JULIE COLLINS:
Today we’ve hit the 100,000 Australians that have been helped into home ownership through the Home Guarantee Scheme. Here in Tasmania, more than 1,300 people in Tasmania have been helped into home ownership since the Albanese Labor government came to office. In Hobart, that's more than 630 people into home ownership that were helped with the program. The Home Guarantee Scheme is really helping Tasmanians and Australians overcome the hurdle of deposit to get into home ownership. For those Australians that are renting that could probably service a mortgage but don't have enough for a deposit, they can get into home ownership with as little as 5 per cent deposit and the federal government guarantees the other 15 – which means they save thousands of dollars on lenders mortgage insurance. Now this scheme has been expanded by the federal government with the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee and, of course, the changes we made to widen the availability and the eligibility of who can actually be helped through the Scheme.
And we want to do more. We want to do more with Help to Buy, which is a shared equity scheme, which would assist more than 40,000 Australians into home ownership. But of course, we need every state and territory to pass legislation and we need the Greens and the Liberals to support the legislation so that we can get it through the Federal Parliament.
JOURNALIST:
Is that number better or, is it better than you expected or you still got a bit of work to do?
COLLINS:
Well, it's going really, really well. We now know that about one in three first home buyers actually use the federal government scheme. So it is helping those Australians that it should be helping get into home ownership. And of course, we opened it up to those Australians that haven't had their own home for more than a decade, so that those people that have got out of the housing system can get back in.
JOURNALIST:
Again for Tasmanians, how big a difference, how big a difference is that mortgage insurance bit save them?
COLLINS:
Well, it's tens of thousands of dollars that people are saving through this federal government program. And what it means, of course, is though we've helped people into home ownership sooner than they would've been able to get into it. So that's more than 630 people here in Hobart, and more than 1,300 Tasmanians just since we've come to office. We know there's more to do, but this is a great start and it shows that we're working hard to get more Australians and more Tasmanians into home ownership and into homes.
JOURNALIST:
Are you worried though, that maybe by helping this, are you wary that you don't want to push prices up too much by having too many people access the scheme and rushing into the market?
COLLINS:
Absolutely. That's why our schemes are targeted, and that's why we have income thresholds and purchase limits, because we are targeting it in a way that doesn't add to increasing prices when it comes to the housing market. This is about supporting those Tasmanians and those Australians into home ownership, but in a way that's not pushing up prices, which is why they're limited in number and they're limited in price and they're limited to incomes.
JOURNALIST:
How big a difference has it made in Tasmania for those people?
COLLINS:
For those 1,300 Tasmanians, it's a significant difference. That means they're in their own home sooner, and it means they've saved tens of thousands of dollars. Without this government program, some of these people might not be getting into home ownership for years to come. So this is a very significant support for those Tasmanians, and I'm sure the 1,300 Tasmanians that have been helped understand how significant this is.
JOURNALIST:
Are we still having supply issues, stock issues? How are they mingling with that issue at the same time?
COLLINS:
Well, certainly we know there's a lot more to do when it comes to housing, but what we've got is a federal government that's not only stepped up to the plate, but last financial year we invested $9.5 billion into housing and homelessness services. That is more than the entire Tasmanian state budget in one year that we as the federal government have put into housing. We have passed through the Social Housing Accelerator $50 million to the state, and other money through the Housing and Homelessness Agreement totalling $122 million that we have provided the Tasmanian state government in just the last 18 months for housing and homelessness services. We are supporting the states and territories, but they of course are lifting and we all need to be working together to turn this around.
JOURNALIST:
Any comment on today's shenanigans? I know you'll tell me that you're a federal MP, but you're a voter down here. What have you made of what's happening at the state level today?
COLLINS:
Look, I think most Tasmanians want to see the Premier either get on with it and shut up, or put up. Frankly, I think they need to call an election or they need to go away until next year. I think Tasmanians are sick of it. I think it's not good for the economy. I think that most Tasmanians expected stable majority government – that's not what they've got. And I know that Rebecca White and her Labor team are ready to govern Tasmania, and I look forward to supporting Rebecca and her team whenever the election might be called. But I really do think Tasmanians are over it. I really think the Premier needs to make a decision, one way or the other, because Tasmanians are over this instability.