Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

a budget surplus and also to manage the economy prudently. Strong and stable budget management gives confidence to the economy more broadly. But, as we've seen since the election, that gives confidence to the housing market. And, most importantly for the policies that we are progressing as a government, it gives confidence to those many hundreds of thousands of young Australians who are looking to get into the housing market.

The alternative, though, if you don't manage a strong economy and if you don't prudently manage the budget, is that you cannot do the things that this government is doing. I was very pleased that last week we passed our signature policy that we took to the election, which was the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. From 1 January, 10,000 Australians will be able to purchase a property with a deposit of as little as five per cent. We know that for prospective first home buyers saving that deposit is the hardest part. In Melbourne it's taking up to eight years to save a deposit. In Sydney it's taking up to 10 years to save for that deposit. But when you manage a budget properly you have the ability to fund programs like the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

That may partly explain why our other outstanding policy assisting first home buyers, the First Home Super Saver Scheme, was so strongly opposed by those opposite. Mr Speaker, can you believe that the Labor Party went to the election opposing a policy that gave a tax cut to first home buyers? Five thousand first home buyers have utilised the First Home Super Saver Scheme—

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