Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 7986:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (at the end of the table), add:

(2) Page 135 (after line 24), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 12—Review of operation of Act

30 Review of operation of Act

(1) Before 1 July 2017, the Minister must cause to be conducted a review into the operation of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Superannuation) Act 2016.

(2) The review must consider how the superannuation changes in the Act will affect housing affordability for aspiring first home owners.

(3) The Minister must cause to be prepared a report of a review under subsection (1).

(4) The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sittings days of that House after the completion of the preparation of the report.

Leave granted.

This is fairly simple. The Greens have raised the issue repeatedly in relation to legislation on the economy that we want to see the crucial issues and moral challenges we face addressed in every piece of legislation that comes to parliament.

Senator Cormann was present when I raised the issue with the Secretary of the Treasury, John Fraser, in the last estimates about what the government and Treasury were doing on issues like housing affordability for young Australians. The Treasury secretary agreed that this was a significant issue in this country and that more needed to be done. He said it was a complex issue and he made some statements, which of course were reported in the media about parents becoming 'the bank of choice' for their children because children were not able to afford houses, especially in places like Sydney and Melbourne.

My point to the Treasury secretary was a simple one: how do we better prioritise issues like housing affordability for young Australians? How do we have a process or a discipline where everything we do is viewed through the prism of things like housing affordability? In the last inquiry we had on the omnibus bill I raised the same issue, and Senator Cormann would be aware of that. We also looked at inequality of gender pay, and I am glad that Senator McAllister spent some time today going through issues on gender equality in this bill.

Senator Cormann, what the Greens are asking for in this amendment is that before July 2017 the minister must cause to be conducted a review into the operation of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Superannuation) Act 2016. For anyone listening, that is the bill we are currently debating and looking to pass through the Senate. The review must consider how the superannuation changes in the act will affect housing affordability for aspiring first-home owners. The minister must cause to be prepared a report for review under subsection (1) and the minister must cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the completion of the preparation of the report.

Now, why am I asking for housing affordability to be included in this legislation package and how is it relevant? While we see it as a good thing that this legislation at least goes some way to reducing the tax rorts that are enacted through our super system by people taking advantage of superannuation concessions to avoid paying tax and to maximise their wealth, and while we are making some inroads into that with this bill, a potential of that—I do not think an unlikely or improbable unintended consequence—will be that wealthy Australians, especially the most wealthy Australians, who will be impacted by today's legislation will seek to put their money elsewhere. What other tax shelters or tax incentives are we offering wealthy Australians in terms of where they can put their money to minimise their tax, especially in the field of investment, because that is really what we are dealing with here.

Superannuation is an investment in all sorts of forms. We are very concerned that, if we start tightening the screws for wealthy Australia, which we should be doing, we also need to be cognisant of the fact that that money may find its way into the housing market—an already overheated housing market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne—with a crisis of affordability for low-income Australians and for young Australians. How do we know that this money is not going to prop up the bubble in real estate in this country and lead to rising inequality?

What we are proposing is fairly simple: we would like the minister to take on board that we would like a review into whether this will have any impact, similar to what I moved in the second reading. What we see at the moment are tax breaks in the form of superannuation, with people using superannuation funds; tax breaks in the form of capital gains tax concessions, with people not paying the full capital gains tax on property investment; and tax breaks in the form of negative gearing, especially when negative gearing is combined with capital gains tax breaks to provide an incentive for investors to invest in housing to avoid paying tax and to maximise their wealth. We are concerned about these tax breaks in real estate. We do not want to see more capital diverted into existing housing stock, making it even harder for young Australians to buy their first home and further entrenching inequality between generations. We call on the government to undertake this review. Minister, I do not think it would be a difficult thing to do. Will you give it consideration?