Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was remarking in my comments last night, for me the most important of the five schedules in this bill is the one on the expansion of the remit of the National Housing and Finance Investment Corporation. This will provide support through 10,000 guarantees over the next four years, from 1 July 2021, to eligible single parents with dependents so they can build a new home or purchase an existing home with a deposit of as little as two per cent, regardless of whether that single parent is a first home buyer or previous owner-occupier.

As I noted last night, I acknowledge that this will not help all single parents, but what it will do is recognise the importance of security of tenure and having a roof over your head. We know that, sadly, women in domestic violence or other circumstance of marriage breakdown particularly find it very difficult to find suitable housing. A lot of times they're forced into a situation where they're renting and they don't have security of tenure. Over the last little while, I've had plenty of examples given to me where what were formerly rental properties have been sold and those tenants have struggled to find other suitable accommodation. If they do go to inspect a property, there are 30 or 40 other people at that property and they have to pay up to six months rent in advance to secure that property, as well as pay a bond and other payments.

In establishing this Family Home Guarantee, the government has sought to provide a pathway to home ownership for single parents who have struggled to save a deposit while renting. Only last week, I was talking to a mum who was explaining to me the situation of her son, who is the custodial parent of their kids, and the difficulties that he was having. In part, this makes life that little bit easier for those who have the capacity to save a small deposit, and we've seen the success of that with various other schemes that this government has rolled out to assist people into the housing market through a guarantee model. We've also seen the success of that in the small business sector and in the additional finance that has flowed to small businesses as a result of the government guarantees of small business loans.

This should also be looked at in conjunction with a range of other measures that this government has rolled out over the last little while and as part of this budget. A large number of families across the electorate of Forde will benefit from our tax cuts. Many of those will be single parent families. We will also see the extended and expanded JobTrainer Fund, which will assist apprentices and trainees across my electorate take up job opportunities and expanded wage subsidies. We've already had nearly 2,500 apprentices and trainees across the electorate of Forde take up these measures. In addition, with the extension of low- and middle-income tax offset benefitting any number of families across the electorate, that, too, will assist those single parent families, and the additional benefits we've provided now through child care will also assist those families. So it's not just this particular measure, the Home Loan Guarantee, that is going to assist those families; it's a range of other measures that this government is already undertaking.

In addition, for families to be able to afford a home, whether it's rent but particularly to purchase it, one of the things they need is a stable income. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with the team at YFS at Logan and talking about their Thriving Families project, which brings in family coaches, a housing specialist and an integrated team to help homeless families move from crisis to thriving. While it might be a big leap to go from homelessness to home owner, I think, in part, the Family Home Guarantee means this isn't impossible. For vulnerable people, stable housing is more than just a nice thing to have. Stable housing, for many, is even better than job security, and it's better for the welfare of the children who might otherwise be changing schools and neighbourhoods on a regular basis.

While we were also at YFS, we were able to announce $600,000 in funding from the department of the Prime Minister's Women's Leadership and Development Program project grants. This grant will provide two years of funding to deliver the Spark women's employment mentoring in Logan and the Scenic Rim. We know that domestic violence and homelessness can cause trauma and disruption to the women involved, and, when women are out of work and have no access to money, their situation can be compounded. The purpose of the Spark program is to provide practical support to quickly re-engage them in the workforce. It helps women rebuild their economic independence, sense of purpose, social inclusion and confidence. We know from many studies that this is critically important to help people get their lives back on track and be able to contribute to society the way they wish to but, more importantly, to provide the resources necessary to look after their family and their children.

As I said earlier in my contribution, it's about the combination of these programs, whether it's the low- to middle-income tax offset, whether it's the tax cuts, whether it's the traineeships or the support for programs like SPARK and for the wonderful work that YFS does across our community of Logan and the Scenic Rim, and now this housing guarantee for single-parent families. I think it's a tremendous demonstration that this government is committed to making the lives of Australians better each and every day. I'm very pleased to be able to speak on this bill and to commend this bill, in its original form, to the House.

Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021 implements a number of minor Treasury law amendments, and we support this bill. I'll make a few observations on some of the schedules.

Schedule 1 increases the low-income threshold for the Medicare levy, changing thresholds in line with changes to CPI. This is a sensible and unobjectionable measure, and I just wanted to note that these changes will cut across single households, pensioners, families and students and will keep Medicare levy payment thresholds in line with inflation.

Schedule 2, as earlier speakers have noted, will change the objectives of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act 2018 to allow NHFIC to assist eligible single parents with dependants, and this is an objective that we on this side of the House support. The stated purpose of this measure is to allow the government to implement policies in relation to housing access and affordability for single parents entering the housing market. As speakers on this side of the chamber have pointed out, it will benefit some people, but it will benefit a relatively limited number of people compared to the numbers of single parents and, indeed, people on low incomes and vulnerable people in general seeking access to the housing market. So, while we hope that, once further details of this provision are released, this measure does provide benefit to some people, it is worth noting that it is not a broad-ranging or holistic response to what is an emerging, already present and worsening housing affordability crisis in this country.

Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition spoke at length and very eloquently about this yesterday and contrasted the Labor Party's policy, the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, with what is being offered to us by the government. As the Leader of the Opposition pointed out, all too often we see from the government ad hoc limited measures and all too often we see measures that are demand-side measures, which might appear superficially appealing at times but quite often do nothing more than add to price pressures. Any holistic response to housing affordability must include supply-side measures, and that is why it is so important that the opposition's policy adds significant new housing stock and does so for some of the most vulnerable people in our community—for women fleeing family violence and for veterans, who are at risk of homelessness, and for other vulnerable groups. The opposition is going to release an even more fulsome housing affordability package in the lead-up to the election, but even that first major component is a supply-side measure that is a major contribution to dealing with an issue that is already significant.

I want to stress that the opportunity for governments to act in this space is significant, given the historically low interest rates that we are experiencing. Of course, these historically low interest rates are in part driving some of the affordability issues, but we need to also look at opportunities on the government side to use those low interest rates and the government's balance sheet.

So I just want to take this opportunity to say that of course we support any measures that aim to provide increased access to housing for single parents, but I do stress that, when you look at what the government is offering, it is a range of somewhat piecemeal, ad hoc programs, compared to what the opposition is offering. We need a much more holistic set of policies and we need a much more ambitious set of policies that include material supply-side components.

Schedule 4 provides an income tax exemption for qualifying grants made to primary producers and small businesses affected by the February and March 2021 storms and floods. Again, we support measures that provide assistance to those that have been adversely affected by natural disasters—of course we do—but I do want to note the government's slow response to so many people arising from the 2021 bushfires. This is something which has been raised in this chamber by so many people on this side. It has been raised so powerfully, so eloquently and so passionately by people whose electorates were so directly affected. We had stories recounted in this chamber of people who, months and months and months after those natural disasters, still hadn't received assistance. It is a classic example of announcements being made with very large dollar figures attached but delivery occurring months and months after those announcements, if at all.

One can look at this budget. There are many, many areas where we see very large dollar figures attached to programs, but they're in areas where, from previous budgets, we see no delivery after months or, indeed, years. So I just want to stress that of course we support any kind of measures that provide assistance to people who have been adversely affected—any families and any businesses that have been adversely affected by natural disasters—but it's also important that we hold the government to account. The 2021 bushfires are unfortunately a classic example of where this government talked a big game, but there are all too many families who, months and months after the event, are still waiting for the announcements to lead to any actual positive results.

Finally, I want to make a few comments in relation to schedule 5. Schedule 5 relates to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and adds some organisations to the list of deductible gift recipients. There are many worthwhile organisations that have been added to that list, and we welcome that. I wanted to speak to one in particular—that is, the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, which, as a result of this bill, will be granted DGR status. Andy Thomas, of course, is an Australian hero. He was our first Australian astronaut. Andy obtained a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Adelaide in South Australia in 1978. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1992. He spent over 177 days in space.

I want to talk about the vision of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation. Of course we support the DGR status being granted to the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, but the vision of this organisation, I think, is a very powerful one. It also speaks to the fact it is absolutely critical that government gets behind this foundation not just in providing it DGR status but in terms of supporting the space ecosystem overall. The vision of the foundation is that it will support an ecosystem that promotes and supports the highest quality space activities in Australia to drive progress in education, research and innovation. The strategies that it pursues in trying to achieve that vision are advancing space education through STEM literacy; raising space awareness; making connections between space science, technologies and people's everyday lives; and contributing to the national space community through events and other educational opportunities.

The space sector is incredibly important not just in terms of its connection with basic and applied research but in terms of our daily lives. The space sector is one of the foundational components of so much scientific research. But, in our daily lives, many things that we do rely upon locational accuracy—we all, of course, get by these days without physical maps; we don't get lost in our electorates because we have phones telling us where to go—and this is the space sector benefiting us in extremely practical ways. We all know the many, many applications and results of research that arise from the space sector. I'll just mention a couple: CAT scans, LEDs, wireless headsets, portable computers, camera phones and, indeed, even some of the key ingredients of many baby formulas. I could go on. I could list 20 to 40 products and devices that were directly attributable to the space sector. I could list many key materials that were directly attributed to research that occurred in space in low- or zero-gravity environments.

Space is so critical for so much basic and applied research; indeed, the commercialisation of space is critical. On this side of the House, we look at the space sector as one aspect of industry that is ripe for massive expansion. The economics of space are remarkable. Even in 2018-19 in Australia, the space sector constituted over $4.5 billion and over 9,000 jobs, and of course that would be more now.

What about the global opportunity? Both public and private investment in global space constituted over $360 billion in 2019, and that figure was more than $20 billion higher than just three years earlier. Analysis undertaken just before COVID suggested that by 2040, the global space sector could constitute over $1.1 trillion in economic activity, so this is a massive sector. When you go back to some of the applications I just spoke of—the devices, the materials—and the pervasive nature of the space sector in our whole IT industry, it is absolutely clear that its importance in our economy is only going to grow.

We on this side have already put forward major policies, including a $15 billion fund to support industry. When talking about that, the shadow minister for employment, skills and national reconstruction has talked about the ways in which basic scientific research have inspired so many children, including himself, to take up science. This included the Apollo program in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and of course the landing in 1969. Today, the square-kilometre array in Australia—there is so much going on in science that is inspirational and has practical applications that is related to the space sector.

What I really want to say is the Andy Thomas Space Foundation is critical and giving it DGR status is worthwhile. But it is absolutely critical we also support the ecosystem. The vision of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation is to support an ecosystem based around STEM education, research and commercialisation. But for that you really take off in Australia, it is going to require substantial increases in government funding and government support across all of the elements of that ecosystem. So this is worthwhile but it is only a small step. It is going to require a very proactive government strategy to support a sector that is already employing so many thousands of Australians, that is already supporting so much basic research.

This bill points to the need for there to be so much more done in this sector. This is a bill we support; it contains a number of schedules. As I pointed out, in a number of areas, whether it be housing affordability, whether it be the response to natural disasters, whether it be supporting space ecosystem, the measures in this bill are welcome, the aspirations are welcome, but they allude in a number of instances to the fact that the government needs to do much more.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to make a short contribution to the debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021 because this bill is part of the Morrison government's plan to support those in our community who need it most. It includes assistance for those on low incomes through increases to the Medicare levy thresholds. It includes measures to help single parents with dependents to build or purchase a home, support Australians thalidamide survivors and assist primary producers and small businesses affected by the recent storms and floods—all important issues. We know these measures will directly benefit local residents in my electorate of Robertson and across the Central Coast. Each of these measures is part of our plan to help stimulate the economy, to help generate jobs and to boost our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schedule 1 of the bill increases the Medicare levy low-income thresholds for single-parent families, seniors and pensioners from the 2020-21 income year and for future income years in line with changes to the consumer price index. This will mean that low-income households who did not pay the Medicare levy in 2019-20 generally will not pay it in 2021, if their income has increased in line with or by less than the CPI. The Medicare levy low-income thresholds ensure that people who pay no personal income tax because of the tax-free threshold and other offsets generally don't incur the Medicare levy. This will ensure that those who need support will retain more of their income, which is particularly important because of the rising costs of living and pressures already facing working families. I know that this will be a welcome relief for a number of hardworking people in my local electorate of Robertson.

Schedule 2 of the bill introduces an amendment to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act 2018 to implement the Family Home Guarantee. It does this by expanding the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation's functions to enable it to provide 10,000 guarantees over four years, from 1 July 2021, to eligible single parents with dependants. These grants will allow eligible recipients to build a new home or purchase an existing home with a deposit of as little as two per cent, regardless of whether that single parent is a first homebuyer or a previous owner-occupier.

The Morrison government recognises the importance of housing in providing a foundation for social and economic security, and that's why this government is providing a pathway to home ownership for single parents with dependants, many of whom have struggled to save enough for a deposit while paying rent and meeting other costs. It will allow them to purchase a home sooner with limited savings, subject of course to the individual's ability to service a loan. This particular measure is one that I know many members of the House have risen in support of, and I add my voice in support of this measure. It's a measure that's very important to people in my electorate of Robertson and it's important to the Central Coast region, particularly given the rising house prices that we've seen and the fall in rental vacancies.

Many families are expressing to me their difficulties in finding a home and making sure that, when they do need to move, there is a place for them. We're finding, with COVID, that the Central Coast, which we have always considered to be one of the nation's best kept secrets as the best region in the best country in the world to live, is being discovered by many people to be the best place to live. They are coming to the Central Coast in droves, which is really pushing up the price of housing across the Central Coast. It's also pushing down the rental vacancies and pushing up rental prices, which is making it really tough for many families. I support this measure because I believe it is going to help more families to be able to stay in the community in which they live and more single-parent families to purchase a home of their own. As somebody who is now a single parent with two dependent children, I know that this comes with its own unique set of challenges, situations and circumstances. I certainly strongly support this measure and welcome it for those it will benefit.

Schedule 3 of the bill recognises that victims of thalidomide have also suffered immense challenges. It targets support to those who have been impacted by circumstances beyond their control, resulting in a lifetime of pain and hardship. The budget provided support to these survivors through a payment in recognition of their suffering and their increased cost of living due to disability. Schedule 3 of this bill exempts those payments from income tax and from the social security and veterans' entitlement income test. These amendments need to be made before annual payments commence in the first half of the 2021-22 financial year. I'm really proud to be part of a government that's looking out for those who have endured hardship and that is delivering measures that will help provide much needed relief.

Schedule 4 to the bill will provide income tax exemption for qualifying grants made to primary producers and small businesses affected by this year's storms in February and March and the floods in Australia. Qualifying grants include small business recovery grants of up to $50,000 and primary producer recovery grants of up to $75,000, which, following the passage of this bill, will be deemed to be non-assessable, non-exempt income for tax purposes. These grants provide support, alongside assistance that the Australian and state governments have already made available, to be able to help local communities impacted by the storms and floods in February and March of this year begin to rebuild and recover following these devastating events.

I know that they impacted a number of communities in my own electorate, including those along the Hawkesbury River, with residents in Spencer, Wisemans Ferry and Gunderman being directly impacted. This particular area in my electorate has really been through a lot in recent years. Last summer's bushfires threatened property and the heavy rains early last year, in 2020, also caused damage. The effects of these events can be long-reaching. I know this myself, with a massive tree crashing through my own house over six years ago during the superstorms of April 2015. It caused significant damage to my home. The damage to the home was one thing, but the long-lasting ramifications and impacts have actually been felt for several years. So I strongly support these measures, because I know that this support will be welcome among those impacted by these storms and I also know that the recovery doesn't end with the end of the event.

Finally, among other important changes, schedule 5 to this bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to include a number of organisations on the list of deductible gift recipients, including the Alliance for Journalists' Freedom, the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, Youthsafe, the RAS Foundation, the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and the Great Synagogue Foundation Trust. This allows members of the public to receive tax deductions for donations of $2 or more that they make to these organisations.

This bill does deliver support to those who need it most. It does help to stimulate the economy and boost our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has direct benefit and will assist local residents and families in my electorate of Robertson, across the Central Coast and around Australia. It is an important part of our economic plan, and I commend the bill to the House.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021. Labor, as we've heard from members on this side who spoke before me, will be supporting it. The bill has five schedules. I don't propose to go through each and every one of those schedules, but I do want to touch on just two: firstly, schedule 2, which expands the objective of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. This, we hear from the government is supposed to support single parents. But we know that only approximately 10,000 single parents will benefit from this particular change. When you look at the demographics of our nation, there are approximately one million single parents in Australia. So it's only a drop in the ocean. Again, it's a classic example of seeing the government great on its spin and great on the marketing but the reality on the ground is that this measure will affect very few people and change very few people's lives. So even though we welcome this measure, it doesn't go far enough and is very, very minimalistic.

The other schedule I want to touch on is schedule 5. This includes several new additions to the list of deductible gift recipients, or DGRs. I want to touch on a particular group in my electorate, the South Australian Viet Nam Charity Group, who, I was very pleased to hear, has just received DGR status. They do great work not just in my electorate but also in Vietnam. They do fundraising, they collect money and they take it over to Vietnam and are supporting a number of orphanages. These are Vietnam vets that came back from Vietnam, got together and formed this charitable group. It's run by an incredible group of people—Ray Whellum (chair), Ryk Traeger, Wayne Honeychurch, Tony French, Lloyd Stevens, Dean Ryan, Ian Muir, Dave Thomas and Kelli De Lacey.

I've been involved with them as their patron. For a number of years, I assisted and tried to do everything I could to get DGR status for them. On many occasions they were knocked back. There was lots of red tape. So much effort and work went into it, so I'm pleased that, with this bill, they are now registered. They have their DGR status and can continue to do the great work of collecting money, doing fundraisers here in Australia, and sending it overseas to these wonderful orphanages. I have visited the orphanages on a number of occasions, and I have felt so proud to see a big plaque saying 'Supported by the South Australian Viet Nam Charity Group'.

We will be supporting this bill. I don't want to go on too much about this, but I certainly want to say that this is something that should have taken place a long time ago. We had an inquiry into it. There were a number of recommendations. The government hasn't responded to all the recommendations, nor implemented them, but we will be supporting this bill.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to stand up and speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill today. There are a number of aspects to this bill which I will touch on in my remarks this morning. As with many things with this government, there are some good things that the bill contains, but it is by no means enough. By no means is this government doing enough. There are two big schedules. One touches on health and the other touches on housing.

To health first of all, schedule 1 refers to the increase in the low-income threshold for the Medicare levy. Obviously the Labor Party supports that. We want to make sure that health care is affordable for all and that we have universal health care, not the death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach that those opposite have been trying to push since they came in. We all remember the 2014 budget, where Joe Hockey tried to bring in the GP co-payment so that people would have to pay to go and see a doctor. We will never forget those days. But we of course support a measure to help ensure people are able to afford health care in this country.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the No. 1 health challenge that we face in this country right now, and that is the vaccine rollout. It's all very well and good for the government to come in and increase the Medicare levy, but they are taking absolutely no action when it comes to their failed vaccine rollout. I'm about to go back to the great state of Victoria, where there are a lot of very nervous businesses and very nervous families right now. Can I remind the House of the way in which this particular outbreak occurred. A man went to India. He didn't catch the virus in India; he caught it in hotel quarantine in Adelaide, in South Australia. He then went to Victoria and spread the Indian variant of the coronavirus around the community.

To make matters worse, we are finding out via a press release by the health minister that there are at least 30 aged-care facilities that haven't even had one vaccination yet—not even one. We saw the devastating effect that not vaccinating our aged-care population had when the coronavirus raged through Victoria last time. And what did they do? What was their response? They didn't kick into gear and do everything possible to exercise the full resources of the federal government to protect the people of Australia and the people of Victoria. What did they do?

What did the Prime Minister say? He said: 'It's not a race; there's no urgency; there's no rush; look how great it is in Australia'—all that sort of stuff. Yes, we have had it really good in Australia. We've been lucky. But being lucky doesn't get you through a pandemic. Being thorough gets you through a pandemic.

This government, with its failed vaccine rollout, is leaving Victorians vulnerable, leaving Australians vulnerable, leaving the aged-care system vulnerable. They said that we were going to get to four million vaccinations by the end of March. That meant we were going to have to vaccinate about 120,000 Australians per day. It became clear that we were not going to be able to do that via the way in which this federal government—the health minister—designed this vaccine rollout, and that we were not even going to get anywhere near 120,000 vaccinations per day. Did he take a breath, gather in the troops, bring people into his office and say, 'Alright, folks; how are we going to fix this? Let's find a way through it. Let's ramp up our activity. Let's get this done'? No, no. That was way too hard for the health minister. What did he do? What did the Prime Minister do? They said: 'Well, we're just not going to have targets. It's too hard. We're not going to bother having targets. Forget anything that we ever said about having targets. That's too difficult.'

Well, Australians are paying the price. Businesses are paying the price. Victorians are paying the price for this government throwing their hands in the air, throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and saying: 'It's all too difficult. Forget the targets that we had in the first place. It's too difficult. It's too much for us. It's just too hard.' Well, today Victorians face another lockdown. We face businesses being shut tomorrow. We face families being isolated. We face the anxiety of being isolated because of this really awful virus. The federal government, instead of ensuring that the vaccine is rolled out in order to protect their citizens, throw their hands in the air and don't take responsibility. They made lots of announcements and were happy to put Liberal Party branding on the announcements, but they will walk or run for the hills when it comes to actually taking any responsibility.

Last night the federal health minister made an announcement that he was going to send a few extra vaccines to Victoria. He literally waited until people were sick until he bothered to try and do something to fix his vaccine rollout. Imagine that. Imagine not doing it in order to prevent people from getting sick but waiting until Australians and Victorians have gotten sick before doing anything about the vaccine rollout.

Schedule 2 of this bill goes to a measure around assisting single parents to be able to get into the housing market, which obviously the Labor Party supports, because it has never been more difficult, in the history of our country, to get into the home market. Under their watch, under eight years of flat wages and rising house prices, under eight years of stagnant wages for Australians, Australians have been left behind by a housing market that is running away from too many of them. If you are 30 years of age today, there is a less than four in 10 chance that you are going to be able to get into the housing market in Australia. It never used to be like that. The majority of Australians used to be able to get into the housing market, but not anymore. Now less than 40 per cent of young Australians can get into the housing market.

The government pat themselves on the back and they say, 'We're doing all of these things,' and the Minister for Housing comes into this place and says, 'Look at me, look at me, look at me,' but the truth is, out on the streets, it has never, ever been harder for Australians to get into the housing market. It makes a difference, because those people who are able to get into the housing market in Australia are retiring with a net worth of around $980,000, and those Australians who do not get into the housing market are retiring with around $40,000 of net worth. Being a homeowner in this country is a great wealth creator. It's a great way for Australians to raise capital and to find financial security. But, under this government's watch, it has never been harder to get into the housing market, which means that more and more Australians are being pushed into the rental market, which means rental prices are going up, which means more and more Australians are in rental stress—spending more than 30 per cent of their income on their rent payments. Housing is becoming unaffordable.

While these measures are good—they are good—they will not address the supply issues in this country. We're only ever tinkering with demand. The government, with their policy for housing, do not tinker with supply; they tinker with demand.

We need to be building more houses. We need to be building more affordable houses. We need to be building more social housing. Housing needs to be more affordable in this country. That's why the Labor Party has a plan—a $10 billion fund—to get building, to deal with supply. We cannot just put more money into the demand side of the equation—it's just going to keep pushing housing prices through the roof—especially given the government's absolute reluctance to tackle wages in this country.

We need to deal with supply, but the only thing that this housing minister is willing to do is to fob it all off to the states—to not accept any responsibility. Well, that's not good enough. We need a federal government active in this space, a federal government that is committed to safe and secure housing for Australians. But not under this federal government.

Finally, I just want to mention, before I hand over to my learned colleague the member for Parramatta, that there are a number of changes to the DGR status for some groups. There are some wonderful organisations. This is always a very important process for a number of local organisations and I thank all of the organisations who have gone through all of this lengthy process.

But I do want to mention the Sydney Chevra Kadisha and the Great Synagogue in Sydney—even though I am a proud Melbournian. The Chevra Kadisha is an institution that is there for people in the most difficult of times. It is an outstanding organisation run by outstanding people. It must be a very, very difficult job, to bring comfort to people at the end of someone's life, but they do it with distinction. I congratulate them on getting this DGR status.

So, in summary, the federal government needs to get their vaccine rollout right. They need to do something about housing—and all of this tinkering around the edges is good, but it's not enough.

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

I'm pleased to rise to speak on this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021. As the Deputy Speaker, Ms Bird, would know, I've been speaking on Treasury laws amendment bills for the last 17 years. They can really be quite interesting little bills. They are usually bills that address small things to do with other pieces of legislation or other things that governments have announced, and they all come together in these Treasury laws just to clean up little bits, usually—for example, in this one, whether payments to small businesses for emergency relief because of the bushfire and the drought are tax-deductible or whether they're counted as taxable income. So there are a number of schedules in this bill that just clean up small things like that.

I'm not actually going to talk about those today. I'm standing today because I want to talk about schedule 2—housing. Schedule 2 relates to the federal government's recently announced Family Home Guarantee measure. It was announced in the budget and it creates 10,000 new places for single parents with dependents. At first glance, when you hear that, you think: 'Wow! Ten thousand single parents getting into housing!' But, as with everything that this government announces, the announcement is more than the reality. So I want to have a look at the reality of this today.

But, first, I want to talk about Parramatta itself. If there were ever a place in Australia where we need to consider the housing needs of its residents, it's Parramatta. People arrive from around the world to settle in Parramatta. It's an incredibly diverse population, with a really flat bell curve. We're one of the 25 per cent highest income areas, but we have areas of considerable poverty as well. There are lots of tradies. There's lots of university education. It's a really interesting flat bell curve. If you don't get housing right for Parramatta, you don't get housing right for the country, because we contain, apart from rural Australia, everything else mixed together in Parramatta. We have safe Liberal wealthy areas to the north, quite poor safe Labor areas to the south, lots of working class, lots of educated, lots of public servants, a big health precinct. It's a really interesting population.

Our median house price crossed the million-dollar mark a number of years ago. It sits at $1.2 million now. Our median unit price in Parramatta is about $635,000. So we are in an area where living in Parramatta is not a possibility for many people who work in Parramatta. Firefighters, nurses, ambulance drivers, teachers—you name it—buying a home in Parramatta is out of reach for the vast majority of people who live there, and that's something that governments should be concerned about. That is something that governments should absolutely be concerned about, because every hour that people spend travelling is time that they don't spend with their families, and they are the genuinely non-productive hours. The hours spent sitting in your car or sitting in public transport travelling an hour or an hour and a half each way, sometimes two hours in Sydney, to work are useless hours. They do not contribute anything to a family or to a community or to the economy. They are useless hours, and we should be working hard to reduce them. Doing that requires that governments address the cost of housing in places where people work, but it seems that it's the other way at the moment, that where the housing prices are least affordable is where all the work is. It's a really interesting dilemma that we have in places like Parramatta, particularly as the workforce moves to becoming gig workers, with more flexibility in the working hours, which makes travelling to and from work even more difficult. Split shifts become impossible. Working at night becomes difficult, particularly for women, who may consider it a bit risky to travel two hours home at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock at night. Again, there are lots of things we need to consider, but housing is central to so much in our economy.

So what has the government done here? There are 10,000 new places for single parents. Let's start by saying it's 10,000 new places over four years, so it's 2½ thousand places per year for the next four years. That means 2½ thousand single parents who may be able to get assistance from the government and only pay a two per cent deposit on a house that they can buy. There are 151 electorates and 2½ thousand places, so I calculate that, if it is spread out evenly, it will be 16½ single parents in my electorate each year. It's one hell of an announcement, but when you break it down and say, 'What actually is it?' it's 16½ single parents per year for four years who may get assistance from this government to buy a house by contributing as little as a two per cent deposit—16½ people. There are 738 single parents in Parramatta. I calculate that even if no more single parents joined the queue—if we just started with 738 and there were no more—it would take 45 years to get to the end of it, even if no more people joined the queue. But I can tell you there are going to be more than 16½ single parents who join the queue next year. This is going to do nothing, really, for the group of people in my area who are struggling to buy a house. On numbers alone it's just laughable. It will be 16½ people per electorate each year for four years—64 people in total of 738. That's it: 10,000 nationwide out of a million single parents over four years. Numbers wise, it doesn't stack up. It's a great announcement, and for those 16 people—by the way, I'll be going out in my electorate and making sure that 16 people find this. I'll be making sure that we get our 16. But you really can't make a splashy announcement as if you're doing something extraordinary when that's the actual number you're talking about.

The second thing I want to talk about is not how many but who. Who will actually line up for this? The government says that as long as the household income is less than $125,000 you can apply for this. They capped the income at $125,000. That's fine. But the reality for single parents is actually much less than $125,000. In fact, the Melbourne institute shows the median income for a single income with one child is $54,000 after tax. That means that, of those one million Australians who are single parents, 500,000 of them earn less than $54,000 and 500,000 of them earn more than $54,000. Housing advocates have welcomed the change, but they indicated that the benefit will only really flow to single parents earning between $80,000 and $125,000 a year. So, again, the vast majority of parents, half of which earn less than $54,000, will not be able to access this scheme because they simply don't earn enough to pay for the housing that's available.

In my electorate, the median unit price is $625,000. But CoreLogic data for about 1,000 New South Wales suburbs shows that there's only one suburb in Western Sydney that a single parent on the median wage would actually be able to afford. Single parents with two children have a median income of $56,000 after tax, and that means they could borrow, according to Mortgage Choice, between $350,000 and $375,000 for a house. That doesn't even come halfway for a unit in Parramatta. There is one suburb in Western Sydney, Carramar, where the median price is under that $345,000. That is it.

So who are the lucky 16½ people in my electorate that might actually access this? They would be the people earning right up to that $125,000—and good; great for them, fantastic. I'll be really happy for the 16½ people. But I'm really distressed for the other 722 single parents in my electorate that are not assisted by this at all. The vast majority of them will never be able to afford to buy a house; they have to rent. Rents in Parramatta are also through the roof. The median rent is well over $450 a week. So, again, if the government genuinely wants to do something for housing for single parents—not the ones right up the top end but the vast majority of them, the 500,000 who earn less than $55,000 a year and the many, many more who earn between that $55,000 and $80,000—they need to get into social housing. They need to look at supplying housing and not doing what they're doing with every policy they have, which is driving demand, which pushes the prices up. It'll help 16½ people in my electorate buy a house, and it'll push the price up for everybody else. It'll push the price up for those that can't afford it. It will increase unaffordability of housing, not decrease it. They must get into social housing.

The only solution for so many people is renting. They need to be able to rent or be assisted into long-term rentals in places close to where they work, and the government do nothing for that. They push up house prices with everything they do. They help a small number of people use taxpayers' money to buy their own house, and they push the price up for everybody else. That's what this policy does.

Labor have a different approach altogether. We believe that, as well as assisting people to buy houses, you also need to assist people who are struggling to find permanent, long-term accommodation. That actually helps a family to thrive. The government talks a lot about hardworking Australians. I can tell you: a single parent with three kids is pretty hardworking. That doesn't mean they can get ahead and buy a house, because not everybody who works hard is rewarded with a large salary. In fact, most aren't. They work ridiculously hard. They work alongside lives that are sometimes unimaginable to some of us, but that doesn't mean they can get ahead. You have to start investing in the supply of housing in places where people work and make it possible for lower paid people in this country to thrive.

Imagine being a single parent on less than $55,000 a year—because that's the median; half of them earn under that—with insecure, irregular work; difficulty accessing child care because child care is not flexible enough; and every two or three years effectively having to move from where you live because the landlord sells or whatever. You've got your kids in school. You're trying to get to and from work, you're building relationships in the community, and you do not have a secure place to live during the period that your children are in school, and you have to move. I meet people like that every day. I meet people in that position every single day, because so much of the low-rental housing in Parramatta is owned by investors who buy properties for a period of time, rent them out, and then develop them. So renters don't get this long lease; they get short leases. They're in there for a while and then they have to move. And when they move they then they have the whole issue of how they get their children to school, where do they work, how do they get home—all of that. If they do have their kids in child care, they have to get them by 6 pm or pay the fine, even though they have to travel an hour and a half to get there. All of this stuff is only solved by housing.

That's why Labor has a $10 billion, off-budget housing future fund in mind, when in government, to build social and affordable housing now and in the future. To build 20,000 new social housing properties, including 4,000 homes for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness, and to build 10,000 affordable homes for the heroes of the pandemic, the frontline workers like police, nurses and cleaners who kept us safe. That's a housing policy. That's a housing policy that will affect lives and affect them in large numbers. That's what you expect a government to do. You expect a government to look at the circumstances in which people live, to look at the circumstances—sometimes out of their control—and help those families to thrive.

This legislation doesn't do it. Well, for 16½ single parents in my electorate, maybe it does. Again, to the government, thank you for assisting 16½ people a year in my electorate—the 16½ single parents each year for the next four years who will be able to access the Family Home Guarantee. Thank you very much for that, but I would like you to come back and tell me what you're going to do for the other 722 in my electorate, most of whom earn considerably less than $80,000 a year and, by all of the research that's out there at the moment, simply would not be able to afford to buy anything at all within an hour or an hour and a half of where they currently are. One suburb—one suburb!—in Western Sydney, Carramar, is affordable to single parents on the median wage. So I'd really love the government to come in and tell me what they're going to do for the other 722 people. But, thank you very much. As a representative of the 16½ people in my electorate who might actually get housing because of this: thank you very much.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to thank those members who have contributed to this debate. Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021 amends the Medicare Levy Act 1986 and A New Tax System (Medicare Levy Surcharge—Fringe Benefits) Act 1999 to increase the Medicare levy low-income thresholds for singles, families, seniors and pensioners, consistent with increases in the consumer price index.

For individual taxpayers, no Medicare levy will be payable for those with a taxable income that does not exceed $23,226 in 2020-21. Single seniors and pensioners with no dependents who are eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset will not incur a Medicare levy liability if their taxable income does not exceed $36,705 in 2020-21.

As well as these individual thresholds, further relief is available for low-income couples and families. Couples and families not eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset will not be liable to pay the Medicare levy for 2020-21 if their combined taxable income does not exceed $39,116, plus $3,597 for each dependent child or student. Couples and families eligible for seniors and pensioners tax offset will not be liable to pay the Medicare levy for 2020-21 if their combined taxable income does not exceed $51,094 plus $3,597 for each dependent child or student. The amendments to the Medicare levy low-income thresholds apply to the 2020-21 year of income and future income years.

Schedule 2 to the bill will enable the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to provide 10,000 Family Home Guarantees over four years, commencing 1 July 2021, to single parents with dependants, predominantly women, seeking to enter or re-enter the housing market sooner. By establishing the Family Home Guarantee, the government is providing a pathway to homeownership for single parents with dependants to purchase a modest home sooner, subject to the individual's ability to service a loan.

Schedule 3 to the bill will exempt eligible payments made by the Australian government to thalidomide survivors from income taxation and from the social security and veterans entitlements income test. As announced in the 2021 budget, the Australian government will provide $44.9 million over four years and $3.9 million per year ongoing to thalidomide survivors.

Schedule 4 to the bill provides an income tax exemption for qualifying grants made to primary producers and small businesses affected by the February and March 2021 storms and floods, which had a devastating impact on communities in Australia. This schedule provides that qualifying grants are category D grants, provided under the Commonwealth State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018, where those grants relate to the storms and floods in Australia that occurred due to rainfall events between 19 February 2021 and 31 March 2021. These include small business recovery grants of up to $50,000 and primary producer recovery grants of up to $75,000. These grants provide support in addition to other assistance that the Australian and state governments have provided to assist communities as they begin to build and recover following these devastating events. Impacted small businesses and primary producers are encouraged to apply for these grants. Further information on disaster recovery assistance is available on the Disaster Assist website.

Schedule 5 to the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to include the Alliance for Journalists' Freedom Limited, the Andy Thomas Space Foundation Limited, Youthsafe, the RAS Foundation Limited, the Judith Nielsen Institute for Journalism and Ideas and the Great Synagogue Foundation Trust on the list of deductible gift recipients. This bill also extends the specific listing of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation as well as Sydney Chevra Kadisha. Deductible gift recipient status allows members of the public to receive income tax deductions for the donations they make to these eight organisations. By granting deductible gift recipient status to these eight organisations, the government is supporting them in providing valuable services to their communities. I commend this bill to the House.

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

The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Indi has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.