Melissa McIntosh, Member for Lindsay:
Thanks for being here in Mulgoa in Western Sydney. It’s fantastic to be here with the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing, Michael Sukkar, and Nick Chandler from Rawson Homes, and really just seeing the activity that is happening here in Mulgoa and across Western Sydney is testament – I think – to our Government’s initiatives. It’s really great to see how many jobs…you were saying, Nick, that you have 40 or 50 tradespeople just on this particular house alone and that’s really exciting news. And with no further ado, I’d like to introduce Nick to talk a bit about this project and what’s happening across our community when it comes to building new homes and supporting local jobs.
Nick Taylor, Rawson Homes:
Thanks very much, Melissa. Thank you very much for joining us today at a new Rawson Home under construction. This is exactly the sort of home that we’re seeing huge demand for off the back of HomeBuilder and also the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. They’ve been hugely successful for our industry and our business as well and we are absolutely delighted to be able to see the pipeline of work emerging through what was looking to be a very uncertain period of time into 2021. Now, it’s looking like a very positive year and one that we can step into with great confidence. That allows us to keep people in our business together, it allows us to support the trades that have become such a fundamental part of our growth and have been there with us supporting our business and it’s great for the economies of Western Sydney as well. So much of what we do is in the North West and the South West of Sydney’s metropolitan market and those are the places that have very benefited from HomeBuilder and the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. And what we’re also seeing now is that the regions are following suit and so our business, which is represented in the central-west and the Hunter and the Illawarra, is really starting to gather steam as well. So we thank the Federal Government for its continued support of our industry and we really appreciate the opportunity to continue that support into 2021.
Minister Sukkar:
Well firstly, can I thank Melissa McIntosh, the Member for Lindsay, for the invitation out here today to Mulgoa and of course to Nick Chandler and the team at Rawson Homes for having us here today. As Melissa has indicated, the residential construction industry is so important for Australia’s national economy. And yes, Western Sydney is really a powerhouse driving that growth but we have seen residential construction jobs throughout Australia, as Nick has said, being supported by the HomeBuilder program – a $25,000 grant to people who purchase a new home – and of course the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme which Nick also mentioned.
Today, I’m very pleased to announce that the additional 10,000 places that were announced on Budget night under the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme for first home buyers who purchase a new home, are officially taking applications today. So there are 27 banks who participate in the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme with the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation and as of today, those banks are working with NHFIC to progress the applications for those additional 10,000 places. As many Australians will know, the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme allows first home buyers to purchase their first home with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent. We took this to the election as a key commitment because we knew that one of the major pinch points for first home buyers was getting that deposit together. In places like Sydney and in Melbourne, it takes up to ten years to save for that deposit. So the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme brings forward that time by many years. We’ve seen two successful tranches of First Home Loan Deposit Scheme guarantees, 10,000 were released on the 1st of January – they’ve all been taken up. Another 10,000 were released on 1st July and nearly all of those have been taken up, I think that there’s only a couple of hundred left, it’s been extraordinarily popular. And now we have these additional 10,000 places with one additional requirement – that they are used by first home buyers to purchase a new home. This means that, yes, we are providing 10,000 new first home buyers with the opportunity to own their home, but importantly – and building on HomeBuilder – we’re also ensuring that there’s 10,000 new homes that are built. As Aiden, who works for Rawson Homes, was mentioning to Melissa and I earlier, a house like this in an estate like this, over the life of its construction, will employ 40 to 50 people, 40 to 50 different trades.
We know that the HomeBuilder program and the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme are supporting many hundreds of thousands of jobs in the residential construction industry. We’ve seen HIA data which has shown that new home sales are up by 49.8 per cent. So the programs are unquestionably working and today we’re very pleased to re-affirm that the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is taking applications. So I’d say to all those first home buyers out there around the country who have looked at the great success of this scheme, that there’s an additional 10,000 places, get onto your bank today and work with them on applying for one of these places that will mean you can own your own home and a new home at that, supporting the economy.
So again Melissa, can I thank you for being such a champion for Western Sydney more broadly but the Lindsay electorate in particular and the many thousands of people who are working in the construction industry. Nick, can I thank you and Rawson Homes for hosting us here today.
I’m happy to take questions.
Journalist:
So with the deposit scheme, on the back of this announcement, will the HomeBuilder scheme be extended beyond its December cut-off date?
Minister Sukkar:
The HomeBuilder scheme does run until the 31st December and as the PM has said, we’re watching it very closely. The fact that it’s been a very popular scheme, it’s certainly doing the job we hoped of it, goes in its favour, in that respect, but we’re going to keep a really close eye on it between now and its end date. It’s still got a couple of months to run so we’ll watch it closely. The beauty of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme announcement though is that does work hand in hand with HomeBuilder between now and then. So there’ll be first home buyers who can utilise both of them simultaneously and they’re both driving at the same objective and that is supporting the type of jobs that means people on this building site are employed.
Journalist:
The end of the year is creeping closer very quickly. When do you think a decision will be made on that?
Minister Sukkar:
Well look, I’m not going to foreshadow that today, we’ve still got two months. This is a seven month program and there’s still two months to go. We’ll keep a close eye on it but I think that we will make out intentions known in good time before then.
Journalist:
On the integrity commission, do you think that yourself as a politician should be treated differently to an immigration official or a police officer?
Minister Sukkar:
The proposal that has been put out for exposure draft devotes $147 million to a body that’s got extraordinary powers and those extraordinary powers are there to make sure that people who are entrusted with great power, great responsibility, have the highest level of integrity applied to them. The Government will consult over the next six months on it. I think there’ll be a lot of these discussions about whether the body is designed in a way that everyone would agree with. I think myself and the Government’s view, very clearly, is that this is a body with extraordinary powers. It importantly, embeds the rule of law in that. It will provide a whole lot of scrutiny to all public officials at a commonwealth level so our position is that it is the right body and importantly, learn some of the lessons that I think most Australians would say are lessons we’ve learnt from other integrity bodies around the country. There’s six months of consultation, I think that there’s plenty of time to air-out these sorts of questions.
Journalist:
Would you personally though, do you think it should be able to publicly investigate politicians because as we’ve seen, the reason that these bodies are popular is because ICAC for example, publicly air what’s going on behind closed doors?
Minister Sukkar:
Well I think that what you want with integrity bodies is that they can uncover serious criminal offences, I mean that’s what you want. Now we do have a range of mechanisms, we are a country governed by the rule of law where that arguably already applies to an extent but we’ve seen that there’s a role for integrity commissions like this. I think that we’ve had the benefit of looking at integrity commissions at a state level and not trying to repeat some of those mistakes but also trying to apply and ensure that there’s a lot of scrutiny. So I think that, again, what the Government has put forward is well considered, it’s well thought out, it takes the best, I think, of other examples and let’s see how the consultation goes.
Journalist:
Are you implying there that perhaps what’s at stake is public hearings?
Minister Sukkar:
No, I’m saying that if you look at the bill in totality, it’s really trying to learn a lot of the lessons of the past and that won’t necessarily satisfy everyone, I’ve no doubt about it…interrupted.
Journalist:
What are those lessons?
Minister Sukkar:
There’s a range of lessons, I’m not going to go into them in specific detail…interrupted.
Journalist:
Any particular ones?
Minister Sukkar:
A range of lessons around presumption of innocence, for example, would be one. I think public officials should have a lot of scrutiny placed on them, no doubt. I think arguably, certainly in the media, there’s a whole lot of scrutiny placed on politicians. I think that that scrutiny needs to apply across the public service more broadly. I think that this bill does that but again, we’ve got a long way to go between now and consultation finishing.
Journalist:
If that is the case, why are immigration officials in the public service being treated differently to politicians, also public servants?
Minister Sukkar:
Well I’m not sure that I necessarily agree with that characterisation. I think that there’s going to be an opportunity to air-out all of these questions. I’m not trying to argue with you, I think that the important part of such a detailed consultation is that we’ll be able to go down these rabbit burrows in some detail and I think that it’s extraordinarily important that we get it right. I think that the Attorney-General has done a phenomenal job but there’ll be plenty of opportunity to go through these things.
Journalist:
Is there a benefit in cutting interests rates again and do you expect the banks to pass them on if so?
Minister Sukkar:
I’m not going to comment on the actions of the Reserve Bank, they’re obviously independent of government. It goes without saying that the impact of reducing interest rates, the marginal impact reduces as they get lower and lower and lower. As I said, from the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme example, the real pinch point for first home buyers has been that deposit, not entirely servicing the mortgage but actually getting the deposit together. We know that banks have been requiring first home buyers to have a 20 per cent deposit, again, taking up to ten years in Sydney or up to eight years in Melbourne, to save for that deposit. So the marginal benefits of reducing interest rates obviously are less and less but these are ultimately decisions for the RBA and we trust them with that responsibility.
Journalist:
How concerned should Australian farmers and producers be about being targeted by Chinese sanctions?
Minister Sukkar:
The Australian Government is working very closely with the affected industries whether its shell fish, whether its timber, we’re working very closely with them. We are of course working closely with our counterparts as well, in China. Our main message as a Government is that every country is entitled to place very rigorous standards on their imports, no doubt about it. But those standards should apply equally and fairly to everybody. That’s all that we’ll be asking for on behalf of Australian exporters, that any rules that are applied are applied fairly and across the board and the reason why we’re happy to do that is that we’re so confident with the quality of Australian products, whether it’s shell fish or timber, that we think that we can meet any standards that are fairly applied anywhere around the world.
Journalist:
Some producers are bracing to see if they’ll be the next ones to be targeted. What’s your message to them?
Minister Sukkar:
Well I would say to all Australian exporters that the Government, through a very aggressive trade agenda – whether it’s free trade agreements with China and Japan and Korea and multilateral agreements that we’ve entreated into in recent years and a whole range of additional agreements with Indonesia and others which we’re currently working on or concluding – that we are really keen to open up as many markets for those exporters as possible. We know that if we create the circumstances whereby Australian exporters are able to get their product into a market that they excel because we do have some of the best product in the world. So that’s our message, that we’ll continue to do that and as issues like these arise from time to time – which I think is inevitable – we’ll always be in the corner with those Australia exporters fighting for their best interest and putting the best case forward for Australia.
Journalist:
So is it time for those farmers that find themselves in that position, is it time for them to move away from China?
Minister Sukkar:
No, I wouldn’t give our exporters gratuitous advice on that. They know their market better than anybody else. I’m sure that they understand the basic principles of diversifying your market but at the same time, China is an extraordinarily large and close trading partner of ours and as issues arise – whether it’s with China or any other country – we’ll always be fighting for their best interests.
Thanks everyone.