Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing. When the HomeBuilder scheme was announced, on a freshly laid lawn in a housing estate three months ago, the minister said it would spark a tradie-led recovery of our economy. The Treasury says that, as at 14 August, only 39 people have applied to renovate their home. Why does the government always make a big announcement but never deliver?

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The shadow minister has very, very old figures there. We've got a few updates to what he has outlined. We've had 3½ thousand applications. In the first week that Victoria opened up their applications for HomeBuilder, we had 1,100 applications in a week.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin is warned.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since HomeBuilder was announced on 4 June, we've seen new home sales increase by 77 per cent—

Mr Hill interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will just pause for a second. The member for Bruce will leave under 94(a).

The member for Bruce then left the chamber.

I've warned a number of people a number of times. Just to remind them, in case they've forgotten: they are the member for Sydney, the member for Rankin—and I've got all the others written down. I won't detain the House, but you should know who you are. If you don't, bad luck.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The shadow minister needs to engage with the sector more. If he did, he would understand that a 77 per cent increase in new home sales, in the month after HomeBuilder, led the head of the Master Builders Association to say, 'This is the most effective government stimulus that we have seen in decades'—a 77 per cent increase in new home sales. In the first week that Victoria opened up formal applications—there were 1,100 applications in Victoria alone. The Master Builders Association and the Housing Industry Association have been lauding this scheme day after day. If the shadow minister paid any attention to it, he wouldn't ask foolish questions like the one he just asked. This program is keeping hundreds of thousands of tradies in work—not just tradies on building sites, not just the bricklayers and the carpenters, but the manufacturing workers who make the bricks, glass and tiles and the timber mill workers who make the frames and trusses.

The chief economist at the HIA, in contrast to what the shadow minister has just said, said the following:

… HomeBuilder has arrested the decline in New Home Sales and will protect jobs in the sector into 2021.

Treasury estimates that 27,000 new projects, whether they are new home sales or substantial rebuilds, will fall into the HomeBuilder scheme. The HIA and the MBA are far more optimistic than that.

At the moment we've seen new home sales increase by 77 per cent in the first month since the announcement. We've seen the two main industry bodies, the Master Builders Association and the Housing Industry Association, repudiate everything the shadow minister says. We stand on the side of new home buyers and homeownership. Whether it's the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, which has seen more than 10,000 people access their first home, or whether it's people who will receive this $25,000 grant, we are on the side of new home buyers and tradies who work in the construction sector, and the Labor Party can oppose it all they like.