Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Help to Buy Bill 2023. You know, the word 'help' is interesting. When I got into federal politics, I was determined to make a difference. I wanted to stand up for the people of Dawson. I wanted to do my best for Australia, because I believe Australia is the best country in the world, and I just want to be able to make it that little bit better. That's what I'm here to do. But, for close to two years now, I've been watching the Albanese Labor government fail to do anything to help the hardworking Australians. In fact, what I've seen instead is that those opposite prefer to make it look like they're doing something. However, they're doing very little.

Take this Help to Buy Bill, for example. This piece of legislation was a key election policy put forward by the Albanese Labor government back in 2022. The Albanese Labor government promised to deliver this Help to Buy scheme by 1 January 2023. But, like we've seen, this is just another broken promise in a long list of broken promises. That includes, remember, the promised $275 reduction in our power bills. What's happened with power? It's gone up over 20 per cent. But this wasn't a slip of the tongue. This promise was repeated 97 times. We've seen increased taxes. We've seen higher interest rates. Interest rates have gone up 12 times under the watch of those opposite. We've seen rent increases. What else have we seen? We've seen infrastructure cuts—cuts to dam funding, roads and just about anything. I don't know what those opposite have got against rural and regional Australia, but their policies certainly do nothing for us.

Blind Freddy can see the promises made by the Albanese Labor government are worthless. The Prime Minister said, 'My word is my bond.' What a crock. It's now the end of February 2024, and this piece of unhelpful legislation has only just made its way to the House. It is clearly a long way from being delivered. What has the housing minister been doing? You could forgive the Australian people for asking what the Labor government and the housing minister have been doing. The fact is that this bill is only just arriving in the House over a year after it should have commenced. That's appalling.

What have the Prime Minister and his government been doing? We can thank them for the Labor-created cost-of-living crisis. Tick! We can thank them for spending billions of dollars on a failed referendum during a cost-of-living crisis. Tick! We can thank them for the national housing crisis that's leaving so many Aussies displaced with nowhere to go, forcing them to sleep in tents, in their cars or even on the street. Tick! We can also thank them for failing to explain to the Australian public that this key election promise and piece of legislation requires state government approval to operate. This means that the Albanese Labor government has made yet another promise it can't necessarily keep. We can also thank those opposite for copying and pasting a scheme that already exists at state level and that is so unwanted by Australians that there are many places remaining in the state based schemes. For the piece de resistance, in true Labor government style, they have released a piece of proposed legislation so void of detail that everyone is left scratching their heads, with more questions than we've received answers.

Here's what we do know. Right now, we have housing approvals and builds at record lows. Rents are skyrocketing. Vacancy rates are nosediving. House prices are at an all-time high, and the stock that is available is being snapped up before the house even hits the market. A year after the scheme should have started, we get this pitiful offering. It's embarrassing. It's nothing more than a box-ticking exercise so the Albanese Labor government can seen to be doing something, when really those opposite are doing nothing at all. The Help to Buy scheme is an incredibly limited and niche shared-equity product with only 40,000 places available. The details on how many of these places will be available in each state and territory are yet to be shared by the Labor government. The Help to Buy scheme would also mean that the Australian government would own up to 40 per cent of your family home, which is probably why these places are still available in each of the state based schemes.

I know that in my electorate of Dawson people think of their home as their castle. It's where you spend your time. It's where you make your happiest moments. It's where you raise your children and watch them grow into adults. The purchase of your first home and the all-consuming feeling of pride that you get from standing in front of the 'Sold' sign and having your picture taken is a memory and a feeling that no-one ever forgets. I don't know a single person who wants the Australian government standing in that picture with them. I don't know anyone who wants to skip hand in hand with the Australian government down the path to the first front door that they have ever owned. I don't know of anyone. This policy beggars belief. Why would hardworking Aussies want the Australian government owning 40 per cent of something they have worked so hard for? I asked this question of a hardworking tradie last night, and the answer I got in return requires a language warning. I abide by the rules of the House, so I won't repeat it.

The majority of Australians are just like this tradie. They don't want the Australian government having any part in owning their home. They don't want Prime Minister Albanese or Minister Julie Collins sitting around their kitchen table with them. They don't want those opposite sitting in their lounge room, watching TV with them after a long day, or helping them to get their kids ready for school in the morning. They don't want them hanging around during the reading of the will, with their bank details ready, waiting for their cut in the family home. The people of Australia don't want their children's inheritance to go to the Australian government. They want to know that their children and their children's children are going to be looked after. It can't be any simpler than that. They don't want the government there.

After waiting for so long for the details of this bill, that's about all we know. For anyone interested in applying for the Help to Buy scheme, the very first question they would ask is, 'Am I eligible?' I could confidently say, 'I can't answer that question.' At this point, we shouldn't be left with wishy-washy details on what the eligibility criteria are. Those opposite need to give us the detail.

Everyone remembers the purchase of their first home. Everyone remembers the feeling of starting their first round of home renovations. It is probably the best—

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