❓ Mr. Nalder questions the Premier about declining first home owner grant applications and suggests redirecting savings to support the struggling housing industry. The Premier deflects, criticizing the previous government's financial management and highlighting the current government's support through Keystart.
AnsweredQoN 156Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIRST HOME OWNER GRANT —
APPLICATIONS
156. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
I
refer to the latest data released by Treasury that shows that first home owner
grant applications for new homes to February 2019 fell by 24.6 per cent in
annual average terms. Given that the government's midyear review has
forecast savings of $45 million from lower grants to first home buyers,
why will the Premier not put these savings toward providing vital support to
the struggling housing industry, which employs over 100 000 Western Australians?
APPLICATIONS
156. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Premier:
I
refer to the latest data released by Treasury that shows that first home owner
grant applications for new homes to February 2019 fell by 24.6 per cent in
annual average terms. Given that the government's midyear review has
forecast savings of $45 million from lower grants to first home buyers,
why will the Premier not put these savings toward providing vital support to
the struggling housing industry, which employs over 100 000 Western Australians?
AnswerView source ↗
Is this a question coming from a minister
in the last government that put up land tax three times?
Mr B.S. Wyatt interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : He was
actually the minister who did it!
Is this a question coming from a minister
in the last government, which blew the state's finances by $40 billion?
The member for Bateman cannot really come in here and demand that we spend
money when the former government did those two things—he cannot. As we
know, the Treasurer and the Minister for Housing are working with the housing
industry and, as we saw recently, this government announced in the midyear
review a significant improvement in the Keystart loan book of, from my
recollection, $420 million to support the first home buyer industry. If members
talk to the industry, they will learn that the thing that industry wants most
of all is for Keystart to continue to operate effectively—Keystart is a
great Labor achievement; it is a true story—because it has ensured that
the highest number of first home buyers in the nation are in Western Australia
because they can more easily access capital than can those in the eastern
states.
in the last government that put up land tax three times?
Mr B.S. Wyatt interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : He was
actually the minister who did it!
Is this a question coming from a minister
in the last government, which blew the state's finances by $40 billion?
The member for Bateman cannot really come in here and demand that we spend
money when the former government did those two things—he cannot. As we
know, the Treasurer and the Minister for Housing are working with the housing
industry and, as we saw recently, this government announced in the midyear
review a significant improvement in the Keystart loan book of, from my
recollection, $420 million to support the first home buyer industry. If members
talk to the industry, they will learn that the thing that industry wants most
of all is for Keystart to continue to operate effectively—Keystart is a
great Labor achievement; it is a true story—because it has ensured that
the highest number of first home buyers in the nation are in Western Australia
because they can more easily access capital than can those in the eastern
states.
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