Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Labor does not support the amendment proposed by the Greens. The two per cent threshold contained in this proposal is very similar to programs that have worked well for years, like Keystart in Western Australia. Borrowers will need to qualify for this program under the thresholds for bank lending and credit history to show that they do have the capacity to service the loan. Increasing the threshold would lock out those who would otherwise qualify and would have little effect on preventing mortgage stress. This measure provides a guarantee so that costly mortgage insurance is not required, and a deposit of only two per cent is required for eligible participants.

Many single parents have sound credit histories. This would reward that, ensuring they could gain access to homeownership without needing a prohibitive level of deposit. Raising this to five per cent would slow down and impede access for those people. This scheme should be expanded so that more people qualify, not fewer.