This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WHILE the Albanese government’s the Help to Buy bill has passed the senate with no amendments, the Coalition will “absolutely” repeal the policy if elected.
After months of stalling, the Greens have “waved through” the Albanese Labor government’s $5.5 billion Help to Buy scheme and built-to-rent subsidy bills.
The Help to Buy scheme is set to lower deposit requirements for up to 40,000 first homebuyers with the help of a government loan guarantee, while the build-to-rent legislation offers tax concessions to developers in the sector, in the hope of encouraging more supply amid a national housing crisis.
“[We] recognise we needed to get the things done that we promised we would do at the last election and Help to Buy was a big part of that,” said Patrick Gorman, assistant minister to the prime minister.
“When it comes to housing, we are always looking for more ways to help Australians and innovative ways.”
The Greens had teamed up with the Coalition over the year to block the bill, even as Anthony Albanese threatened of a double dissolution election in September if the legislation was blocked again by the senate.
The Greens blocked the bill in an attempt to get rent caps and freezes over the line, with hopes of establishing a government-owned property developer that it says would build 610,000 homes to be sold at just above the cost of construction, with rents capped at 25% of income.
Today’s National Press Club Housing debate saw shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar and Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather duke it out over the housing crisis.
Notably, housing minister Clare O’Neil was not present at today’s debate.
Michael Sukkar MP has said the Coalition will repeal the bills if elected to power in the upcoming federal election, noting his disappointment that the Greens backed down on their opposition to the policies.
“Max speaks in this room today, railing against the property industry and banks,” said Sukkar, referring to Max Chandler-Mather MP.
“Yet, the Greens said that they’ll vote with Labor to give preferential tax treatment to foreign corporates to own housing stock in this country for Build to Rent. We don’t think that the most beneficial tax arrangements for housing in this country should be the province of foreign fund managers.”
Sukkar has also claimed that the Coalition will out-build Labor’s overly ambitious 1.2 million home the National Housing Accord target. Recommitting to LNP’s greenfield plans and $5 billion package o enable infrastructure through a mix of grants and concessional loans.
Nationals senator and shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie has also confirmed plans to repeal the Help to Buy bill, citing other major hurdles to fixing the housing crisis.
“It is in the boring stuff like sewage, water and power and our $5 billion over a 5-year period will unlock 500,000 houses,” said McKenzie.
“We have been really clear about where we want to target our assistance in the homing space.”
While Chandler-Mather noted he was “angry” and “a bit bruised” after supporting the bills and slammed the LNP’s continued emphasis on migration when talking about the housing crisis.
“It is such a useful tool for them to distract from the fact that the real winners out of the housing crisis, the ones really hurting people right now are the large property investors and the banks, and the property industry who benefit to the tune of billions and billions of dollars,” he said.
The significance of the impact of migration on the housing crisis has been at the centre of discussions over recent years, with those prior calling out for more skilled migration to help address labour shortages, with 90k extra tradies needed to meet Labor’s target and apprenticeship and trainee numbers down 25%. Not to mention, BuildSkills modelling expects a 40% shortfall in labour by 2040.
Though net overseas migration has reached record highs, the role of migration levels have on the market has seen other major factors impacting the crisis going overlooked.
Chandler-Mather noted the Coalition built less public housing the any federal government since WW2.
“This isn’t just the Labor Party — it’s the Liberals, too. And it is genuinely remarkable that the Liberals won’t take any responsibility for this housing crisis,” he added.
Despite enabling the bills to pass, Chandler-Mather continued to criticise the government’s approach to the crisis.
“The housing crisis we find ourselves in right now is enormous, but we can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result,” said Chandler Mather.
“The same policies that have got us into this crisis are the same ones that both Labor and the Liberals continue to peddle. We are told that the best we can hope for is scraps, but I genuinely believe Australia can do better.”
