Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for bringing this MPI forward. Australia's housing sector is a pillar of resilience in our recovery from COVID-19. It characterises our nation's grit and determination and gives Australians confidence about what we can achieve and what is ahead.

I recently congratulated a young woman in this building on buying her own home. She said to me that open homes were busy, they were flat-out, and it was quite daunting—this is in Queensland—but she kept going with the confidence of it being a good investment in her own future. Well done to her. She said: 'I knew it was setting me on the right path. I felt it was a step in the right direction.' I said: 'You had a great deposit. Who helped guide you towards that?' She thanked her dad as well, and she said her dad gave her great advice. I can relate to that; my dad gave me good advice too.

For those people that might not have someone mentoring them in this space, the federal government also has the moneysmart.gov.au website. Every member—every opposition member, every government member, every Independent—should promote those sorts of products. That's moneysmart.gov.au for those people listening. It's empowering when people buy their first home, and it's shared by 20,000 first-home buyers in 2020. I'll repeat that: in 2020, 20,000 Australians bought their first home, and that was just under the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme alone. The young lady that I spoke about didn't need the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

We also have the First Home Super Saver Scheme, which I think is really important. My father taught me early the value of superannuation. As the Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services, I'm inspired by young people getting ahead and being assisted, through their superannuation, to buy their first home. To 31 January, the First Home Super Saver Scheme was used by 16,400 individuals, to the value of around $216 million. The opposition's policy is to abolish the First Home Super Saver Scheme. That's what they took to the last election. I think it's wrong, it's reckless and it won't help. I would ask the Independents to promote the First Home Super Saver Scheme as well. It's a great way for people to save tax and get into their first home. They don't have to buy a new home; they can buy an existing home as well. The Morrison government's commitment is that we will do all we can to help Australians get into a home sooner.

The member for Clark's not here. It was good to hear from the member for Kennedy as well. But, to the member for Clark, I would note that the federal government has invested $30 million or so into the Hobart City Deal, which includes social housing. When I was the responsible assistant minister, I was working with the department to help deliver that. As for the NRAS, a system that's coming to an end, the only problem with that is that it was poorly designed, such that at the end of 10 years the price goes up. After 10 years, it ended. So what do you do with all those tenants that have been there for a decade? There you go! Airbnb has been an issue in Tasmania, as the member for Clark said. But we know, through COVID, that tourism sector was smashed and most of those homes in Hobart were put back into long-term private rentals, which was important. The price of a home down there is obviously a lot less than in the capital cities of Melbourne.

The member for Clark also mentioned young people who have been couch surfing and so forth. The federal government does provide the Reconnect service for young people to help reconnect them with families. In my own electorate of Petrie, I recently assisted a young man who had been couch surfing. I rang up an employer in my electorate, Kennedy's Timbers, and said, 'Can you give this young man a job?' He was a good young man. He just needed a go. He received that job, and I want to thank Michael Kennedy from Kennedy's Timbers for putting him on. He's been there ever since, and he's actually helping to train others now.

The key thing I would say is that the way we help those people in need is to get them back into work. That's why the federal government has come up with JobMaker, the JobTrainer scheme, the Transition to Work programs and PaTH. The IR changes that we're trying to get through parliament at the moment will help more people into work as well. These are important things. I'd say to the Independents: make sure you're across those and promote government policy where you can. Whilst you are Independents, there are a lot of good programs that the federal government is doing. We also have job fairs that, as the Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services, I'll be rolling out through the country. I'm happy for Independents to get involved. (Time expired)

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