Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a matter of vital importance to my electorate of Mitchell: that of affordable housing. It is a fact that one of the main contributors to unaffordable housing in Australia is state government and local government taxes and charges. The 2006 census shows that my electorate of Mitchell has one of the highest proportions of mortgage owners, one of the highest proportions of McMansions and the highest rate of couples with dependent children. My electorate, including the suburbs of Kellyville, Rouse Hill, Beaumont Hills and Castle Hill, has a particular interest in housing affordability, as do young Australians and people in greater Western Sydney.

When the GST was introduced in 2000, there was a clear commitment that state governments would abolish stamp duty on mortgages and business conveyances. Today, stamp duty, land tax and local government contributions add around 30 per cent to the cost of a new home. Sometimes this is justified on the basis of infrastructure provisions, but coming from one of the most infrastructure-deprived electorates in the country I can confirm that these exorbitant taxes and charges do not go towards infrastructure in Mitchell. And many homeowners in my electorate want to know where that 30 per cent of taxes and charges has actually gone.

In particular, I would also note that property taxes such as stamp duty and land taxes represent around 33 per cent of states’ own-source revenue. States certainly have failed. This is not confined to the supply and demand problems created by the mismanagement of land release that I have spoken about previously. The main failure of states like New South Wales is to remove or reduce taxes and charges. These taxes and charges remain the greatest impact a government can have on lowering housing prices. There have been many calls for inefficient stamp duties to be removed. The Productivity Commission said that tax arrangements can have direct and indirect effects on housing prices and thus on affordability. Stamp duty is a hurdle for households endeavouring to save a deposit for their first home.

I would argue the time is long overdue for state governments to remove this hurdle for working families and young Australians if we are to retain the great Australian dream of owning a home. Working families in New South Wales want to know what the Rudd government has done to pressure the New South Wales state government to cut mortgage stamp duty. Let us be clear about this: state Labor is dining out at the expense of working families in Western Sydney.

The federal Labor Party and the Treasurer have typically announced a four-point plan—or, I should say, one, two, three, four points. We have seen a lot of this lately. The Treasurer has warned the big banks and set up a complaints hotline and taken other innocuous measures that will achieve very little; what he has not done is ask his Labor mates in New South Wales to reduce stamp duty.

Working families in Mitchell want to know what Kevin Rudd is doing about this issue of housing affordability. Will he end the blame game about housing affordability in New South Wales? Will he raise this matter with his Labor mates? I urge this Labor government to put aside partisanship and get New South Wales Labor to give working families in my electorate of Mitchell, in Western Sydney, and elsewhere a break.