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

():  I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice asked by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Waters) today relating to taxation.

Housing is the single biggest contributor to the recent inflation spike. It's not just the Greens saying it. The RBA governor yesterday singled out credit growth, which we know is largely property investor loans, as a cause for concern. It's more than concerning; it's fundamentally unfair.

It is unfair that this government is supporting property investors to outbid first home buyers weekend after weekend. It is unfair that investor borrowing has reached a record-high $40 billion in the last three months of last year. Coincidently, that was exactly the same three months that immediately followed Labor's five per cent deposit scheme kicking in. It is unfair that investors are flooding into the market at record rates and that Labor keeps giving them massive tax handouts to help them push up house prices.

According to the Treasury, an astonishing 54 per cent of the capital gains tax handout goes to the wealthiest one per cent. Just four per cent of people that get it are under 35. This is the most unfair handout in the Commonwealth Tax Code and it is exacerbating inequality by pushing homeownership further and further out of reach for those young people who are desperate to buy their first home.

Yet this Labor government refuses to cut those unfair tax handouts for property investors and to give renters and first home buyers a real shot at buying a home. No more delays or excuses: the government needs to address the housing crisis with real action. Scrap the capital gains tax discount. Scrap negative gearing and do it in this upcoming budget. While they're at it, they could also address the outrageous fuel tax credit which gives cheap diesel to big mining companies. Getting rid of that absolute joke of a handout would free up about $8 billion a year, which could be used for cost-of-living relief for households. If Labor is going to cut spending to deal with inflation, then maybe they should start by looking at that spending that goes into the pockets of the one per cent and straight into the pockets of the big corporations ruining the planet and fuelling the climate crisis. Have they got the guts? We'll find out. (Time expired)

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

I rise to take note of the answers given to Senator Waters regarding the deeply unfair billion-dollar tax breaks for wealthy property hoarders. Reforming the capital gains tax discount is obvious. It's long overdue, and a growing number of people in our country know this is true. All of Australia's significant economists get it. They want to see a change. Unions support it. Working people understand it. Welfare groups see it as an urgent reform required for fairness in our community. It's supported by many people in this parliament, including many on the Labor side of politics. Yet, instead of acting to make housing more affordable, Labor is choosing policies that turbocharge housing prices. Unbelievably, they are making things worse.

They're handing out obscene tax breaks to people buying their 50th, 60th or 70th investment property. No wonder homeownership rates for young people are falling. No wonder so many young people are so depressed at their prospects of getting housing security. Labor is prioritising wealthy property investors over renters. They're doing it over the interests of so many people who find themselves catapulted into homelessness, and they're doing it over the interests of people who are facing increasing mortgage stress. Labor is spending more on those tax breaks for wealthy housing investors than on social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined. Let that sink in. That's about priorities, and they're all wrong on the Labor side of politics.

The Labor government is giving more support to making housing unaffordable, especially for our young people. Meanwhile, Australians are working harder than ever and still falling behind. And, yes, real wages are falling. Things are going to get worse for a long time before they get better. Rents keep going up. First home buyers are locked out. The cost of living is eating away at the chances to get those savings that young people are seeking to get into the housing market. Mortgage stress is the norm, not the exception. It's Labor's decision to give $181 billion over a 10-year period to wealthy property investors, making housing more unaffordable. They're not dealing with the crisis that too many Australians are facing every day.

Question agreed to.