Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

If you work hard and save hard, you should be able to purchase your own first home. But, sadly, for young people in my electorate of Gilmore on the picturesque New South Wales South Coast, the dream of buying their first home locally has been unattainable for years. First home buyers just can't compete with investors who are paying top dollar for homes in our popular beachside towns, lakeside hamlets and quaint historic villages. Our kids and grandkids are being forced to pull up roots and move away from the communities they love and grew up in.

We know investors have a huge advantage over first home buyers. They have an unfair tax advantage, and we want to fix that. The Albanese Labor government is making bold changes to help young Australians get a foot in the door of the property market. I'm a mum of four adult children and, like so many other parents, I want my kids to be able to continue to live locally if they so choose. Opening the door to homeownership on the South Coast means young people can be involved in our communities. They can raise their kids locally and contribute to our local economy all year round, not just at holiday time.

I live in a coastal village and I've seen small businesses in these small communities die when there are not enough permanent local families around to support them. Our tax changes will help young people and families in highly sought after lifestyle and investor property markets like Jervis Bay, Mollymook Beach and Batemans Bay buy their first home and live locally. These changes will mean more kids in our local schools, more workers for businesses and local services, more spending in local shops and cafes, and, of course, the opportunity to get involved in sporting, cultural and community organisations.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformation being thrown around by the three right-wing parties, who do not want to help younger people get a roof over their heads and secure their future. The reality is that we're taking steps that have been talked about for a very long time, but only Labor has been brave enough to deliver. Since budget night, I've spoken to many people in Gilmore who are excited for these changes—excited for their kids, for their grandkids and for future generations.

You can imagine my surprise when I stopped at my local servo in Nowra a couple of weeks ago and one of the employees came up to me with a big smile on her face. She wanted to thank me and the Albanese Labor government for helping her purchase her first home through our five percent deposit scheme. I'm so proud that this government has already been able to help this young woman and more than 780 other first home buyers across Gilmore to get off that relentless roundabout and get the keys to their dream home sooner. Our expansion of the five per cent deposit scheme will help even more Australians buy their first home, with all regional first home buyers now having access to the scheme with no caps on places or incomes.

I was also delighted to receive another thank you last week following our budget announcement, this time from self-funded retirees in Kiama, who have welcomed Labor's tax reforms, including changes to trusts, negative gearing and capital gains tax. In an email, the couple said, 'We need to do everything we can to tip the scales in favour of homeownership over rental investments.' They urged me not to back down but to 'continue in favour of fairness and retirement security of the have-nots rather than the have-lots'. Amidst all the misinformation on social media and scaremongering by those opposite, it's really refreshing to see our older generations stepping up to back our plan to help young ones, their kids and their grandkids reach their dream of homeownership.

Finally, our focus is to address the huge challenge of housing supply and affordability in regional Australia and to ensure regions like Gilmore remain strong, connected and well-positioned to provide opportunities to those who want to live and work there.

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