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

What happens in the north when cyclones come through? This scheme is targeted towards low- and middle-income earners. I know a few families living on low and middle incomes who wouldn't be able to afford the cost of repairs following a cyclone. With the cost of insurance for northern Australia at the moment, they would have to be extremely fortunate to even have insurance, let alone receive a payout for repairs. Let's say that, by some miracle, they can pass the cost on to the Prime Minister. The people of Australia could be left waiting over a year for the repair bills to be paid, just like they've waited over a year for this bill.

It's disappointing that this bill is only being debated now, over a year after those opposite had promised it would have been implemented and started. There is so much detail that should be confidently given in answer to these questions so I can go back to the people of Dawson. Instead, we get the copied and pasted answer we've heard from this government the whole way along. 'It will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.' That's reassuring, eh?

Let's look at the coalition record. The coalition brought in the Home Guarantee Scheme, which is now supporting one in three homebuyers. The Housing Guarantee Scheme consists of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, the New Home Guarantee and the Family Home Guarantee. The coalition also brought in the First Home Super Saver Scheme and the homebuilder grant during the COVID pandemic and established the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. All of these were designed and developed to empower every single person in Australia to be able to buy their first home with their own money, the money that they have worked hard for.

A coalition government does not want a stake in your family home. A coalition government wants to empower the people of Australia to be able to purchase their own home with their own money. A coalition government wants every Australian to have the means to feel that sense of pride, that sense of accomplishment, that excitement when they step into their first home. A coalition government does not kick people out of their home if they earn over a wage cap. A coalition government doesn't sit there, waiting for 40 per cent of your profits after years of appreciation on the property after you sell it. A coalition government doesn't inflate prices by more than the subsidy values in areas where they are most needed, like we found in the UK when they introduced a scheme similar to the Help to Buy Bill. A coalition government empowers the people of Australia to enter the housing market knowing that they own their own house and the government cannot take it away from them. A coalition government empowers the people of Australia to invest in themselves. The Albanese Labor government is becoming the dodgiest property investor that Australia has ever seen.

This Help to Buy scheme is late. It's another broken promise. It lacks detail. You must have known after the referendum that Australians want detail. They want the detail on their policies so they can make an informed decision. We've got the Prime Minister here. Please, the best thing you can do, Prime Minister, is get rid of this legislation.

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