main dwelling and live in it and you save $1500 a month in rent
Tax free saving . Yes you pay interest and expenses but this main dwelling is capital gains tax exempt.
Over Ten years you have saved $180,000 in rent plus you are getting the capital growth.

Hello there.
Sounds like we have a similar profile then. Same salary (yours is a little more) also in Melbourne.

Anyways we invested in property for the same reasons that you are doing it now.
To cut a long story short we now have 5 properties and pay 1% tax (well for this year anyway)
We opted for the western belt of Melbourne as the best investment from Newport –> Sunshine.
To this day I still think these properties are undervalued compared to properties on the other side of town in the same radius.

I did a reply here when I first joined. Read it if your interested in the details.
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/help-needed/4331557

Talk to a tax advisor about setting up a proper business structure. As you are self employed there are opportunities for you to 'share' your income with your spouse and reduce your income tax straight away. You could also set up a discretionary trust to purchase houses (forget hybrids). You won't need to worry about losses if you can divert some of the business income into the trust. You will need good advice because of the tax and legal issues involved.

he said he was contracting. That would class as self employed, but he has to be careful about overcoming the PSI rules so should seek professional advice.