❓ Question regarding the Minister's support for Bill Shorten's housing affordability policies and consultation with industry bodies. The Minister strongly supports initiatives to improve housing affordability, criticising the member's stance.
AnsweredQoN 748Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
RENTAL HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
748. Mr A. KRSTICEVIC to the Minister for Housing:
I refer to the minister's comments this week that the
private rental sector is becoming unaffordable.
(1) Does the
minister support Bill Shorten's stance on negative gearing and cuts to
the capital gains tax that will cut the value of Western Australian house
prices and scare off investors who provide private rentals?
(2) Has the
minister consulted with industry peak bodies such as the Housing Industry
Association, the Master Builders Association, the Real Estate Institute of Western
Australia, the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Property
Council of Australia, and do they support Bill Shorten's anti–Western
Australian policies?
748. Mr A. KRSTICEVIC to the Minister for Housing:
I refer to the minister's comments this week that the
private rental sector is becoming unaffordable.
(1) Does the
minister support Bill Shorten's stance on negative gearing and cuts to
the capital gains tax that will cut the value of Western Australian house
prices and scare off investors who provide private rentals?
(2) Has the
minister consulted with industry peak bodies such as the Housing Industry
Association, the Master Builders Association, the Real Estate Institute of Western
Australia, the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Property
Council of Australia, and do they support Bill Shorten's anti–Western
Australian policies?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, your own minister is on his
feet.
Mr P.C. TINLEY : I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2)
I will go to the last point first. Why would an approach on negative gearing
and capital gains tax be anti–Western Australian as opposed to
pro-Australian? The premise of that notion in itself shows how unsupportive the
member is of this state and the economy of this state in making sure we create
the opportunities that the people of Western Australia deserve in relation to
housing. Housing affordability has been a longstanding issue. In fact, in his
first budget speech, the former federal Treasurer, now the Prime Minister, made
housing affordability a central tenet. We had not heard a federal Treasurer
make housing and housing affordability the centrepiece of a government's
approach to a longstanding issue. In fact,
housing and housing affordability comes up in all our research as being the
third-order issue after health and education. Health and education are
longstanding issues of concern for Western Australians and Australians, and now
unsolicited housing affordability is there. In fact, rentals are part of that
continuum.
We need a cogent policy response
from both the state, through public finances, and the private sector. We work
closely with the housing division of the Department of Communities and have had
a long association and worked with the private sector to deliver affordable
housing into the continuum. In fact, we have revamped the Affordable Housing
Strategy to create 35 000 homes by 2020 in the affordable range. We also
coupled that with probably one of the best pieces of public policy ever
invented in Australia in the form of Keystart, delivered by a Labor government
in 1989, which has never taken one dollar of public money. It provides lending
up to the median house price on a two per cent deposit. The private sector
cannot offer that. In fact, Bankwest, our own state bank, which vacated the
market some years ago, was a five per cent lender. It was the last of the
single digit deposit lenders. It is now up to the public sector to step in and
create the circumstances for the continuum of housing, which is very, very
important.
To come to the member's
question of whether I support the initiative around the capital gains tax, my
fur coat! Absolutely, I do. I one hundred per cent support any opportunity to
make housing more affordable for ordinary Australians. It is absolutely
essential. I am quite surprised that it took a very brave opposition leader to
go to an election on the basis of negative gearing and capital gains tax. We
are the only jurisdiction in the world, of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development countries, that has made the family home a wealth
creation vehicle and distorted the market. As a result, our children and their
children will find it increasingly difficult to get into home ownership. I do
not think that is the sort of society we want to create.
I urge all members to have a little
bit of sympathy for the opportunity that is presented here and give a little
bit of thought about their position on this because we need to make sure we
create complementary processes and arrangements that make housing affordability
part of it, and the rental market is indeed part of that. I remind members that
the housing waitlist is at quite a low level because of the significant effort
of successive governments—I will admit—and market conditions.
Around 14 000 people are sitting on the waitlist. The last time the waitlist
was at 14 000 people, the median rent in this town was $150 a week. It is now
$350 a week. Rent is increasingly more unaffordable and we have to attend to
it. We need all sides of politics to step up and support it. Bill Shorten is
the only one who has the courage to step up and have a crack.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, your own minister is on his
feet.
Mr P.C. TINLEY : I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2)
I will go to the last point first. Why would an approach on negative gearing
and capital gains tax be anti–Western Australian as opposed to
pro-Australian? The premise of that notion in itself shows how unsupportive the
member is of this state and the economy of this state in making sure we create
the opportunities that the people of Western Australia deserve in relation to
housing. Housing affordability has been a longstanding issue. In fact, in his
first budget speech, the former federal Treasurer, now the Prime Minister, made
housing affordability a central tenet. We had not heard a federal Treasurer
make housing and housing affordability the centrepiece of a government's
approach to a longstanding issue. In fact,
housing and housing affordability comes up in all our research as being the
third-order issue after health and education. Health and education are
longstanding issues of concern for Western Australians and Australians, and now
unsolicited housing affordability is there. In fact, rentals are part of that
continuum.
We need a cogent policy response
from both the state, through public finances, and the private sector. We work
closely with the housing division of the Department of Communities and have had
a long association and worked with the private sector to deliver affordable
housing into the continuum. In fact, we have revamped the Affordable Housing
Strategy to create 35 000 homes by 2020 in the affordable range. We also
coupled that with probably one of the best pieces of public policy ever
invented in Australia in the form of Keystart, delivered by a Labor government
in 1989, which has never taken one dollar of public money. It provides lending
up to the median house price on a two per cent deposit. The private sector
cannot offer that. In fact, Bankwest, our own state bank, which vacated the
market some years ago, was a five per cent lender. It was the last of the
single digit deposit lenders. It is now up to the public sector to step in and
create the circumstances for the continuum of housing, which is very, very
important.
To come to the member's
question of whether I support the initiative around the capital gains tax, my
fur coat! Absolutely, I do. I one hundred per cent support any opportunity to
make housing more affordable for ordinary Australians. It is absolutely
essential. I am quite surprised that it took a very brave opposition leader to
go to an election on the basis of negative gearing and capital gains tax. We
are the only jurisdiction in the world, of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development countries, that has made the family home a wealth
creation vehicle and distorted the market. As a result, our children and their
children will find it increasingly difficult to get into home ownership. I do
not think that is the sort of society we want to create.
I urge all members to have a little
bit of sympathy for the opportunity that is presented here and give a little
bit of thought about their position on this because we need to make sure we
create complementary processes and arrangements that make housing affordability
part of it, and the rental market is indeed part of that. I remind members that
the housing waitlist is at quite a low level because of the significant effort
of successive governments—I will admit—and market conditions.
Around 14 000 people are sitting on the waitlist. The last time the waitlist
was at 14 000 people, the median rent in this town was $150 a week. It is now
$350 a week. Rent is increasingly more unaffordable and we have to attend to
it. We need all sides of politics to step up and support it. Bill Shorten is
the only one who has the courage to step up and have a crack.
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