Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the motion, in particular the convoluted claims by my friend the member for Macnamara. I won't reach the rhetorical flourishes of previous speakers from our side of the chamber, but the member for Macnamara is absolutely wrong when he suggests that the Morrison government is not assisting Australians to buy their first home.

On this side of the chamber, we believe very much in lower taxes and supporting young Australians to enter the property market. The ability to purchase your own home is so vital to your future, to the future of your family and to your financial stability. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, borders were closed, business revenue collapsed, many Australians lost their jobs and we were very conscious, as a government, about the handbrake this could put on young Australian families who are wanting to get into their own home. So the government acted swiftly and decisively to implement targeted measures to ensure that Australians wishing to buy their own home were not left behind.

I particularly want to pay tribute to the incredibly successful HomeBuilder scheme. It goes to show how those Labor MPs who have spoken on this motion absolutely have their blinkers on. They cannot acknowledge the success of this particular program. It has not just achieved what we said it would and what the government set out to achieve; it has been an absolute, runaway success in terms of generating construction, creating supply so that people can get into the housing market and creating jobs for tradies—so much so that it's almost hard to get a tradie at the moment, because they are so full up with work. In my electorate of Ryan we have a number of local construction businesses. I got to meet with a few of them, and one of them in particular with the Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer, Minister Sukkar. A couple of families had both received the $25,000 in HomeBuilder grants. Lloyd Payne, the general manager of Fresh Homes, a local construction business, gave us a tour of the new builds that were happening for these young families. Lloyd was quick to comment that HomeBuilder had changed the typical profile of first home buyers, and that there was a substantial increase in first home buyers approaching their business and utilising the grant to get into the property market for the first time—to get onto that very important first rung on the ladder to financial success. Lloyd said, as somebody who has been in the construction industry for over 30 years, that he has seen 'nothing better than this program, in terms of helping a first home owner get into their first home'. Due to its success, the budget includes a 12-month extension of the HomeBuilder construction commencement period for existing applicants. I think that should be warmly welcomed by both sides of the chamber. It's certainly welcomed by this side of the chamber. If those opposite, the Labor members we have heard speak, were genuine in their desire to see people in new homes, they would understand the challenge that has to be tackled in creating supply and they would recognise that the HomeBuilder program does that.

We believe in lower taxes to help young families get ahead. Previous speakers have talked about families' difficulties in saving deposits for their first home. Well, then, back our tax cuts, which allow them to keep more of the money that they have earnt in their pocket to spend on their first home. It's not rocket science. Yet those on the other side of the chamber will demand that more money be taken from young families by the government, because Labor always think they know how to spend your money better than you do. Yet at the same time they will decry the fact that it is too hard for these families to save for first home deposits. It's just another example of not only their hypocrisy but how they will have a bob each way.

Our budget will also increase the maximum amount of voluntary contributions that can be released under the First Home Super Saver Scheme from $30,000 to $50,000, again providing another opportunity for young families to kickstart their home deposit and get onto that important first rung. We are doing an enormous amount to get people into their first homes. I can't reject the member for McNamara's motion more, and I support the government's efforts on first home buyers.

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