Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

welcomes the drop in home repossessions and the increase in housing sales in Western Sydney in the last few months;

(2)

recognises the importance of the Rudd Government’s First Home Owner’s Boost and interest rate cuts in improving housing affordability; and

(3)

condemns the Coalition for their criticism of this important stimulus to the economy and its opposition to the Nation Building and Jobs Plan.

In the darkness of a global recession there is a glimmer of light. In the middle of last year, 60 families in Bankstown were losing their homes every month—60 families were being evicted from their homes. Last month, this number had dropped to 20. At the same time that repossessions have dropped by two-thirds, the sale of homes has increased by 20 per cent—and 50 per cent of those are first home buyers. This is a massive turnaround. Last year, sheriffs were flat out evicting people. But now, real estate agents are flat out finding places for people to buy. The community that carried the burden of slowing the economy down only a few years ago on the back of 10 interest rate rises in a row is the same community that is now carrying a different burden in helping to stimulate the economy.

I spoke to a local real estate agent on the weekend. He told me that he has just had his best month in the last 5½ years. When I asked why, he told me it was because of the massive cut in interest rates and the first home owners boost. In January, the first home owners boost had a massive effect. First home buyers now make up 26.5 per cent of home buyers. That is the highest proportion since the ABS started collecting these statistics in 1991. If you look at the December figures, you will see another interesting fact—that is, an increase of almost 10 per cent in the number of home loans to build new homes. That means more builders building homes, more electricians, more plumbers, more carpenters and more tilers—more people who supply to the housing industry, and the multiplier effect that that creates. That is all good news. But a note of caution: interest rates are now at their lowest level in 45 years, but they will not stay this low forever. So the message for first home buyers is that they should take this into account when they are getting their first loan. They need to be able to pay the loan back, plus a bit more. Banks have a responsibility here, too. Banks have a responsibility to make sure that their customers understand this to avoid a repeat of the problems of the past.

There are still too many repossessions, and you cannot pay your mortgage without a job. That is why the stimulus packages of the last few months are so important. And that is why the actions of the opposition, which I criticise in this motion, are deserving of condemnation. The opposition are more interested in playing politics in this place than in people’s jobs. They criticised the first home owners boost—they said it would have only a marginal effect—and they now argue that it should be continued. They excoriate the December stimulus package in this place whenever they get a chance; yet in 2001 they did exactly the same thing. In the face of the Asian financial crisis, what did the then government do to stimulate the economy? They increased the first home owners grant and they gave one-off payments to pensioners. That sort of hypocrisy and inconsistency is deserving of condemnation in this place.

The opposition criticise and oppose the Nation Building and Jobs Plan. They say it will put an unsustainable level of debt on young people—the next generation of Australians. They talk about $9,500 worth of debt. But, when they come up with their own ideas, how much does that cost? It costs almost $9,000 on the head of every man, woman and child. So when they are not pretending that they are modern day Neville Chamberlains—‘Let’s wait and see. There will be growth in our time’—they are putting a debt of $9,000 on the head of every man, woman and child.

There will be tough times ahead, and it is a time for leadership and consistency, not hypocrisy and political games. The member for Macarthur knows what I am talking about. He knows the sorts of political games that are being played by those opposite. He is a straight shooter. He tells it straight. He said it straight on the weekend. We have the same problem with Work Choices. They say it is dead but then they give it the Austin Powers treatment—and we have the cryogenic seal opening up in the Senate even as we speak! We have the same problem with climate change. The Leader of the Opposition made his political career on climate change. He said an ETS was essential, but he has suddenly changed his mind and now says it is not important at all. My problem with the opposition is consistency. Love him or loathe him, at least you knew where John Howard stood. At the moment, we do not know whether the opposition are on the left or the right—it is like a game of Twister. It is no wonder that there are 28 members opposite who have decided that the better alternative is the member for Higgins.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note that the previous speaker, in moving this motion, talked about growth in our time. One thing is very clear: it will not be growth in the time of this government. There will be no economic growth in the time of this government, the way it is going.

I thought I would take this opportunity to dispel some myths that have been put out there by the government today. The government seems incredibly confused about the coalition’s First Home Owner Grant position. The coalition have consistently supported the measure and continues to do so. What we are puzzled about is why the government does not seem to want to back its own measure. The initiative has had success. I do not doubt it. In fact, I have applauded it in several statements. Housing finance figures show that loans for new housing construction increased by 2.5 per cent in January, following a much larger—9.9 per cent—increase in December. In addition, the proportion of first home buyers taking on housing finance commitments rose again, to 26½ per cent, in January, the highest on record.

These figures highlight the need for the federal government to increase their focus on stimulating construction in the private housing market, as opposed to the other measures they have put about in their big cash splashes and spending sprees. Last week, when the Prime Minister was asked about his first fiscal stimulus package and specifically about the effectiveness of his cash payments to create jobs, he hid under the skirts of the First Home Owner Grant and refused to answer the question. The coalition does not doubt that the First Home Owner Grant has been a successful measure. As the previous speaker, the member for Blaxland, outlined, it is a measure that the coalition has used on occasions to stimulate the economy, and it has been successful because it stimulates the private sector housing industry to go out there and create construction jobs.

So the issue I have with the government is: the government are happy to repeat their mistakes with cash splashes but they are not happy to repeat their successes. They are happy to go again when it comes to cash splashes, but when it comes to extending a measure that has proved to be successful, which the coalition also thought would be successful, they find it hard to say yes. We have a government that are happy to repeat their failures but not their successes. So we are seeing more billions of cash being splashed about in one-off payments, yet incentive for grants for new construction, which leverages private investment, cannot be afforded.

Under Labor’s plan, this can only be achieved by driving Australia even further into deficit and debt, a debt so far of $9½ thousand for every man, woman and child in Australia. Labor’s failure to set aside funds for this purpose from their $6 billion public housing program was reckless and irresponsible. Six billion dollars would pay for more than 280,000 new home construction grants at $21,000 each. That is twice the number of annual housing starts at current levels. By focusing only on public housing in their spending package, the government ignore the private housing sector, where more than 95 per cent of Australians live and more than 95 per cent of Australians working in the housing construction sector have a job, which they are at risk of losing under the government.

The coalition has supported $3½ billion in social housing initiatives announced by the government. The test of the $6 billion splashed in this package for social housing is not social housing outcomes; it is whether it acts as an economic stimulus. The test is whether it will deliver jobs. We need to get some balance back into our housing program and to acknowledge the urgent needs in our private housing sector. Building 20,000 homes in the social housing sector is not the challenge. We need to build an extra 200,000 homes in the private housing market, because that is where the pressure on prices is, that is where the pressure on rents is and that is where the stimulus needs to be directed.

State and territory housing agencies simply cannot deliver this package announced by the government on budget and on time. They need to start more than 30 houses every day for more than 500 days. And the person they have asked to do it is Nathan Rees. Nathan Rees is going to be the saviour and deliverer of the government’s budget stimulus package. Is it any wonder that those on this side of the House have no confidence that $6 billion can be delivered to social housing? Is it any wonder that those on this  side of the House say the government should start backing its successes rather than its failures with cash splashes and start putting money into areas of stimulus which generate private sector jobs in private sector housing?

This is the challenge that is before the government. They want to splash cash but they do not want to get out there and create jobs in the private sector housing industry, which accounts for 95 per cent of the opportunities, more than 95 per cent of the jobs. But we are going to narrowcast it and count on Nathan Rees to save the day. Well, the people of New South Wales know that day is never coming under Labor or under Nathan Rees.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have known for some time that the opposition have a passionate dislike for public housing. I am sorry to hear it confirmed yet again. We on this side of the House believe that you can have both public and private housing, and our policy reflects that. It is not a coincidence that the three government members speaking in favour of this motion tonight are from Western Sydney. Those of us who live in that area know that, over the last five or six years or so, rising interest rates—in fact, 10 interest rate rises in a row—have been wreaking havoc on families in Western Sydney, perhaps disproportionately to those in the rest of the country.

The sheriff’s office figures show that, over four years from 2004, in the worst-affected areas in Western Sydney, writs of repossession rose by up to six or seven times. The writs being enforced increased dramatically also during that period. I remember that repossessions in the little suburb of Northmead, just north of where I live, doubled in the first half of 2007 and then doubled again in the last half of 2007. In Blacktown, there were 85 writs of possession in 2007; in Parramatta, 23; in Wentworthville, a massive 21; and, in Winston Hills, 10. These are not just figures; they represent real people with real families. They also represent a whole range of people who work in housing construction. In an area like Parramatta, which has a very large construction industry, the decline in the housing market was impacting on families, not just those with mortgages but those who worked in the construction field. So it is a great relief to me and my colleagues in Western Sydney to see the turnaround. The combination of lower interest rates with the first home buyers grant has given a considerable boost to demand and breathed the very life back into the property market, bringing great relief to families suffering from mortgage stress and to first home buyers seeking to start out on that journey to homeownership.

Repossessions have plummeted in Western Sydney: in Blacktown from 85 in 2007 to 38 in the first eight months of 2008; in Northmead from 11 down to almost half; and in Wentworthville from 21 down to 11. Sales are absolutely up and it was clear even in the first week after the first home buyers boost was announced that things had changed. Driving home from the office, I could see queues outside homes open for inspection, for the first time in a few years. Real estate agents in my area were reporting that the number of people interested in properties had grown dramatically very quickly. The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales said that even in November the figures confirmed the evidence that the federal government’s first home buyer boost was having a very positive effect on first home buyers in the market.

The number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments rose from 23.6 per cent in November, when that statement was made, to 25.4 per cent in December 2008. That was the highest proportion since December 2001. So, in spite of the financial crisis and a history over several years of great pain in Western Sydney, we see quite a significant turnaround. In fact, property sales across all Western Sydney suburbs have soared in the three months to February this year, with some of the worst areas from the past, Liverpool, Campbelltown and Fairfield, with 12 per cent rises in sales and Blacktown, right on the edge of my electorate, with a 20 per cent increase in sales. A total of 8,455 contracts were exchanged on new and existing homes in that period, and that is up more than 1,100 over the same period last year. One of the really nice things about this turnaround is that young families are driving the new boom, with more than 50 per cent of all sales being first home buyers, with most solid growth in homes of less than $500,000. Again that trend has been confirmed by the real estate agents in my electorate. The turnaround has been quite phenomenal. We still have a long way to go in Western Sydney and the rest of the country but I commend the motion to the House. (Time expired)

Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the government motion put before the chamber today represents Rudd government rhetoric at its highest pitch. We see states across this nation, in particular in New South Wales and Queensland, where the state Labor governments have not done a single thing to improve housing affordability. In fact, by not abolishing land tax and stamp duty, they have only made matters worse. Yet we have Labor MPs standing before us here tonight gloating about a turnaround in repossession rates over the last several months. Clearly the Labor government believes in premature celebrations. The Prime Minister is constantly talking down the economy and driving away foreign investment and forcing Australian jobs offshore.

I contest that these measures have more to do with propping up the NSW Labor government that is doing nothing but mismanaging the state’s finances. Furthermore, it appears that the Rudd Labor government is intent on taking credit for the interest rate drops. It does not take an economist to work out that this is not due to government policy. Rather, it has been due to the global and now national economic slowdown. Many people struggling with mortgage commitments had to contend with a new, inexperienced government feverishly baiting the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates to cool the hyped-up demand in the economy. So if the government wishes to take the credit for the drop in interest rates this year then those opposite must take full responsibility for applying the initial pressure on mortgaged homeowners with their ridiculous ‘War on Inflation’, arguably the cause of much of the strain on the purse strings of many families in Western Sydney.

Furthermore, it is appalling that the government has put forward a motion condemning members of parliament for having the gall to question the biggest spending package since World War II. If I have to be condemned for refusing to sign a blank cheque and hand it over to a spendthrift, economically irresponsible government that makes policy on the run, then so be it. The government’s solution was to spend 10 billion Australian taxpayers’ dollars at Christmas, and yet it was reported in March that the Australian economy is expected to dip into recession this year. With a recession there is an inevitable loss of jobs throughout the economy. In Macarthur the closure of the Domayne retail store in Campbelltown in January saw 40 people put out of work. Thankfully, 30 of these people were able to find other places within the company, but that still means that a quarter of those employees are out of a job and battling to find work.

When former Prime Minister John Howard was asked before the last election what he could do to help people with interest rate rises, he said, ‘We will give them a job.’ The coalition government under John Howard gave Australia the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. In contrast, in Labor’s first year in government unemployment is set to rise nationally to 5.2 per cent. In Western Sydney we are looking at 7.5 per cent unemployment. Sadly, some of our most disadvantaged suburbs will again be hit the hardest. Unemployment in the suburb of Claymore now rests at 32 per cent and in Rosemeadow and Ambarvale there is nine per cent unemployment. With 295,000 new residents expected to move into Western Sydney over the next 20 years, there will need to be 106,000 new jobs created. Not all of these jobs will be created in the retail sector; the coalition believes the government will have to invest taxpayers’ money more wisely in long-lasting infrastructure to produce long-term gains for this nation.

Western Sydney is home to 1.7 million people and has the third largest economy in the country. The first of the community cabinet meetings was held earlier this year in my area of Campbelltown. I have to tell you, Mr Speaker, that the people up there received nothing more than a big community hype. It was nothing more than stage management to try and publicise what the government was trying to do. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister was late. He arrived 10 minutes late and gave 30 minutes of his time and the cabinet’s time to listen to the people of Western Sydney and their needs and concerns. If this is any example of what they have to do as far as listening to the people of Western Sydney is concerned then they—(Time expired)

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While I thank the honourable member for the promotion to the speakership, I have to advise him that I am only a Deputy Speaker.

David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion on housing by the member for Blaxland. I think it is a very good motion that goes to one of the most significant issues affecting residents in my electorate. Before I enter into discussion of the substantive elements of the motion, I will simply make a few observations about the comments that have come from those on the other side. I think it is interesting that, when we have a debate in this place that affects Western Sydney, we only end up having one of the three speakers on the other side who has a remote connection with Western Sydney. I commend the member for Macarthur, who I know grew up in Western Sydney and has lived in Western Sydney. He does not anymore, but no doubt in future debates, when we discuss the impact of the first home owners grant on the North Shore, he will have an even more contemporaneous contribution to make. I look forward to that.

I want to take issue with the comments of the member for Cook, who made the startling comment that he has been consistent and, indeed, the opposition has been consistent when it comes to the first home owners grant. I think his words were: ‘We have always supported this measure. It’s a good measure. We support it. We just want it to go a little bit further.’ I found it interesting that he would make that comment when, in a press release dated 29 October last year, he made a number of disparaging comments in relation to the doubling and the trebling of the first home owners grant. Under the headline ‘Government must explain impact of home buyers grant on rising rents’, he goes on to take up the case of the poor tenant coming to terms with the rising costs of rental. As someone in Western Sydney, I understand that rental costs have increased, but I also understand that there is only one party that has enunciated policies that go towards addressing some of those concerns, whether it be in the form of the National Rental Affordability Scheme or whether it be the measures that have been outlined in the stimulus package that address social housing. In that press release, the member for Cook went on to continue his disparaging remarks in relation to the first home owners grant to the point where he refers to it as a quick fix. He goes on and talks about some of the other things that should be done and says:

These are the hard yards of housing policy, not quick fixes that may serve to exacerbate the problem further …

We heard a bit earlier that the member for Cook says the opposition has always supported this measure. He has always supported the measure, except back on 29 October when the measure was simply a ‘quick fix.’ The quick fix has gone from being a quick fix to now being the panacea for all of the woes of not just the housing sector but the economy more generally.

Let us have a look at some hard evidence in relation to what has occurred since the first home owners grant has been doubled and trebled in relation to newly constructed properties. Let us have a look at one of the significant broadacre developments in Western Sydney, the Ropes Crossing project, which is being undertaken by Delfin Lend Lease. Since October, since the introduction of the first home owners grant measures, we have seen a 175 per cent increase in sales. By anyone’s measure, that is a success. Coupled with reduced interest rates—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Morrison interjecting

David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the comments of those opposite. I find it refreshing to hear some of those people from the other side come in and say, ‘Oh, it’s outrageous that a government might seek to take the credit for lower interest rates’—those who have run campaign after campaign alleging that somehow, with their hands on the levers, interest rates have managed to stay low. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, I ran in one or two of those elections unsuccessfully and the member for Cook was probably the one reading the focus group research determining that that was the line that was going to pull out the killer punch. The reality is that under this government we have seen measure after measure directed towards improving the situation so far as the affordability of housing in places like Western Sydney is concerned. With the stimulus package, we see an extension of that. The measures that will address social housing actually go towards the issue that the member for Cook raised, and that is the rising cost of rents. The government is the only party that has a plan. We will ensure housing affordability to the best extent possible. To the extent that government can play a role in this, we will ensure that housing is as affordable as possible. When the member for Cook says that he is consistent, go back and have a look at the transcript. Have a look at the press release of 29 October. (Time expired)

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Angela Saurine, in the Daily Telegraph today, writes:

IT’S the ugly truth of the economic downturn almost too heartbreaking to think about.

Entire families living in cars parked in suburban shopping centres.

Kids doing their homework in the back seat, not knowing what to tell their friends when they want to come over to play on their trampoline after school.

Parents getting ready for job interviews in public toilets.

It is the horror of homelessness, of people having nowhere to go. I kissed my little one-year-old and three-year-old boys goodnight tonight, thankful that they had a home to go to. I have seen the effects of homelessness not only in Australia but across the world. I have been in internal displacement camps. I have seen the horrors of civil war. I welcome the drop in home repossessions and the increase in home sales in Western Sydney, but the answer to homelessness starts and ends with three simple words, and they resound as true today as they will tomorrow—that is, jobs, jobs and jobs. The only things that keep people away from the streets are jobs. As Angela Saurine says:

Never in a million years did they—

these people—

think they would be in this position. All it took was one breadwinner to lose their job.

The answer is jobs.

Whilst I look at the $42 billion cash splash and I reflect on the $10 billion from December, I note that 80 per cent was saved—there are no jobs in that. I reflect on the $13 billion following—there are no jobs in that. As to the $6.4 billion in public housing, whilst it is commendable on the surface, 30 to 40 houses a day will have to be built by the same incompetent state governments that are racking up debt like there is no tomorrow. It has taken the states eight years to spend $6 billion; this government wants to do it in 18 months. The answer is not a failed hope in public housing; it is jobs.

Debate interrupted.