Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Senate to call on the government to end the tax handouts for wealthy property investors that deny renters the chance to buy their first home.

The housing system in this country is completely and utterly broken, and there's a range of reasons for that, but the simple political reason for the housing system being in such crisis in this country is that our political landscape has been dominated by establishment political parties for many, many decades, and that status quo, the political establishment in Australia, has abjectly failed to build enough homes and has consistently incentivised property investors and property speculators and their interests over and above the interests of homeowners and of renters in Australia. The approach of this government, that we can fix one of the biggest problems facing this country without taking on entrenched power structures and without changing the direction of the political establishment, is a barefaced lie. Suggesting that small reforms and faffing around at the margins can actually solve these deep seated issues is a deceit, and it's a deceit perpetrated to ensure that the political establishment stays in power in this country.

Now, let's take a closer look at the housing crisis. This government oversees budget decisions that result in a staggering $165 billion over the next 10 years going in as direct subsidies through negative gearing and through the capital gains tax discount to property investors and speculators. These tax breaks overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest people in this country. They let them buy—encourage them to buy—multiple properties, in some cases hundreds of investment properties, while everyday Australians struggle to buy their first home or struggle to pay their fortnightly rent bills.

The tax system in Australia rewards speculative investment over real homeownership, and it rewards speculative property investment over the interests of renters. The capital gains tax discount means that investors pay half the tax that they should on property profits, which pushes home prices even higher and makes it harder for first-home buyers to compete. Ultimately, if we want to solve the housing crisis in Australia, we need to be prepared to take on the causes of that crisis. We need to build more homes and make sure they are affordable homes. We don't support the position articulated by Labor housing minister Ms Collins that property should be an asset class in Australia. Property—a home—is a human right. Everyone has a right to a safe, affordable, warm, dry home. That is a human right. We should not be treating homes as an asset class.

The Greens want to see an end to these obscene discounts, these obscene tax conditions, these direct public subsidies to wealthy property speculators. We want a fairer tax system whereby the big corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of tax and those taxes are used to help people who need support—by doing things like putting dental and mental health into Medicare, by doing things like raising income support, by doing things like wiping student debt. We need to stop the tens of billions of dollars every decade in handouts to wealthy property investors, and we need to use that money to build affordable housing, put a cap on rents and support first-home buyers.