I rise to take note of the ducking and weaving which occurred when the government was asked to explain the basis on which it has expanded the Home Guarantee Scheme in a manner that will dramatically drive up housing prices, locking many first home buyers out the market. Proudly the coalition is the party of homeownership. That is why we delivered the Home Guarantee Scheme, allowing first home buyers to pay a reduced deposit, underpinned of course with the guarantee. But what has Labor done?
I’m sure Senator Walker, in her contribution, unfortunately didn’t address this issue. Labor has uncapped the number of participants allowed in the scheme, and that will remove all income restrictions and means testing, opening this up to every first home buyer in this country. This is not the Labor way. Frankly on this side of the chamber we are shocked that Labor has opened up the scheme to not just the children of billionaires but the children of millionaires—well-off young Australians who don’t need this support.
When you are either going to look at buying a house or going to an auction, why should those on low incomes—those really struggling to make ends meet and who could really benefit from a scheme like this—now being forced to compete with the big end of town: well-off young Australian first home buyers who, I presume, should not have resort to government support to buy their first home? This is, really, a disgrace. As we’ve heard from a number of different stakeholders, including the Insurance Council of Australia, it’s estimated that this will have the effect of driving up house prices by as much as six per cent and even more. This is shocking. Labor has done nothing to build new homes in this country. We continue to hear these false promises about 1.2 million homes, and now, of course, the government has walked back that commitment as well.
I want to say very strongly that the government designed this scheme as a targeted policy to help Australians clear the deposit hurdle, to help them get into the house-buying market, and now Labor has recklessly and irresponsibly turned this into a free-for-all. How can this government stand there and justify opening this scheme up to any young Australian, no matter their means, no matter the wealth of their family—to the children of millionaires and billionaires? This is, really, a disgrace.
Labor has a shocking record when it comes to delivering houses. Labor has already spent $40 billion and delivered fewer homes than the coalition. Under the coalition, Australia was building close to 200,000 homes a year. Under Labor, it has dropped to barely 170,000. Labor is not providing a solution to their housing crisis; they are only making things worse. Labor has caused Australia’s housing nightmare. In just three years, the government has presided over the
biggest boom in Australia’s population growth since the 1950s while overseeing an historic housing construction collapse. Labor’s housing policies are incoherent, but nothing beats this.
The Home Guarantee Scheme is a very good scheme introduced by the former coalition government to help young Australians, first home buyers, get into the housing market. Now what does Labor do? Opens up this scheme to everyone in this country seeking to buy their first home. The contingent liability is estimated to be up to $60 billion being pushed onto taxpayers. What an absolute disgrace.
In their first term, the government introduced over 5,000 new regulations, including over 1,500 in Treasury and in the infrastructure space. The government is failing all young first home buyers.