Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd be more than happy to talk further about the Morrison government's contributions. Deputy Speaker, it's good that you have provided more time for me to talk about the Morrison government's plans to assist young Australians to secure employment. I outlined already some of the measures that we have taken. We've also provided $699 million to the successful Youth Jobs PaTH program over four years from the 2020-21 budget year. This program helps young people gain the skills and work experience they need to obtain and keep a job. It includes a youth bonus wage subsidy of up to $10,000 to support the employment of young Australians.

But we should never lose sight of the challenges that young Australians face beyond simply securing work. The critical factor for young Australians to be able to provide security for themselves and their families in their working life and their retirement is the opportunity to purchase their own home. Disturbingly, since 1980 the average age at which a young Australian purchases their own home has gone from 24 years to 36 years. Why? Because a significant share of their income and the opportunity for them to have savings is taken away from them and held in compulsory superannuation. The consequences of this are very real. We have pushed out the average age at which young Australians buy their own home. They have less money available to them to purchase their own home. The average Australian between the age of 30 to 35 has $38,000 in superannuation, and a couple has up to $76,000 in superannuation. With other savings, that could be the foundation for a deposit to buy their own home.

We know that members on the other side of this chamber oppose the opportunities for young Australians to be able to buy their own home with their own savings, but what they ignore is the hypocrisy that those very same super funds that take and hold young Australians' money are allowed to use that money to buy properties that they own and that they rent back to the same super fund members. So there is an unlevel playing field where it favours fund managers and centralised capital at the expense of young Australians being able to buy their own home. I make no apology: that's wrong.

What we have engaged in is a form of economic social engineering. We have prioritised life's second biggest financial decision for young Australians ahead of their first: homeownership. Members in this chamber, I would hope, would support the opportunity for all Australians to buy their own home. We want to see a nation built from the citizens up, not from Canberra down. We do that through the greatest form of economic, social and political democratisation: and that is the power of individuals to form families as the foundation for community and country. The ultimate form of economic democratisation is through homeownership, which not just provides the foundation for the for the security of the family but provides the vehicle and leverage—

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