Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023. Many Australians dream of owning their own home; to establish themselves, put down roots and care for something that is theirs. A home provides security and stability; it's a place to raise kids and retire. Home ownership was once a reasonable aspiration, but today we are, sadly, seeing a different narrative play out. Families around Australia are hurting. Every day Bonner locals contact my office seeking assistance to combat the increasing cost-of-living pressures. Australians need relief. Unfortunately, in the midst of a housing crisis, the underwhelming Help to Buy scheme is too little too late.

Last week I hosted a mobile office at Carindale shopping centre. Locals shared with me the housing market situation and their financial security, that was causing disappointment and fear. One resident, a grandmother, said that she doubts that her grandchildren will ever be able to own their own home when everyone is struggling to pay for groceries.

As I continue to fight for financial literacy to be included in the national curriculum, I have spoken to many students, mums and dads about home ownership. Throughout Bonner, there is a resounding disappointment coming from residents who cannot foresee themselves owning a home. While 85 per cent of renters aspire to own their own home, younger Australians are beginning to lose any hope of actually purchasing their own home. A local university student told me that, as a young person, buying a home is just so far away. He said that home ownership is more of a pipedream.

Buying your first home is about accomplishment, responsibility and reward. Help to Buy is a small, niche program open to only 10,000 households each financial year, and it will cost the Commonwealth a disappointing $5.5 billion. Given that there are over 16,000 rental households in Bonner alone, this program does not serve the many more Aussies who want to buy.

Under the scheme, owners will be responsible for all the repairs and all the maintenance on their hard-earned new home. However, when it comes time to sell, the government will be able to take 40 per cent of profits. That's after years of appreciation on the property when you sell it. Furthermore, help-to-buy schemes already exist in many states. However, they are so unwanted by Aussies that there are still places remaining in many of the state based schemes. For example, New South Wales' shared-equity scheme is so unwanted that 94 per cent of its places are still available. Disappointingly, a similar scheme in the UK was found to inflate prices by more than its subsidy value in areas where it was needed the most.

We need policies that empower Australians to own their own home. We need policies that ensure families keep their hard-earned profits in their pockets and reward those who take the initiative. When elected, the Labor government promised that this policy would be in place by 1 January 2023. After waiting over 20 months for this legislation, we are only just having this policy put through the House. This policy is just one of the many examples of a broken promise where Australians are being left behind.

The only housing policies delivering support to first home buyers are the housing policies that Labor inherited from the former coalition government. Under the coalition, first home owners reached their highest levels in almost 15 years. It has been great to see that, over the last three years, the coalition housing policies have supported more than 300,000 Australians with the purchase of a home. Our home guarantee schemes have assisted almost 60,000 first home buyers and single-parent families to get into a home of their own with a deposit of as little as five per cent. Our HomeBuilder scheme protected the residential construction industry with more than 137,000 HomeBuilder applications generating $120 billion of economic activity. Our First Home Super Saver Scheme delivered relief on the deposit hurdle by increasing the release amount to $50,000 from $30,000. This means the average couple would be $20,838 better off under the coalition's First Home Super Saver Scheme than if they saved in a standard saving account. The message from Bonner locals is clear: they want to own their own homes. To quote a Rochedale resident who I spoke with before Christmas, 'This proposal is nothing to write home about!'

We need a government who will empower Aussies to confidently enter the housing market. The scheme is too little, too niche and too underwhelming. Those who want to buy a home want to own it themselves; they don't want the government owning a portion. We need to be empowering and supporting Australians as they aspire to accomplish homeownership, to reap the full reward and satisfaction of their hard work.

See this speech in context