Alan Jones:
Michael Sukkar, good morning.
Michael Sukkar:
Alan, great to be with you again.
Alan Jones:
Thank you. Just a quick one on the structural issue when people have paid the stamp duty. They can't live in the joint, they can't sell the joint, and they've got to continue to pay the mortgage and then the cladding issue. Have you been able to bang any heads together on this?
Michael Sukkar:
Well Alan, Minister Karen Andrews has been working very closely with her state counterparts. I know there's a whole heap of work to be done. Sadly, this work wasn't done a little bit earlier, as you and I spoke about on Tuesday. Some of these issues have been around for a long time but I think, finding a way, particularly for the states to provide some sort backstop for people that you were referring to on Tuesday, the people that have done the right thing, bought a home, taken out a mortgage and now are in trouble because they can't live or in some cases rent out their property, they are obviously in the…interrupted.
Alan Jones:
See the concern is, Michael, that governments are so slow to respond. I mean, how would anyone in Canberra, who's got a nice $200,000 salary as a politician, like to be told, 'I'm sorry, you've got a place, get out of here, it's unsafe, you can't live in it. Oh, by the way, nor will you be able to sell it, no one's going to buy it. And go and rent somewhere, you've got a wife and three kids'. Why are we so slow to respond to the backstop as you say?
Michael Sukkar:
Well, that is ultimately a question for the state governments but you can really apply it to all level of government. It's because our bureaucracy is very risk adverse, Alan. And I must say as a Minister often, and this is not a criticism necessarily, but often when I ask for things to be done quite quickly, the public service sees it as their role to outline all the reasons why it can't happen.
Alan Jones:
But see they don't run the country. I keep saying who's running the country? You people are running the country and the public service should be told to deliver.
Michael Sukkar:
Alan, I couldn't agree more. Although we do, quite rightly, rely on the public service to put into place and to implement the things that we tell them and that can often be the blocker. Not always. Sometimes, it's just governments just acting slowly. I mean, you've seen this, Alan. Sometimes it's the government acting slowly.
Alan Jones:
I know, it depresses me. So you're saying, for example – and this goes to credibility then – because you're saying, your words, "get into the property market". Now, you tell me, how a 25 or 30 year old, paying off his HECS debt, paying rent, how he actually saves – I mean, you're a married man – how he actually saves $100,000 for a deposit. Can't.
Michael Sukkar:
It's extraordinarily difficult. And that's why, as Assistant Minister to the Treasurer when Scott Morrison was the Treasurer and now as Assistant Treasurer and Housing Minister, I've pretty well focussed on one thing – how do we help people get that deposit together? Because as you know, Alan, once you've decided to save for a property, you might thing 'okay, I need $50,000 for my deposit'. Actually by the time you get there, the housing market has often jumped and it's not $50,000 that you need, you might need $70,000 or $80,000. So you're constantly chasing your tail.
So we put in place a couple of years ago, the First Home Super Savers Scheme, a tax cut for first home buyers. They can salary sacrifice into super, they save 30% of tax, provided they use the salary sacrifice to mount up to $30,000 into the deposit on a first home. Now, I'm working on the first home loan deposit scheme, which means the Government is going to guarantee loans…interrupted.
Alan Jones:
Just on the salary sacrifice. Am I right though in saying that when you take it out of the super and you pay less tax of course, and you can do that up to $30,000 which gets you on the road, is it true though, that that's got to be then paid back?
Michael Sukkar:
No, the only way that you'd ever have to pay it back is if you don't end up using that to purchase a property. It's a permanent tax cut. So there's no repayment.
Alan Jones:
And it just comes out of your super?
Michael Sukkar:
Correct. It comes out of your super. Now we've got a separate scheme all together…
Alan Jones:
The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme
Michael Sukkar:
First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. We're going to guarantee loans for 10,000 first home buyers a year which means you can buy a house with a 5% deposit.
Alan Jones:
How do you make the 10,000 cut off? Who gets into that?
Michael Sukkar:
I'm working through the mechanics at the moment, Alan. Obviously we want it spread throughout the country, in regional areas and city areas. There'll be income thresholds so it will be for individuals who earn up to $125,000 or couples who earn up to $200,000. That'll be the cut off. And there'll be some other eligibility criteria. But we want it to be open to as many first home buyers as possible.
Alan Jones:
And the Government covers the mortgage insurance? This bloke's, a dyed in the wool Liberal. He's a fair dinkum Liberal, this fellow. This doesn't sound like Liberal policy to me. This sounds like a little bit of Labor, socialism stuff. Government getting into the business of…, I'm not too sure, I'm not too sure it's really Liberal policy. Basically you're saying, right, that you'll only need 5% rather than the usual 20% as a deposit, and you'll pick up the rest. Government will pick up the rest and the Government will cover the mortgage insurance and it's up to $125,000 for single people and $200,000 – that's income – for a married couple, am I right?
Michael Sukkar:
That's right…interrupted.
Alan Jones:
From January 1 next year.
Michael Sukkar:
Can I say that this is as Liberal as it gets. I mean Robert Menzies, when he was founding our Party, spoke more about home ownership than anything else. We are the Party of home ownership. The Labor Party would be happy for everybody to rent and not own a home. We are certain that everyone that wants to buy a home, should have the opportunity. So this is absolutely Liberal policy. We will guarantee the loan. Once you're in the market, once you've bought it, you've got equity building up in your home, you'll refinance and then you've got no connection to the government anymore. It's just an ordinary loan that you'll get, we just guarantee part of it.
Alan Jones:
From January 1. Now, do people now how to go about all this? Perhaps you could send me a note? Could you? Send me a note, please.
Michael Sukkar:
I'd love to do that.
Alan Jones:
Just hang on there and my people will tell you where, so that I can let people know how they can make applications for provisions in this scheme.
Michael Sukkar:
Well Alan, can I just say, and I want to thank you. There's been really no one in the media that has championed first home buyers more than you since the First Home Super Savers Scheme two years ago and it's something that we're very grateful for.
Alan Jones:
Absolutely, not at all. Well get that stuff to me and I'll clarify that for all our listeners.
Michael Sukkar:
Thanks, Alan
Alan Jones:
Thank you, Michael, for your time.