Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—In respect of the Help to Buy Bill 2023, I move Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3160 together:

(1) Clause 25, page 17 (after line 21), after subclause (2), insert:

(2A) Directions in the Help to Buy Program Directions about the matter mentioned in paragraph (2)(c) must require housing Australia to prioritise entering into Help to Buy arrangements in relation to priority residential properties.

(2B) Directions in the Help to Buy Program Directions about the matter mentioned in paragraph (2)(d) must provide that the Commonwealth's maximum contribution under a Help to Buy arrangement in relation to a residential property is:

(a) if the property is a priority residential property—40% of the cost of acquiring the property; and

(b) otherwise—30% of the cost of acquiring the property.

(2C) For the purposes of subsections (2A) and (2B), a priority residential property is a residential property that:

(a) will be, is being or has been built; and

(b) has not been previously occupied; and

(c) is or will be a Class 2 building (within the meaning of the National Construction Code); and

(d) is or will be located within 800 metres of a train or light rail station, a tram, bus or ferry stop, or any other public transport service that is frequently available for use by the public.

(2) Clause 26, page 18 (after line 14), at the end of the clause, add:

(3) The Minister must not give a direction under paragraph 24(1)(a) that has, or is likely to have, the effect of:

(a) requiring a party to a Help to Buy arrangement to repay an amount to the Commonwealth if the party's income exceeds a specified threshold; or

(b) requiring the Board or Housing Australia to terminate a Help to Buy arrangement if the income of a party to the arrangement exceeds a specified threshold.

Despite months of keeping our doors open and despite months of offers to compromise and negotiate on securing some housing policies that will actually impact people's lives, Labor have refused to budge and made it clear that they don't care about the depth and the extent of the housing crisis. Last year, the Greens secured $3 billion in new investments for social housing, which is six times more than what the government has proposed to spend. This year, despite the need being even greater, the government has snubbed every opportunity to work together with the Greens again, and we are—we have to admit this—bitterly disappointed that Labor has turned down an opportunity to house up to 60,000 people currently on the brink of homelessness. The government's build-to-rent and Help to Buy schemes sound nice, but they really are just tinkering around the edges.

The Greens will, however, pass the government's bills, both build to rent and Help to Buy, because we're now just months away from an election and we want to focus on keeping Mr Dutton and his fearmongering and politics-of-division coalition out of the Lodge. That is going to be our focus. There does come a point in every negotiation where you've pushed as far as you can, and we have reached that point. We have tried so hard to get Labor to shift on soaring rents and negative gearing, but we couldn't get there this time around.

So we'll wave these housing bills through and take the fight to the next election, where we will keep Peter Dutton out and we will fight even harder for renters and first home buyers. We will wave through Labor's Help to Buy Bill and also Labor's build-to-rent bill after accepting that Labor doesn't care enough about first home buyers to do anything really meaningful for them, like scrapping the unfair tax handouts to property investors that drive up house prices or establishing a public developer to build and sell homes cheaply to save first home buyers up to $249,000.

The bill we're debating is deeply inadequate for the—really, you can call it monstrous—affordability crisis facing first home buyers, because, for the average family, the typical home costs eight times their income. It now takes 10 years to save for a deposit. If they've managed to save one, mortgage repayments could take up to 60 per cent of their income. How is that fair? Help to Buy tinkers around the edges, helping, at most, 0.2 per cent of renters every year and leaving the other 99.8 per cent behind to face a brutal housing system and doing nothing to address the out-of-control house price rises, which have really made it impossible to buy a house in most cities around the country.

We've also tried our best to work with Labor to secure changes to investor tax concessions that could see up to 770,000 renters become homeowners, but, like I said earlier, we have come to a point where Labor doesn't want to do anything more than just tinker around the edges. So here we are. But we will make one more attempt to make this bill better. That's what these amendments are about.

Through amendment (1) on sheet 3160 we are trying to secure changes that would encourage the affordable well-located medium-density housing our cities need that isn't being delivered. It is not being delivered by profit focused developers. We want to do that, rather than simply having an inflationary effect on the cost of existing housing and new-build suburban sprawl. This amendment would require Housing Australia to prioritise properties for the Help to Buy program that support the delivery of new affordable homes in medium- and high-density locations that are close to public housing. This would ensure that this bill delivers the housing that we need, rather than simply driving up the prices of existing homes. If the government were serious about delivering on the housing crisis and ensuring that the bill is fit for purpose, then they would support this amendment.

The second amendment prohibits the minister from directing that a participant in the Help to Buy program must repay the government share of their homes if they exceed the income threshold, following their successful entry into the program. The income thresholds are already so low. If the bill passes as is, participants may be penalised for changed circumstances, even after they have been able to buy a property. This income trap is really unfair. This amendment would ensure that Help to Buy homes remain affordable throughout the buyer's lifetime, without penalties for people going through any changing circumstances. I commend both the amendments to the Senate.