Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk on the Report on the inquiry into homeownership, by the Standing Committee on Economics, as well. It is disappointing that there were no recommendations that came from that committee. I would like to put on the record for those in the parliament and for those people in my electorate that Australians love property. Australians love investing in property. I think you would find that, regardless of some of the concessions for investors that are currently in place, Australians invest in property because they understand it. They know that bricks and mortar are generally a safe investment, because in this country over the years property investment has continued to go up and up and up. Not as many people understand the share market or have had experience in the share market, so naturally property investment is a safe investment.

I do not think it is just investors who are causing property prices to go up. If you look at self-managed super funds and so forth, more people are investing in property, not because they get a tax deduction—because they do not in that case—and not because they can negatively gear it, because they cannot that case. It is because it is a safe investment. It is because they understand that bricks and mortar are something that continues to go up, and they are confident in investing in that area.

My concern is that those opposite make out that scrapping negative gearing and tax concessions will all of a sudden make it so much more affordable for people trying to enter the market. I want to say to people in my electorate: if only it were that simple. If only I could stand here and say, 'Yes, let's do what they want to do and scrap negative gearing, scrap those incentives for investors, and all of a sudden you'll be able to own your own house.' They make it sound so simple, but the fact is that some of the comments from my senior coalition colleagues are very true and are also open to young people in my electorate.

I bought my first home when I was about 23. It cost me $93,000, I think, at the time, and I was earning about $27,000 a year working full time in retail. That was quite a lot of money, and it was hard for me to buy it back then. But my father obviously taught me. He said: 'Luke, this is a good thing to do. Invest younger'—

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