Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Senate will now consider the proposal, under standing order 75, from Senator McKim, which is also shown at item 12 of today's Order of Business:

The need for the government to rein in property investor tax breaks and to direct APRA to rein in record high investor lending, both of which are driving up house prices and out-competing first home buyers.

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator McKim, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the government to rein in property investor tax breaks and to direct APRA to rein in record high investor lending, both of which are driving up house prices and out-competing first home buyers.

One-third of the most unaffordable cities to live in on Earth are in Australia. This is not the medal we want to be winning. The latest global housing affordability index lists five Australian capital cities in its top 15 least affordable—Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. When first home buyers spend their weekends getting outbid by property investors and when renters line the block for a chance to spend more than half their weekly income to keep a roof over their heads, this Labor government continues to hand out $181 billion in tax breaks for already wealthy property investors.

Over the last year, investor lending has increased by 12.3 per cent, while first home buyer lending has increased by less than one per cent. ABS data shows that $40 billion has been loaned to wealthy property investors in just three months. The system is rigged for investors, not for ordinary buyers, and, as a result, ownership rates for young people are plummeting. The government has the power to address this. It should direct the banking regulator, APRA, to rein in this record high investor lending so that first home buyers actually stand a chance.

APRA has done this before, and it worked. We saw house price growth stabilise in a way that we haven't for the last 30 years. The government should also scrap the $181 billion in tax perks that are given to landlords, which tip the scales massively in favour of wealthy property investors. Adding fuel to the absolute dumpster fire that is the housing crisis is Labor's five per cent deposit scheme. October 2025 saw the fastest increase in housing prices in more than two years. Coincidentally, that's also when Labor's five per cent deposit scheme kicked in.

The banks are loving it, though. Increased house prices and bigger debts means that they will make even more profits off of people's debt and people's pain. They were already on track to make $30 billion in profits this financial year. It is absolutely obscene. By refusing to tackle the root causes of the housing crisis, the tinkering around the edges from this gutless government has only inflated property prices further, locking even more people out of homeownership. Without urgent action, first home buyers don't stand a chance.

The major parties are in lockstep. They've created a system that makes the big banks and the property developers billions at the expense of a whole generation of young people. It shouldn't be easier to buy your fifth home than it is to buy your first, but, right now, that's what the case is. You should be able to buy a home on an average salary, but, right now, you can't.

These are not radical suggestions; they are common sense. The solutions already exist, and they work around the world. It starts with ending the special treatment for ultrawealthy property investors over first home buyers. We could cap and freeze rents and make sure that renters have real rights so that no-one has got to live in a mould ridden home without proper heating or cooling. We could actually build more public and affordable homes with a publicly owned property developer to build them at cost, not for profit. The housing crisis is no accident. It's been created by successive governments outsourcing to the private market, and the Greens will keep fighting to make sure that everyone is able to get and keep a roof over their heads.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't think the Australian people are silly. I think the Australian people know that there are gimmicks being offered by this government which will never solve this housing crisis. Of course, the only way to solve the housing crisis is to build more homes. The Australian people know that we have a larger population than we have ever had, and the Australian people have noticed that there is a massive collapse in the number of houses. The government, after having promised to spend $60 billion on housing, has delivered more people but fewer houses. That's right—more people than ever but fewer houses.

It's hard to believe that $60 billion could be lost in Labor bureaucracy, but that's the bill that Australians are having to pay. We see the collapse in completions, from an average of 200,000 houses a year, which is what the government inherited, down to 170,000 houses a year now—30,000 houses a year less. Then we have this magnificent flagship, the Housing Australia Future Fund—10 billion bucks, two years of operation and, so far, maybe a handful of houses. We don't know, because it's a very secretive fund. But we do know, because Senator Gallagher told us at Senate estimates, that the fund has bought 340 homes. In fact, the language that Senator Gallagher used was that they had 'acquired and converted' these properties. This is a fund that is literally buying properties that the Australian people themselves could—to use the good senator's words—acquire on their own, so the Australian people are now competing with the government in the market. Having failed to build the houses, they're now buying the houses.

When you look at the contracts that have been signed by this Housing Australia Future Fund, in some cases they are paying up to $1.3 million per dwelling. That is the cost of their new build. The average cost of a new build is about half a million dollars, so why are they paying $1.3 million? Housing Australia is a very inefficient agency. It is spending millions of dollars on consultants, but what it is also doing is funding big investors. It is underwriting the profits of big investors—the big super funds. All the Labor Party's best mates are getting a huge amount of money out of this scheme. The answer to the $1.3 million question is: Labor's mates. They have to pay all these people. All these crooked people have to be paid with taxpayer funds in order to get these properties built. You wouldn't trust the housing fund to build a dunny. So far: two years, 10 billion bucks, a handful of houses, maybe, most of them having been bought—it's been a disaster.

Then we have the five per cent deposit scheme—the gimmick. Having failed on supply, they now want to inflict onto the Australian people a non-means-tested scheme without place caps, and what we've seen in the first month is the biggest increase in entry-level property prices in years. House prices are too high for first home owners in Australia. For the Labor Party to come into this chamber and say they've solved the housing problem—it's all fixed—with the five per cent deposit scheme is insulting. What they are doing is making it harder for first home owners, with their lumbering 95 per cent mortgages. The reality is that these policies of bureaucracy and gimmicks are only making the Australian dream disappear for younger Australians. It has been an absolute disaster so far.

Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand why people are fired up about housing. I'm a young Australian. My group chats are basically divided between memes, TikToks and friends panic-sending property listings they can't afford, so when the Greens bring forward a matter of urgency on housing I hear the emotion behind it, but we also have to be clear-eyed about what actually fixes the problems. That starts with facts, not just vibes.

Let's start with APRA. This motion talks like investor lending is something the government can just turn off. APRA is independent. It exists so that politicians don't meddle with lending standards and the financial system stays stable. Last week, APRA released its system risk outlook. They assessed the Australian financial system as stable, resilient and well placed to absorb shocks. They noted that lending standards overall remain sound but that some higher risk behaviour is ticking up. APRA has already said that they're monitoring these risks and will begin to tighten lending standards if needed. That's how it should work: not politicians dictating interest rates from the Senate chamber but experts making informed and considered decisions. I know it is tempting to yell 'Stop investors now!' like it's the whole solution to housing affordability, but if we destabilise the system then young people will be the first to pay the price.

I'll now move to the big issue: housing supply. The quickest way to not build the homes people need is to do what the coalition did—nothing. In the 10 years they were in government, they delivered just 373 social and affordable homes. The coalition did nothing, delivered even less and are still fighting tooth and nail to stop us from doing what's right. The Greens have never delivered a thing and spend their time trying to stop any real action. Labor have built 5,000 social and affordable homes, and we have another 25,000 in the pipeline. They're real projects, real sites and real roofs over real people's heads. I wish that we could say that we did this with bipartisan support, but, no: we've had the coalition and the Greens teaming up like the world's oddest couple to block us at every turn.

Last month, the Treasury secretary said that some of the ongoing challenges are due to legislation being held up. Meanwhile, dwelling commencements grew by 9.2 per cent through June 2025. That's a huge turnaround, especially when you remember that they were falling by almost 29 per cent the last time the coalition was in charge. Dwelling investment grew to 4.8 per cent compared to going backwards when this government came to office. New builds are rising, not falling. We're not just building more homes; we're helping young Australians get into them. Our five per cent deposit scheme means that every first home buyer can now get in the door sooner, without spending a decade only eating mee goreng and skipping coffees to scrape together a deposit. Since coming to office, we've already supported 197,000 Australians into homeownership through this program alone. We're delivering the most ambitious housing agenda since the end of World War II. That's $43 billion to help build more homes, give renters a better deal and help more young people into homeownership. The challenges are big—no-one denies that—but we're actually doing the work.

Housing affordability is not just about supply; it's also about the cost of living. We're delivering three rounds of personal income tax cuts—one last year, one next year and another after that. More than a million Australians on lower incomes will be exempt from the Medicare levy or continue to pay a reduced rate. From next year, Australians will get a $1,000 instant tax deduction for work-related expenses, helping 5.7 million people keep more of what they earn. We're also using tax to boost housing supply by introducing new tax breaks that will help build 80,000 new rental properties. That is a real impact, and we're not stopping here. We're increasing super for low-income workers, cracking down on multinational tax avoidance and supporting small businesses. In short, it's a tax system that actually supports young Australians instead of making life harder.

Unlike some in this chamber, we don't pretend there is a single magic bullet. Instead we are pulling every lever available—supply, planning reforms, tax incentives, modular builds, the Housing Australia Future Fund, Help to Buy, the five per cent deposit scheme and more. It's not glamorous, it's not a slogan— (Time expired)

Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to respond to this motion, which yet again speaks to the stunning economic illiteracy of the Australian Greens. Almost three million Australian households are rented, and 80 per cent or more of those are privately rented. Without private property investment, all of these people have nowhere to live. There are about two million private property investors in Australia. The Greens and Labor have routinely scapegoated these investors as greedy real estate tycoons in a failed attempt to hide their own complicity in our national housing crisis. However, the fact is 75 cent of these investors only own one investment property. Another 19 per cent of them only own two.

Among these investors are Greens who sit in this parliament, including Senator McKim himself. I'm confident Senator McKim doesn't consider himself a greedy property tycoon. Such is the case with almost every Australian property investor. These are everyday Australians who have sacrificed and saved to make an investment for a more secure future. In doing so they are providing homes for Australians who would otherwise not have somewhere to live. They are providing the accommodation that governments can't and shouldn't. In Senator McKim's home state of Tasmania, there are barely 5,000 public dwellings for an estimated 50,000 renters. Across the country, there are about 452,000 public dwellings, well short of the almost three million needed to meet current demand. It's these same investors who are accommodating everyone else. We should not only acknowledge and be grateful for these Australian investors; we should be giving them incentives rather than winding them back as Senator McKim would have us do.

Not every Australian wants to own their own home. Many are perfectly happy to rent for the flexibility and mobility it can provide, even in Labor's housing crisis. Australian investors meet this need. What these investors need are governments which understand that, with every intervention they make in this market, they only create more problems and bump up the price of housing. Of the sectors of the economy in which the government makes interventions, the three most prominent are labour, housing and energy, and never have these three things been more expensive in Australia than they are today.

Investment incentives like capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing are a concession to this reality. That's why One Nation supports them in principle. One Nation has better solutions to get Australians into homes than scapegoating the investors who provide homes. First and foremost, we'll do what most Australians have said they want, while every other party in this place ignores them: we'll end mass migration. We'll bring the numbers down to about 130,000 a year to give Australia a much-needed breather so we can catch up with housing supply.

Even better for housing availability, we'll ban foreign ownership of residential property. We'll give all foreign investors sufficient time to put their properties on the market so it does not unduly impact prices. It's easy to implement: just require any vendor or agent to see proof of Australian citizenship before allowing a sale. This will free up thousands of homes for Australians to buy as investments or as residences. There are other countries which have done this in recent years to address their own housing crises, including Canada and New Zealand. It's time for Australia to take the same steps.

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

APRA is an independent regulator responsible for the prudential safety of banks and other regulated entities, as well as financial system stability. As the independent regulator, APRA is responsible for setting requirements for these entities, including management of financial and non-financial risks to ensure these financial institutions and the systems overall remain safe and stable. I thought it was important to say that upfront because the motion talks about directing APRA, and it's important to say that they are independent.

When it comes to housing in this country, the stats speak for themselves. Since the Albanese Labor government was elected in 2022, we have built 5,000 social and affordable homes, and there are another 25,000 in the pipeline. Housing is a life-defining challenge for millions of Australians. That's why we have a huge agenda that focuses on building more homes and making it easier for everyday Australians to buy their own home too. In their decade in office, the coalition managed 373 social and affordable homes. There isn't an extra number in there; it is just 373 social and affordable homes. Their mates in the Greens political party have never delivered a thing.

We're building more homes for Australians, and we're doing it despite the best efforts of the coalition and the Greens to block us at every opportunity they get. Every time we've tried to bring something into this chamber to make it easier for Australians to get into their own homes or build more homes, we've seen the coalition team up with the Greens to block it. On this side of the chamber, we recognise that housing is one of the defining challenges in our economy. We've set ambitious targets, and we're backing that effort in with $43 billion in new investment to increase supply and help more first home buyers get into their first home—that's $43 billion. Our efforts are seeing the construction sector pick up, too. I know how important this is for tradies, right across Victoria and the country. We're doing a bunch of things to grow more tradies and get more people on the tools to be able to build the homes that Australians need. Building approvals are growing at 8.4 per cent now, and, let's just remember, they were going backwards by 21.6 per cent when we came to office. That is not a small number; 21.6 per cent is what we were going back by.

We're also helping Australians get into the housing market sooner, with our five per cent deposit scheme, which was expanded to all first home buyers on 1 October. Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor government has supported 197,000 Australians to buy a home with the five per cent deposit scheme. That's pretty life changing for those 197,000 Australians. We're also acting to make sure the tax system is working to help with housing supply, with new tax breaks passed in 2024 to support the construction of around 80,000 new homes to rent.

These are all part of the government's substantial agenda on tax, including boosting the superannuation savings of more than a million low-income workers while making superannuation concessions for people with very large balances fairer and more sustainable. We're delivering on a fairer, simpler and more sustainable tax system to support Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

We recognise that we've got a housing crisis in this country that has been generations in the making. From our very first day coming into government, we absolutely have taken that challenge with both hands and worked every day to address the challenge that is before us. We know that there is a long way to go, and housing is still really tough, but we're making good progress. We know that supply and demand are linked. We need to do the things to build more homes, and we need to have the policies to make sure that people can realise their dream of owning their own home too. It is only a Labor government that's going to make that dream a reality for millions of Australians.

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this matter which is clearly an issue of public urgency—the need to rein in tax breaks that are overheating our housing marking and to work to see APRA cut investor lending, as it has historically. The truth is simple in relation to housing in this country—if this government put people first and exercised every possible tool in the toolbox, this housing crisis could be dealt with.

We could assist those many thousands of Australians—so many of them young people—feeling enormous anxiety about their opportunity to ever get into homeownership. Instead, we see a tsunami of investor activity distorting the very purpose of housing in this country. Instead of homes giving people shelter and safety, housing is being treated as a speculative investment vehicle. It has been turned into an asset for wealth accumulation. It's no longer the key first plank of economic security in our country—that is, a roof over your head—and it's getting worse.

Investor loans have reached a record high this year. They now account for more than 40 per cent of total new loans, up from just 25 per cent in 2020. When investor demand outpaces owner-occupier demand like this, you don't just get more buyers; you get a bidding war. First home buyers are losing, and they are feeling it every weekend in every city and too many towns across our country. This surge in investor demand doesn't just push prices up; it locks in expectations of future growth and fuels ever more speculative buying. House prices are now forecast to rise by nine per cent next year, and that's on top of six per cent already this year. This is causing enormous anxiety across our country for young people.

Labor is making things worse. Labor's policies are exacerbating the problem. Their five per cent deposit scheme, designed to be an assistance to first home buyers, is now unleashing a wave of first home buyers and investors competing for the same small group of properties, driving up the price of housing in October alone by more than one per cent. This is not just an economic imbalance; it's a moral one, because housing is a human right. Having a roof over your head is a human right. It's critical to having a safe life and a base from which to work, to build a family and to have a community. First home buyers simply don't stand a chance in a market that's rigged in favour of wealthy, tax-subsidised investors.

We have tools in our toolbox to deal with this—and we must—and APRA is holding some of them. APRA has intervened before. Between 2014 and 2018 it put the handbrake on investor lending growth. In this crisis, that's a tool we need right now. That period saw more loans flow to owner-occupiers, and prices stabilised to the slowest period for house price growth in over 30 years. It worked, and we can do it again. We can stabilise house price growth through actions like the possibilities available to APRA, and this urgency motion calls for exactly that.

We need the Treasurer to direct APRA to reinstate tighter macroprudential controls on investor lending before prices get even further out of control. We cannot simply leave it to market forces when they are manifestly failing. We can't leave it to the banks, who are profiting from a reckless amount of high-risk investor lending, including through trusts and other devices that avoid the lending buffer and feed the bubble.

At the same time, we must address the unfair tax system—the billions in tax breaks flowing to property investors through negative gearing and the capital gains discount. These are enormous distortions in our market. They must be reined in. We must make sure housing returns to being a roof over the head, not a way of accumulating wealth by very wealthy people who, in so many cases, already own multiple homes. If we do not act, we condemn another generation to being renters for life—to being locked out while the wealthy investors keep investing and receiving enormous tax breaks to buy more and more property.

Question negatived.