Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst there was much in the Prime Minister's contribution that I could genuinely agree with, I don't for one minute believe that the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill, as it's currently proposed, will achieve many, if any, of those outcomes. We see frequently from those opposite a vast gap between their rhetoric and the reality of what is achieved on the ground.

In my electorate, which is one of the fastest-growing electorates in Australia, I see an enormous amount of building of housing and infrastructure. That being said, housing availability for those on low incomes or in difficult situations remains a difficulty, and it is certainly an issue that needs to be resolved. But I don't believe that this bill will achieve that. I actually believe that it will add to the problems that we already see with the affordability of housing from a building perspective. Any tradesman I speak to at the moment has more work than they can poke a stick at, and they can charge virtually any price they like when they are asked to give a quote. If we add a huge number of new houses to the current situation, that problem is only going to get worse, and the more expensive property becomes to build, the less value we are going to get from the limited funds that this fund will actually provide.

This fund is not a $10 billion investment in housing. This fund, at best, is maybe a $400 million annual investment in housing, but, less the interest cost, might not be more than $100 million. And if you have a poor year on the investment portfolio, where are those additional funds coming from? If the government is genuine about what it wants to do with these funds to achieve the outcome in the housing sector of providing social and affordable housing, then may I suggest to the government that it doesn't borrow this money and that it uses the budget balance sheet to achieve that funding envelope, as is currently done with most housing programs. In that regard, I think it's worth reflecting on the record of the coalition government, because that's exactly what the coalition government did—and, I think, to a large degree, with great success.

Our record in government is that we provided support for homeownership. I believe that homeownership is the fundamental basis for assisting people to create wealth and stability in their lives over time, and, as I said, there is much in the Prime Minister's contribution that I would agree with, as to those sentiments. We want people to be able to own their own home sooner, and our actions in government proved this. Over our last three years in government, the coalition's housing policy supported more than 300,000 Australians to purchase their own home. The coalition also supported more than 21,000 social and affordable homes through the establishment of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, soon to be renamed Housing Australia.

When it came to first home buyers, the coalition was their biggest supporter. First home buyers reached their highest level for nearly 15 years, with the number of first home buyers rising from approximately 100,000 when we came to office to nearly 180,000 in our last full financial year in government. We did this through a number of key measures. The coalition supported more than 60,000 first home buyers and single-parent families into homeownership through the Home Guarantee Scheme. The scheme consisted of the first home loan deposit scheme, the new home guarantee, and the Family Home Guarantee and the regional home guarantee, with deposits of as little as five per cent and two per cent respectively. Fifty-two per cent of the 60,000 guarantees issued were taken up by women—well above the market average of 41 per cent of women entering into homeownership. One in five guarantees issued went to essential workers, of whom almost 35 per cent were nurses and 34 per cent were teachers. Eighty-five per cent of Family Home Guarantees were used by single mothers.

We also understand the value for young people of being able to use their superannuation to assist in a home purchase. After all, it is their money. By establishing the First Home Super Saver Scheme, we helped 27,600 first home buyers to accelerate their deposit savings through superannuation. Although we are no longer in government, our commitment to first home buyers has been reiterated, with a commitment to the super home buyer scheme which will allow first home buyers to invest up to 40 per cent of their superannuation, up to a maximum of $50,000, to help with the purchase of their first home.

When it came to homeownership, the coalition also established the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. It was established to operate two key activities: the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, a billion-dollar perpetual facility financing critical housing-related infrastructure to speed up the supply of new housing through the provision of loans and grants and the making of investments; and the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator, providing cheaper and longer-term finance to registered community housing providers. The NHFIC has been a landmark coalition achievement, and, since its creation, has delivered $2.9 billion of low-cost loans to community housing providers to support 15,000 social and affordable dwellings, saving $470 million in interest payments to be reinvested in more affordable housing. It has unlocked 6,900 social and affordable market dwellings through the coalition's $1 billion infrastructure facility, to make housing supply more responsive to demand. It has also protected the residential construction industry, with more than 137 HomeBuilder applications generating $120 billion of economic activity.

It is evident from the facts just shared with the House that the coalition government has a sound, sensible and well-considered track record in providing support to assist Australians to get into their own home. As I said in my opening remarks, I believe it is critically important that we continue to achieve that. But I do not for one minute believe that this bill, as it is currently structured and in what it proposes to do, will get anywhere near achieving the figures that I've just outlined. As I said to the minister earlier, I want to see more housing in my electorate but I don't believe this bill will achieve it.

Sadly, I don't believe that this Labor government's housing policy, after promising the world to Australians, will deliver what is proposed. We'll see the number of first home buyers dramatically decrease. We'll see very few, if any, of the 30,000 new social and affordable homes ever started. Rents will continue to increase. Now they want to add further fuel to the inflationary flame through the upward pressure on interest rates that this policy will generate. These consequences follow a common thread through many areas of the government's policy and their history over the years, and it is this: their rhetoric never matches the implementation of what they've proposed to do. It is the coalition, with its track record, that I would ask the government to consider emulating, because it has generated real and tangible benefits for Australians right across this country. I oppose this bill.

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