Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the Prime Minister: the great Aussie dream of homeownership was once the birthright of every Australian, but with the housing affordability crisis it's slipping away, and every member of this House knows it. My private member's bill would place a two-year ban on the foreign purchase of homes in Australia, taking pressure off the market straightaway. Earlier today, neither your government nor the opposition supported it. That's no support from the major parties. Why? Why won't your government give more Aussies a shot at the great Australian dream by supporting my bill?

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Calare for that question. I also want to thank him for his ongoing interest in housing and addressing our nation's housing challenges. As I said to him earlier, I also want to thank him for his support for Help to Buy. And in the long list of support from the crossbench, I forgot the member for Mayo, who I also want to thank for her support for Help to Buy.

We know that Australians are finding it more difficult to get a safe, affordable place to call home, which is why we want to invest in supply. As I've said here before: supply, supply, supply is the answer. In terms of foreign investment, while investment in building new housing is welcome, foreign ownership of existing homes is generally prohibited, as the member would know and as we discussed earlier in the chamber. In some limited circumstances, foreign residents can purchase a home while they're living in Australia, but they must sell it or rent it out when they leave. A foreign owners vacancy tax applies to any property if left vacant for more than six months.

We recently introduced into this House, and it's now going to the Senate, legislation that will triple the foreign investment fees for established houses and double the vacancy fees for foreign investors. The higher fees for established dwellings will encourage all foreign buyers to invest in new housing developments, boosting housing stock for Australians that need it. We want to encourage investment in new dwellings; we don't want to encourage people to be buying existing properties. We want to encourage people to be investing in new dwellings to add to supply, and that's what our change is about. Whilst I understand where the member's coming from with his legislation, as I said earlier, we're not in a position to support it, because we have a lot of policies—a broad, ambitious housing agenda—that will add to supply, and I've run through them numerous times in this House.

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd say to the member opposite, I'm happy to have a conversation with him about housing supply in this country.