Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKim has submitted a proposal under standing order 75 today:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to 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."

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to 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.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on this matter of urgency submitted by the Greens. To some extent I agree that it is urgent we have a discussion on housing policy in this country, because the alliance we have seen form between the Greens political party and the opposition in this chamber has had what I believe to be a disastrous impact on the ambition of this government to advance housing policy in Australia. We've seen the Greens and the opposition team up to stand in the way of the Housing Australia Future Fund, the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade, which the Greens party delayed for six months so they could keep campaigning on housing affordability rather than trying to fix it. We've seen this alliance team up to stand in the way of Help to Buy, a national shared equity scheme designed to help more Australians into homeownership, which the Greens have voted against in the other place and which has been delayed for four months so far. And now we're seeing this alliance of the opposition and the Greens standing in the way of more help for renters by holding up Build to Rent.

Time after time, as our government is determined to do meaningful policy reform to address housing supply in Australia, our efforts have been hampered by this alliance between the opposition and the Greens in this chamber. Time after time, as we've brought measures to increase supply to this chamber, the Greens have stood in the way, joined by the opposition. Let's be clear: the motion we have before us does not deliver another home in Australia. It does absolutely nothing to ease the cost of housing for Australians. It does absolutely nothing to assist Australians with the cost of their rent. This is just another political stunt on the floor of this place. It delivers nothing in the real world. It delivers nothing for the people in Australia who are desperately seeking action on housing supply, who are desperately seeking help with rent and who are desperately seeking to be able to afford to buy their own home.

Time and time again, the only party in this place actually bringing anything to this chamber that would make any difference to housing supply is the Australian Labor Party, and, time and time again, the major roadblock to that has been the alliance between the Greens and the Liberals and the Greens and the opposition party in this place. The fact is that, when it comes to housing, we have a supply issue in this country. That is what our government is solely determined to address.

We know this is having an impact on young Australians, in particular. It is millennials—my generation—and the younger generations that feel most let down and locked out by the issues in housing supply in Australia. It is our generation that feels like this dream, this aspiration, is beyond them. It is this generation that needs us to do something in this place to have a meaningful impact and take meaningful action on addressing supply so that they, too, can own a home, so that's not only an aspiration or a dream of their parent's generation but something they can hold.

We have the Greens political party constantly come into this place and prevent meaningful action, meaningful reform, or delay that reform, because it suits their political agenda and their political purpose of the day. But you don't get more houses in Australia through memes; you don't get more houses in Australia through motions on the floor of this place that don't deliver legislative change, that don't increase funding and that don't do anything to enact agreements made by National Cabinet that would actually deliver houses.

From the opposition's perspective, I fundamentally reject the idea that young Australians, millennial Australians and the generations that come after have to make a choice between a dignified retirement through superannuation and owning a home. I reject that containment of aspiration for millennial Australians and for gen Y Australians. It is not what their parents were told, and it's not what they should be told either. Every young Australian deserves to have the aspiration to have a safe and secure home. The Australian Labor Party is the only party in this place doing anything that will deliver that for them. The Liberals want to contain the aspirations of young Australians. The Greens think they can meet that aspiration through memes. Frankly, I believe those two positions are absurd. What is urgent is getting the Labor government's reforms on housing through this chamber. That will make a difference in housing supply.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKim for bringing forward this motion and for the opportunity to speak on it. When we talk about housing, we often jump straight into the details of the HAFF and Help to Buy and all these other things. We need to sit back and ask: what is housing for? Is this something that is fundamental to human wellbeing, to human flourishing and to communities doing well? Or is this something that we want to set up as an investment vehicle and have a tax structure that rewards people to invest in property? I'm hearing from the people I represent that they want this as a fundamental human right. If we can agree on that as a parliament, we will take very different policy solutions forward. One of them that can no longer be taboo is to talk about our tax system and the very generous capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing on investment properties. There are sensible ways to turn this around.

Senator Jacqui Lambie and I got PBO costings to look at a range of options, from grandfathering to different rates of incentivising to new supply with a reduced capital gains tax discount. There are options going forward, if the major parties will be a part of this conversation. To date, I haven't heard anything that indicates that they are willing to take this on and act in line with what I am hearing that the vast majority of Australians want, and that is for them to take the housing crisis seriously as a crisis. When you are in a crisis, all options are on the table.

Currently we hear a lot about the HAFF. Just to address some of the accusations which were levelled at the Greens—probably levelled at the whole crossbench—let's go and look at what was delivered as part of the HAFF negotiations. The Jacqui Lambie Network secured a minimum of 1,200 homes per jurisdiction to ensure that, regardless of how small your state or territory is, you get a cut of the HAFF, given it's only 30,000. The Greens managed to get $2 billion extra in the Housing Australia Future Fund. That's a not insignificant amount of money. I managed to get an agreement to have it indexed, which is $6.5 billion over the life of the availability payments, which is in line with what the sector was asking for. On top of that, there was the equal remuneration order for the sector of $70 million. So let's tell the whole story to Australians—that, when you have a crossbench that is standing up for the communities they represent, you get better outcomes.

I welcome more debate going into this next election so that we can actually put some action to the rhetoric of saying that we want young people to be able to afford to buy a home or to be able to rent and have renters' rights and not see their rent jacked up.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to be able to make a contribution today and to put on the record the work that this government has done over the last two years since we came into government. But it is a bit galling to have the Greens come into this chamber and bring a motion like this to level criticism at the government when they are the ones that have done a deal with the opposition to delay the future fund and the creation of real opportunities to provide housing for those who need assistance to be able to access affordable and social housing.

This is on the eve of legislation that will pass this chamber, the help to buy bill, that will be life changing. It is a piece of legislation that will help young people and first homeowners get ahead. Senator Pocock is right: everyone deserves to have access to a secure home. A lot of the issues that we face in our community now stem from the fact that there is not safe, secure housing available for everyone. That is why we have such a housing crisis in terms of homeless people. But what you need to do is work with the government of the day, not do dirty deals on the side to hold things up so that you can make political mileage to campaign around the issues where you put your own political party above those people that you decry as being a warrior for and wanting to do something about access to housing for young people. Of course, it's a fundamental right for young people to have that access. It doesn't really matter what age you are. If you don't have your own home and you aspire to have one then it is up to the government and the parliament to ensure that people have that opportunity to have that secure home.

We know that the regional first home buyers guarantee and the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme have already helped more than 110,000 people since 2022 to buy a home for the first time. We have brought in the Housing Australia Future Fund, putting in $10 billion to sustainably create social and affordable housing over the coming decade. That's more than any other government in history has invested in social and affordable housing. That's the Labor government. We have actually put our shoulder to the wheel, and we actually want to bring about opportunities for people to have a secure home.

The Housing Australia Future Fund is projected to deliver over 20,000 new social homes and 10,000 new affordable homes over the next five years. Not only are we investing in that but we're also investing, very importantly, in the infrastructure that is going to help state and local governments to be able to develop new land opportunities for these new homes to be built on. But this has to be done with the states and territories, along with local government, working with the Commonwealth government to bring this about.

Labor is investing in housing because we know—it's in the fabric of who we are as Labor people—how fundamentally important it is for the Australian dream to be able to own your own home. Not everybody is able to achieve that, so they need a helping hand. What they don't need is for people in this place to do their dirty deals to ensure that they can campaign to put their own self-interest and political interests ahead of those people who aspire to have access to their own home.

We have been in government for two years. We're cleaning up the mess of those opposite. We've brought down three budgets. The last two have been in surplus, and we're heading to another one. You can't do everything overnight. We cannot—and we don't believe in trying to—create utopia, which is where the Greens like to live all the time. But the one thing you can always be guaranteed about the Greens is that they will always put their self-interest first—anything for a social media grab.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens are moving for the Senate to call on the government to end the handouts for wealthy property investors, which are denying renters the chance to buy their first home. House prices have gone up stratospherically everywhere. In my home town of Brisbane, or Meanjin as it's also known, they've gone up 16 per cent in the last year. In regional Queensland, it's over 11 per cent. It is getting harder and harder for people to buy their first home, because our tax settings make it cheaper for someone to buy their fifth home. It's like a dragon hoarding gold, and taxpayer dollars are being allocated to it.

This is on top of the fact that it's getting harder to save to buy a home, because rents are going up. Rents have gone up in Brisbane by 8½ per cent in the last year, and nationally they're forecast to go up by another 10 per cent in the coming year. For renters, one more rent rise could mean eviction into homelessness, but for property investors, who have already got $39 billion in tax handouts from the government, that $5 billion—that 10 per cent increase in rent—is just a drop in the ocean. They might not even notice it. We had that figure costed. If Labor were to implement a freeze on rent, Australia's seven million renters would save about $2,500 per household in the next year or $5.3 billion in total. Labor needs to find the guts to stand up to the wealthy property investors.

Labor's Help to Buy legislation is before the parliament, and a budget analysis that we asked the Parliamentary Budget Office to do found that negative gearing and capital gains tax for residential property investors will cost $165 billion from the public purse over the next 10 years. Two-thirds of that goes to the top 20 per cent of income earners—no surprises there—and the capital gains discount alone would see 83 per cent of the benefit go to the top 20 per cent of income earners. These people don't need the help. We are in a housing crisis, and housing is, was and should always be considered a human right.

We have said that we will help pass your Help to Buy legislation if you agree to move to phase out those negative gearing and capital gains discounts that are making homes further and further out of reach for first home owners. But we've got a property investor Prime Minister, who's trying to ram through a bill that will actually drive up house prices while refusing to scrap the massive tax handouts for investors that are denying millions of renters the chance to buy a home. Every day that your government refuses to find the courage to phase out these unfair tax handouts is another day that a potential first home buyer gets screwed over at an auction by a property investor.

Pouring fuel on the fire of an already raging housing crisis is $165 billion worth of public tax handouts. Until we scrap those deeply inequitable tax perks that have seen house prices skyrocket, we're never going to get the housing crisis under control. I know you guys love the polls, but published polling now says that a majority of Australians actually want to phase out negative gearing and capital gains tax. What is stopping you? Why are you choosing wealthy property investors over millions of renters? We stand ready to work with this government to phase out those unfair tax handouts and to finally give an entire generation some hope that they might one day be able to own a home.

The Labor government rails against us trying to improve their housing legislation, but they need to start bowling up legislation that will actually help fix the housing crisis. We were criticised for holding out on passing the HAFF, the Housing Australia Future Fund, but we held out and got $3 billion for social housing, so we're holding out on your other two bills so you can fix them as well, and so we can actually work together to address the housing crisis.

In brief, the build-to-rent plan is another really weird piece of legislation that will actually funnel yet more dollars into the pockets of wealthy property investors. Private developers are going to get subsidies to build apartments and homes, only 10 per cent of which have to be considered affordable. I'm sorry, you're just pouring money down the drain at this point. It's about time that people actually have a government that delivers on measures to address the housing crisis. Stop tinkering around the edges. We need a rent freeze and a cap. We need to scrap the handouts for property investors, and we need a public developer to actually build homes that people can afford to rent and buy.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When will this government actually care about Australians? For most people, the Australian dream of buying a home is dead. This government would rather have people as housing slaves: either debt slaves to the banking cartel, with unaffordable mortgages, or rent slaves, with overseas investment funds like BlackRock and Vanguard as landlords.

In their motion, the Greens criticise property investors. Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, or, rather, those with housing portfolios shouldn't throw Senate motions. Greens Senators Faruqi and McKim reportedly each own four properties. Remember Senator Faruqi's native tree clearing in koala habitat to build luxury rentals in Port Macquarie. Yet the Greens property investors say they're the enemies of property investors and the saviours of koalas. The old saying seems true: every accusation is actually a confession.

I've got nothing against property investors. In well-balanced housing markets, investors play an important part in housing supply, yet successive governments pushing record immigration destroyed the dream of owning a home in Australia. In 2023 alone, 547,000 immigrants arrived. For arrivals alone, we were short 120,000 homes. That's not counting the housing shortfall for natural population growth. The extraordinary demand for housing for new arrivals must be turned off. One Nation is the only party that can be trusted to make the tough decisions on cutting immigration to reduce housing demand, getting more houses built and putting Australians first—no more immigrants until Australians can afford a roof over their head. Send some visa holders back to their countries until house construction catches up. Our building codes are distorted with overly complicated nonsense to comply with the United Nations and World Economic Forum demands. That stops our tradies building more houses. We'll get rid of it. We'll bring the banking cartel into line.

For first home buyers, One Nation's five per cent fixed mortgages will be more than $800 a month cheaper. To get people into their own homes, put Australians first.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm grateful for the opportunity to make some comments on this matter of urgency raised by Senator McKim. I wish it was that easy that you could just make a couple of changes to the tax code and we would solve the nation's housing problem.

The reality is this: when I look at negative gearing and capital gains tax measures and proposals to increase the amount of taxation, I don't see how increasing taxation is going to result in more houses being built. That is the point made by Peter Tulip, who is a former Reserve Bank economist, at the Centre for Independent Studies. He's made the point that playing around with these things would be dangerous and that, if you did it, there would be a very small change to prices, in fact. He says the change to prices would be between one and three per cent.

If people look at the information that has been published by the tax office, they will know that 70 per cent of the mums and dads who invest in property, thereby providing supply, own one property. In many cases, these are people on average or median incomes doing frontline service roles. This is what they have decided to do. The idea that the government will disrupt them from providing supply and, indeed, their own investment is, I think, very misguided. As I say, if only it were that easy and we could solve the housing crisis by fiddling around with negative gearing and CGT! I wish it were that easy.

The government have now had more than two years, and I would say the central problem with their housing policy is that they are obsessed with what's good for institutions, not what is good for individuals. The last time I looked, the Australian dream was not a dream of big super funds or foreign fund managers; it was a dream of an average worker being able to purchase a house, take on a mortgage and pay the mortgage back. That is what is getting out of the grip of the average worker. The average worker now can't get access to that dream because they can't get a mortgage, and that is something you never hear the government ministers talk about. That is the saddest piece here.

The fact is we are stuck with the government, for now, that is only going to make this problem worse, not better, as you will see if you go through their supply policies—the Housing Australia Future Fund and their housing targets, both of which have failed—and then you go to their only demand-side policy, Help to Buy, which just last week was abolished by the state government of New South Wales. You are not going to solve the supply piece or tilt the scales in favour of first home buyers with a Help to Buy program. Minister Farrell talked about this in question time today, and he actually said that he thought Help to Buy was going to help 400,000 families. They should read their own legislation, because the proposed bill would help 40,000 people over the forward estimates. In a country that needs to build more than 1.2 million houses, 40,000 is not a lot of people. So these are tiny and often misguided solutions.

The other policy the government have developed during this term is what I call their perpetual renting plan. There's nothing wrong with renting, and we should always look for ways to support renters, but we want to give the Australian people opportunities to buy their own homes. The perpetual renting plan is underpinned by giving tax concessions to foreign fund managers. As Senator Waters pointed out in her contribution, the idea that the Australian taxpayer would be giving a tax concession to foreign fund managers so they can build houses in Australia and then rent them out to people, as if we were serfs, is fundamentally misguided.

This is where the Labor Party's housing policy all comes together. On one hand, you've got the Housing Australia Future Fund and the Help to Buy program, all designed to work with the super funds, and then you've got the build-to-rent plan, which is designed to help foreign fund managers. My dream for the short term would be that the government have a housing plan which is about people, not about institutions.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator McKim be agreed to.