Saskia Mabin:
Joining us now on the line is Dr Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fenner. Good morning and welcome to you.
Andrew Leigh:
Good morning Saskia, great to be with you.
Mabin:
Thanks for being here. These numbers are really concerning. I mean, that’s a significant amount of money that’s going towards tax concessions for landlords and nowhere near enough on housing programs, while we know that homelessness and people struggling to pay rent are issues that are just getting worse and worse. Is this something that’s top of the agenda for you?
Leigh:
Well Saskia, it’s important to recognise that the reason that this research was made possible is that Jim Chalmers revamped the Tax Expenditures and Insights Statement upon coming to office, providing much more information about the details of the tax expenditures we have – breaking that down by income and by gender and by industry.
So that’s to get more information out there because we do believe that a sensible conversation around tax is worthwhile. Jim Chalmers said in an interview on ‘The Monthly’ recently that he was impatient but not impetuous for tax reform and understands the value of the community conversation there. At the same time, we’re doing a huge amount on housing. We just had figures out in January on building approvals and dwelling approvals. New home starts hit a 3‑and‑a‑half‑year high, building approvals hit a 4‑year high. So what we’re doing in order to get more housing built is working, but there’s a lot more to be done on that front.
Mabin:
At the moment, according to ACOSS, fewer than 2 per cent of homes here in Australia being built for social housing. The OECD has called on the government to boost its investment in social housing. You’ve just referred to a little bit of the work that the government is doing. How will that change the dial?
Leigh:
Yeah, I mean, we had that nine‑and‑a‑half‑year period under the Coalition where effectively the federal government stepped back from the social and affordable housing game. And because housing takes a while to build, that takes a while to overcome that deficit that built up under the Coalition years. We’re on‑track to deliver 55,000 social and affordable homes through initiatives such as the Housing Australia Future Fund, an innovative way of unlocking new finance to fund homes for those who most need them.
And we’re ensuring that we get those costs down through working with the states for planning and zoning approvals, pausing changes to the National Construction Code. We’ve now got inflation in construction costs well down. It was 17 per cent a year when we came to office, now it’s down to 2 per cent. So, that makes a big difference for people who are looking to build homes and also for the work that the governments are doing, both ACT and federal government here in Canberra.
Mabin:
ACOSS wants the government to curb capital gains tax concessions and negative gearing. We know that these are policies that do not win elections. How likely is it that the government would consider what ACOSS is calling for during this term?
Leigh:
Well look, lots of people will be making submissions as we come into the Budget. We’re in that season where organisations are being invited to put their views forward. And of course, ACOSS’ views are welcomed, as are those of other organisations. Our focus in terms of housing is getting more housing built.
We believe that this is principally a supply challenge. That’s why we’ve got the National Housing Accord, aiming to build 1.2 million homes over the next 5 years. I’ve gone through with ACT Housing Minister Chris Steel, looking at some of the planning bottlenecks that he’s seeing in the ACT and the careful work that he’s doing to make sure that we get speedy housing approval, while also allowing locals to have their say on new developments.
Mabin:
I think everyone would be pleased to hear that supply is hopefully on the increase. But it sounds like there’s no appetite for doing anything about these tax concessions. Is that fair to say?
Leigh:
On the tax reform front we’ve made changes and we will continue to make others. We had a big multinational tax reform agenda in our first term, made changes around thin capitalization, we made changes around transparency, we’ve delivered tax cuts to all Australians so our tax reform agenda is a serious one and will continue to be so.
Mabin:
What about the suggestion that we heard there from the Independent Senator David Pocock to restrict negative gearing to one investment property? Is that something the government would seriously consider?
Leigh:
David’s welcome to put his views into the budget process and the government will consider that in the usual way. But again, the work that we’re doing on the housing front is around supply. Getting more tradies into the business is important too. We’ve got construction apprenticeship bonuses to ensure that there’s more incentive to stay in your apprenticeship. We’re growing construction workforce through free TAFE.
So, we’re thinking about all of the different ways in which we need to make a difference with supply, whether that’s the approvals process, whether that is the skills, whether that’s the capital and we’re pushing on each of those. We’ve got a very ambitious Housing Minister in Clare O’Neil, and she’s working constructively with states, territories and local governments to see action.
Mabin:
Dr Andrew Leigh we’ll leave it there. Thank you very much for your time this morning.
Leigh:
Thanks Saskia.
Mabin:
That’s the Member for Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh.