Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I share the member for Fadden's concern that expanding the five per cent deposit scheme has added pressure to an already overheated market, increasing competition and exposing first homebuyers, particularly young Australians, to larger mortgages. While the Housing Australia Future Fund is well intentioned, it's moving too slowly to deliver the social and affordable rental homes Australians urgently need. Two years in, the $10 billion fund has delivered fewer than 900 completed homes, roughly two per cent of its 40,000 home goal; although there is much activity still in the pipeline.

On tax settings, I agree changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing won't on their own build extra dwellings, but they can help level the playing field so first homebuyers are not consistently outbid by tax-advantaged investors, and I continue to urge the government to reform these property taxes for the benefit of younger Australians. We should be honest that Australia's housing crisis was allowed to develop across successive governments, as both sides of politics realised that they were popular when house prices went up, at least with the two-thirds of households that were owned. For the other third, owning a house became increasingly out of reach. Houses have increasingly become vehicles to passively store and grow wealth rather than places to live. If we're serious about fixing this, we need clarity about what each lever can and cannot do and, importantly, what else can be done.

In this House a fortnight ago, I set out four practical ideas from my community to help ease the housing crunch, and today I'm adding another four drawn from the Curtin housing policy I developed with residents and housing experts. None is a single fix, but together they are achievable, fair and evidence based. They require governments to work together rather than passing the buck. As context, in Curtin we have about 7,000 vacant homes and about 29,000 homes with two or more spare bedrooms, while essential workers and young families are priced out of the communities they serve. People want practical actions that activate the homes we already have while unlocking capacity to build more. With that in mind, here are four more steps the government should take now.

First, labour shortages are the handbrake on housing delivery. You can rezone and approve forever, but, without more workers, completions won't rise. We should prioritise construction trades in migration, fast track skills recognition and align training places with real project pipelines through a time-limited construction workforce compact tied to housing output. This is targeted capacity building, not open-ended migration, and should wind up as supply catches up.

Second, in tight labour markets, government infrastructure projects can unintentionally outbid housing projects for the same carpenters and sparkies and concreters. For the next 18 to 24 months, residential construction should take priority over lower value infrastructure projects. Resequencing marginal infrastructure is basic capacity management. It reduces cost pressures, frees up workers for housing and gets more homes finished sooner.

Third, stamp duty locks people into homes that no longer suit them. It penalises downsizers, discourages mobility and strands spare bedrooms. The Curtin housing policy supports a gradual transition to a broad based land tax, with federal support to help states manage that shift.

Do it slowly and transparently, but start it now. Every year we delay, more households remain mismatched to their homes while affordability worsens.

Finally, the fastest, lowest-carbon housing supply is the supply we already have. A modest vacant-home levy or higher rates for long-term vacancies could encourage more homes back into use. We should also make it easier and safer to rent out spare bedrooms by simplifying tax settings and providing a standard, fair agreement. Even modest uptake in Curtin could add capacity quickly for a student, a midwife on night shift or an apprentice needing somewhere close to work.

These four measures share three things in common. They use existing levers, they respect local communities and they sequence changes sensibly. These build on the measures I've already discussed in the House, reforming property taxes, building more social and affordable housing, allowing more medium-density supply and strengthening renter protections. The point is that we need to pull all these levers at once. These are practical steps that can help the nurse at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, the apprentice in Innaloo, the downsizer in Subiaco and the young family in Doubleview stay connected to the communities that they love. I urge the government to meet this moment with courage so more Australians can get into housing they can afford.

Debate adjourned.

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