MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The federal government will reintroduce its Help to Buy housing scheme in Parliament today after the bill was effectively voted down by both the Greens and the Coalition. The scheme proposes the government co‑purchase homes with about 40,000 first home buyers, but the Greens have questioned whether the scheme will actually help make housing accessible for more Australians.
BRIDGET BRENNAN:
Let’s get more on that story with the Minister in charge, Clare O’Neil joins us from Parliament House. Good morning to you, Minister, welcome back to News Breakfast.
CLARE O’NEIL:
Good morning, Bridget, great to be with you.
BRENNAN:
Yeah, let’s talk about this Bill, because it was effectively voted out of the Parliament; the Greens and the Coalition do not support it as it stands. Why reintroduce it?
O’NEIL:
Well, this is a really important piece of legislation, Bridget, that’s going to help 40,000 childcare workers, factory workers, cleaners get into home ownership in circumstances where they’d otherwise have no real chance of doing so. This is exactly what our citizens expect of the Parliament at a time like this.
We’ve got a housing crisis on our hands in this country and it is affecting terribly the lives of people around the nation, but particularly those low and middle‑income earners who are stuck in a rent trap, and this is not the full answer, of course, for all of those people, but it’s a really important part of the answer, and the Greens and the Liberals are today standing in the path of these very deserving people from getting government support to help put a secure roof over their head, and they need to be accountable for that.
BRENNAN:
Why couldn’t you go back to the negotiating table on this Bill, because as you say, the housing crisis is acute; there are so many Australian families feeling this every day. Could you not have added more ambition to this Bill?
O’NEIL:
Well, that’s not what the Greens and the Liberals have asked us to do, Bridget. In fact, we’ve had a number of attempts to get to a position of reaching agreement about this so we can get the help to people who need it.
But I have to tell you that the distinct impression I get is that the Greens in particular don’t really want to see this Bill pass the Parliament. What they’re saying is they would prefer to have a fight over making real progress for real people, and I just say to all your viewers at home, you know, this is not an abstract political debate. This is 40,000 actual people, actual childcare workers, actual aged care workers whose lives will be transformed if we’re able to get this Bill through the Parliament.
And I just remind your viewers too, Bridget, that it’s actually Greens Party policy to build a scheme like this. They’re effectively going into the Parliament and voting against their own policy. And that tells us very clearly that this is all about politics. We want to make progress, progress for real people, and that’s why we’re bringing this back in, to try to get it through the Parliament.
BRENNAN:
I suppose there’s a debate though about whether this is progress, right, because 40,000 people, look, it’s not nothing, but as you say, this is a massive crisis. Look, there are more people on the public housing waiting list than 40,000 people in your own state. Could there have been a bigger scheme to ensure that more Australians can get in on this? 40,000 really for some opponents of this bill is a drop in the ocean.
O’NEIL:
Well, let me make a couple of points on that, and the first thing to say is that 40,000 people is a lot of people. We’re in a market where about 100,000 people are buying their first home each year. We’d be adding 10,000 additional people to that. So that’s 10,000 people whose lives are changed.
There’s not many moments in the Parliament where we get the power to make a difference that big, and I’d say that, you know, you can have your debates about the merits of this scheme, 40,000 people having their lives transformed by a government is a pretty big and important thing.
But I’d also say, Bridget, very importantly, this is not all the government’s doing. Since we’ve been in office, we’ve helped 120,000 Australians into home ownership through a separate scheme. We’ve helped more than a million renters with up to 40 per cent increases in Commonwealth Rent Assistance. We’re building tens of thousands of social and affordable homes, and I think, you know, the people watching at home understand this.
We’ve got a housing crisis that’s been boiling away here for about 30 years. There isn’t a single silver bullet to this crisis, and anyone who’s proposing that there is, you know, treat them with caution.
What we need is for the government to do lots of different things, to pull all the levers that we have all at the same time, and that’s what the government’s doing through its $32 billion Houses For Australians Plan, and the Help to Buy Scheme is a pretty important part of that.
BRENNAN:
Is one of these levers some tax reform, negative gearing reform, Capital Gains Tax reform? There are leading economists saying that would make a difference for people who want to get into the housing market.
O’NEIL:
Well, I’m respectful of the views of those economists, but that’s not Labor’s policy. We have an expansive policy that is seeing the Commonwealth really get into the provision of housing for ordinary Australians for the first time in a generation. It’s $32 billion. We are building more homes, we are helping renters, and we are helping more of those renters importantly become homeowners, around that’s the government’s policy.
BRENNAN:
Sorry to interrupt. I don’t love interrupting, but are you concerned that there are more investors buying up houses when there are Australians who just – who can’t even dream of buying a house right now?
O’NEIL:
Well, that’s why we’ve got the Help to Buy Scheme before the Parliament, Bridget, to try to assist those people who would not otherwise be able to get into the home ownership market.
I want to see ordinary Australians own their own home. You know, 30 years ago in politics that wasn’t anything particularly big to claim, but today it is, and our government is fiercely working to try to make sure that we live in a country where ordinary people can experience home ownership. That’s why this Bill’s before the Parliament, and that’s why I want the Greens and the Liberals to support it.
BRENNAN:
All right. Let’s move to the Middle East. Now hundreds of Australians arriving home overnight, which is welcome news. But there is a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Lebanon. What’s the government’s position on Israel’s invasion of Lebanon?
O’NEIL:
Well, you heard the Deputy Prime Minister speak on the weekend about our belief that Israel has the right to defend itself, and I’ll leave the commentary about the situation there to the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.
What I will say is that our government has a really clear role here in trying to assist Australians who are stuck in Lebanon. You said 349 came through last night, I was actually tearing up a little bit watching those people come back to the airport into the loving arms of their families. We’re working assiduously to try to assist Australians who are in trouble there, and I’ll just repeat the government’s message again that for any Australians who are in Lebanon, now is the time to get out, there will not be endless opportunities to get government assistance to leave Lebanon, and I’d really ask everyone who is there to register with DFAT and to take the first flight that’s offered to you to get home to safety.
BRENNAN:
Yeah, an important message. There’s one million people displaced in Lebanon at the moment, a grave humanitarian situation. Are you concerned that Israel is not complying with International Law as many aid agencies have alleged?
O’NEIL:
Well, again, Bridget, I’ll let the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister speak to those matters. You heard the Deputy Prime Minister give an extensive interview on Insiders on Sunday about this.
We assert Israel has a right to defend itself as a nation state, but that doesn’t, you know, that doesn’t assuage, I’m sure, what are enormous humanitarian concerns in the region, so of course the government’s worried about those.
BRENNAN:
Clare O’Neil, a busy day for you. Thanks very much for your time.
O’NEIL:
Thanks, Bridget.