Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

In summing up, I would like to thank all members of the House who made contributions in this debate, with some exceptions. It is quite shocking to see any political party take a view that a tax cut for first home buyers is something they cannot support—so, instead of paying money to the Australian Taxation Office, having that money redirected to savings towards a deposit for a house—and this is quite surprising to me. Nonetheless, I thank everyone on our side of the House and members of the crossbench for their contributions.

I also want to note the misconceptions—very deliberate, I suspect, in most cases and, in some cases, born out of ignorance—put forward by some members opposite. Firstly, the First Home Super Saver Scheme is not an attack on superannuation. It just provides individuals with an opportunity to save more money, voluntary contributions that wouldn't otherwise enter superannuation to be put into superannuation for the purposes of a first home deposit. Individuals' retirement savings are not a target of this measure, despite the quite disingenuous or ignorant scaremongering of some opposite. With average fund returns exceeding the deemed rate of return under the scheme, the average user will likely end up with more super in their account, not less, even after they have withdrawn those amounts to purchase their first property. And, of course, in the unlikely event that there is a market downturn, individuals' retirement savings will be protected, as they will have full control over the amounts that they withdraw.

Secondly, this is not an inflationary measure. In fact, it's obviously Labor's ill-thought-out negative gearing housing tax that will actually push more first home buyers out of the market, because that, as we know, will hike up rents and will confine all new developments, which are typically the province of first home buyers, as being the only place that investors will go, being the only place that tax-preferred status will exist. So it will do quite the opposite.

Thirdly, members should be assured that all contributions will be tracked by the ATO through monthly reporting requirements. I want to reassure members that this measure did commence on 1 July and voluntary contributions made since then will be eligible for release after 1 July 2018. It's clear from his statements that the member for McMahon just doesn't understand the measure, because his focus has not been on the legislation but instead on the Facebook posts of the Treasurer, which was one of the more curious contributions to the debate.

In summing up, the First Home Super Saver Scheme will of course help young Australians to get into the housing market by letting them build up a bigger deposit inside superannuation. Every dollar less that they have to pay to the tax office, which they can put into that superannuation account that will then be used as a deposit for their first home, is surely something that every single person of good conscience in this House should support. The scheme is based on providing a tax cut to additional voluntary savings and the additional benefit of higher earnings inside superannuation, compared with what you can get through a standard saving account, which we know is what prospective first home buyers use when saving for their deposit. Again, it won't negatively impact on first home buyers' retirement balances, because it's not based around the release of existing contributions: it just relates to voluntary additional contributions of sums that would never find their way into super in the first place. We know Australians are entering the housing market later in life than in previous generations, and with house prices high difficulty saving a deposit is clearly the biggest barrier to getting into the market. That's why these changes are essential and why we need to act now.

The second aspect of this bill, which I was quite surprised to hear negative comments about from those opposite, is that older Australians will also be given flexibility to contribute proceeds of the sale of their home into superannuation. This, self-evidently, will help free up housing stock, in particular larger homes, for younger, growing families, because it will reduce the barriers for older Australians downsizing from homes that no longer meet their needs. The downsizing measure is intended to assist people aged 65 and over who are currently unable to contribute proceeds from the sale of their home into superannuation because of the restrictive existing caps. Fiscal restraints make allowing any exemption from the age pension means test much more difficult to achieve than this measure. These changes were announced in the budget and this bill gives effect to those announcements. I therefore enthusiastically commend these bills to the House.

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