Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

I will respond briefly. I do not accept your claim about ‘nebulous and amorphous’ responses. I am going to give you another response with respect to a specific issue in stamp duty. But, where the questions have sought quite specific answers, I believe I have given specific detail where appropriate—in fact, Senator Joyce, you objected when I went through some very specific detail with respect to government debt levels as a proportion of GDP and the stimulus packages. It was very detailed. That was in response to not just your question here but the question at estimates.

On the issue of states purchasing homes, and their own stamp duty laws, they would apply to the purchase. That is only likely under some ownership arrangements. The net financial impact on the state is zero. For example, if they paid $10K in stamp duty, less they receive $10K, the stamp duty revenue is zero to net cost. Where the states’ housing authorities have an exemption from stamp duty laws, there is also no financial cost. We understand this is the case with state housing authorities. In neither of these cases would the Commonwealth in effect be funding the stamp duties.