Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) to (4), as circulated in my name, together. In the past week, my fellow members and I have discussed the Help to Buy Bill widely. It is safe to say, as we've heard already, that we're all concerned by the current state of the bill. The bill was meant to bring a ray of hope to Australians dreaming of owning a home, with its name being the starting point. However, it is confusing. There are no certainties with trying to own a home in such trying times.

Good policy requires some degree of relatability to the public we seek to serve. I previously outlined in my speech on the second reading the shortcomings of the bill. We are in a housing conundrum involving supply and demand. The Help to Buy Bill only seeks to provide access to ownership. It doesn't address shortages of supply, which we all know is the critical issue, or the affordability of buying, which is out of reach for many working Australians.

A young constituent named Mario in my electorate of Fowler shared his concern that this bill is 'too vague on who it gives preference to' and that the 'applicant pool is too large relative to the number of available places'. My amendments seek to address the opaqueness of the bill by requiring that matters covered by ministerial directions under the Help to Buy program specifically include:

(b) the number of residential properties in relation to which Housing Australia may enter into Help to Buy arrangements, taking into consideration the current demand and need for housing;

Ten thousand places per year are not enough. There should also be direction as follows:

(e) the categories of individuals who will have priority under the Help to Buy Program, such as single parents, victims of domestic violence or individuals of a low socio-economic background.

This also includes those of cultural background and in regional areas. This is important as we need to ensure that individuals who are disadvantaged and vulnerable are not left at the bottom of the barrel or left behind. The amendment also includes:

(d) the amount, or amounts, that Housing Australia may contribute under Help to Buy arrangements in order to enable individuals to obtain home loans with lenders;

The current reality that we're living in is that buying a home is not an affordable feat even if the government is offering to chip in 30 to 40 per cent for a purchase price of approximately $950,000. Young constituent Mario, who is very passionate about this topic, gave me a graph of the median house prices in various suburbs of Fowler. He had deduced that the median house price was over $1 million. A significant number of my constituents do not have $90,000 or close enough to buy a million-dollar home. Even if they did earn $90,000, a local broker has shared that the individual can expect to borrow approximately $410,000. An individual's median income in Fowler is $521 per week, which they must spread thinly across raising the kids, bills, food, HECS debt and general expenses. When lenders are looking at the borrowing capacity for a home loan, as we all know, it's very challenging, but these individuals would be very lucky to get offered even $300,000, especially with the increasing interest rates. If the individual has been in credit card debt or finance vehicles, their chance of getting a sufficient loan becomes even more obscure.

My biggest concern still lies with young people being unable to obtain a loan as they have accumulated a HECS debt that is subject to indexation and rises with CPI. I've said it before and will say it again: we need to freeze indexation in order to give young people a push in life. It is concerning to me that we are not taking this seriously enough. Lenders will look at a young person's borrowing capacity together with their HECS debt and refuse to give them an adequate loan. Where is the equity there? We should try to close the gap of disadvantage and really help those in need.

In my view, Housing Australia, on behalf of the government, should do more than just give cash. Another amendment that I have proposed is that there be a statutory obligation on Housing Australia to cooperate with lenders to support an individual's eligibility for a loan and ability to obtain a loan relating to residential property. This could be in a form adjusting the contribution or a letter of support. Such help can go a long way. I therefore ask the government to consider the amendments holistically so that we can truly provide the help needed to Australians dreaming of owning a place that they can call their own home.

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