Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. For too many young people and families, the dream of owning their own home has become nothing more than a pipedream. Housing tax concessions have tipped the playing field against first home buyers, causing growing intergenerational inequity. YouGov polling done in my electorate of Mackellar and released today shows 62 per cent support for reform of these housing tax concessions. Will the government commit to reforming our housing tax concessions to address worsening intergenerational inequity?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Mackellar for her question about a really important issue. The government hasn't changed its policy or position on the policies that the member raises in her question, but we do acknowledge there are intergenerational issues in our economy and in our society, including in the housing market and in the tax system. That's why, when it comes to housing, we're spending so much time and money and effort trying to build more homes. We're playing catch-up after a decade of neglect, through the good work of the housing minister, to try and build more homes so that there are more options for young people in the housing market. Also the five per cent deposits are about trying to make sure that more people can get a toehold in a difficult housing market.

In the tax system as well, one of the reasons why we have provided the three tax cuts that we are providing in the way that we are is so that younger workers, who are often on lower incomes at the start of their career, get a tax cut. That wouldn't have been the case had we left those original tax cuts undisturbed, and it wouldn't have been the case if those opposite had won the election and repealed our tax cuts.

Also, when it comes to the intergenerational issues, that was one of the motivations behind the changes that we made to superannuation. Making superannuation fairer from top to bottom was all about making sure that the tax concessions were fairer for people who already had tens of millions of dollars in super, and we use some of the proceeds of that to boost the superannuation balances of people on lower incomes. I acknowledge the work of the Assistant Treasurer in that regard as well.

We are working to address some of the intergenerational issues in the budget, in the economy and in our society more broadly. I agree with the honourable member who identifies housing and tax as two of the most important areas where those intergenerational issues are most easily observed. When it comes to further steps in tax policy or housing policy, the budget is still a little ways away yet, and any further changes would be a matter for cabinet in the usual way.