NATALIE BARR:
Housing Minister Julie Collins joins me now. Good morning to you. So, the Greens have described this scheme as a, quote, housing lottery that will push up prices for renters. Will it?
JULIE COLLINS:
Look, it won't, Nat. This is about getting more Australians into home ownership and making sure that more Australians can have the Australian dream of owning their own home. This is a shared equity scheme and program. Some smaller states already do this and indeed, in Western Australia, their program now has been running for more than 20 years. This program is targeted. It's targeted at low and middle income earners deliberately, to make sure that we can get them into home ownership because they otherwise wouldn't be able to, with as little as 2 per cent deposit.
BARR:
So, they're pretty firm about it. They say unless you address negative gearing, they're not going to back it. Are you going to do a deal?
COLLINS:
Well, look, Nat, we took this to the election. This is an election commitment. This is a shared equity scheme. As I said, they're already running in some states in Australia, but this is about having a national scheme so that more Australians can get access to the great Australian dream and go into home ownership. We want to support more Australians into home ownership. It's just one part of our broad housing agenda. We're obviously building more public and social housing as well. We're trying to do more in Build‑to‑Rent, right across the spectrum. We are working and this is one part of it. And we're talking about, for those individuals, 40,000 Australians over that four years, this is critically important to them. I'm getting contacted from people around the country, real people who are really concerned, who want access to this program and they want access as soon as possible to this program to get into home ownership. I mean, we've already helped more than 100,000 Australians into home ownership since we came to office through the Home Guarantee Scheme. And I've been on your program talking about the expansion of that previously.
BARR:
So, don't you need the Green support in the Senate? Are you going to do a deal?
COLLINS:
Well, look, we've said we're not dealing on this legislation. It stands on its own merits. Of course, the Liberals could support it tomorrow. The Liberal Party, of course, claimed to support home ownership and here they have a policy in front of them that we took to the election. They should be supporting it. Frankly, I'm surprised that any politician is opposing getting more Australians into home ownership, particularly when there's evidence that these programs have worked in the past and having a national program for this is a good idea. That is what the experts say. That is what a lot of the sector are saying. They want this program up and running and I would call on the Greens and the Liberals to reconsider their position.
BARR:
Okay. So, realistically, it doesn't sound like the Liberals or the Greens are going to support it unless you do a deal. Will you do a deal with the Greens over negative gearing?
COLLINS:
No, we've been very clear, Nat. We are not for dealing on this legislation. We want them to actually reconsider their position and look at this legislation on its merits. This is important legislation for those 40,000 Australian households that would help into home ownership. These are real people, Nat. And frankly, the Greens and the Libs need to take this seriously and stop playing politics with it. We have an election mandate. It was our policy prior to the election to implement this and frankly, they need to get out of the way and they need to support this policy.
BARR:
Okay, thank you very much, Minister.
COLLINS:
Thank you.