Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Thwaites, I'm the Member for Jagajaga. It's an absolute pleasure to be welcoming the Prime Minister, the Housing Minister, and my State colleague, Anthony Carbines, here today to Rosanna, where we are going to be putting 45 new homes just here. As you can see, they're just about ready to go. So, that will be people in our community getting a safe and secure roof over their heads, and I know how much that means to people around here. When I am walking around the electorate and talking to people, people are saying to me, not just young people, but parents, grandparents, they're saying that they want younger generations to have the opportunity that they have had, that they want that promise, that Australian promise of people getting a job, working hard, and being able to have a secure roof over their head. And, of course, that's what our government is all about, and that's what we see here in our community, where we have these 45 new homes coming online. So fantastic to be here and wonderful to have the Prime Minister here today.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much, Kate. I'm absolutely delighted to be back here. I came here with Kate and with Clare O'Neil when it was a construction site, just a short period of time ago. It seems like just weeks ago. But of course, this was funded through the Housing Australia Future Fund. That's a program that we put in place to fund social and affordable housing, particularly to fund it in areas of need and in locations like this one right next to Rosanna Train Station. What this will do is to lift up opportunity for the families who will move in to these well-constructed, affordable or social homes for them and their families, with that security that comes from a roof over your head. Now it's important to note that we were delayed with the Housing Australia Future Fund for about two years when the Senate blocked over and over and deferred the votes in favour of this Fund. But this is just one of the measures that we've put in place. The Housing Australia Future Fund is joined by our Help to Buy Scheme, which is a shared equity scheme to get people into home ownership, that thousands of Australians have benefited from. Our five per cent deposits that have resulted in now more than 250,000 Australian families, couples, singles being able to purchase their first home for the very first time, as a result of that. In addition to that, we have our Build to Rent scheme that encourages development for private rentals by making a difference there, right throughout the spectrum, whether it's more social housing, more private rentals, or more home ownership. What our government has stood for since we were elected almost four years ago is building more housing supply and recognising that secure housing is a precondition of a good life, of making sure that people can then get the educational opportunities, that they can maximise their health outcomes, that they can make a difference for employment as well, that comes from security as well.
Now, Angus Taylor, in his reply to the Budget on Thursday night, importantly said that programs like this, these 45 homes that will be lived in in just a few weeks' time, that this program will be abolished. Just one of the measures that they said they would get rid of in their Budget on Thursday night. So, we're throwing everything at housing supply and at opportunity, including in our Budget on Tuesday night, where we recognise that people who have negatively geared properties can continue down that road and to secure a benefit that comes from that, but that for new people who want to go into investment properties, it has to be new builds, new supply. And the difference between the two approaches is simply this: if someone chooses to invest in an investment property and to negatively gear it, then if it's an old property, then previously, that would benefit their future wealth and build up their assets. If they invest in a new build, it not only does that still, but it also invests in the assets of the nation, and the wealth of the nation, which is why this is good policy. So, whilst we're throwing everything at the housing issue, the Coalition and the three right-wing parties now in the National Parliament are all opposed to all of these measures. They voted against the Housing Australia Future Fund, now they say they'll abolish it. They voted against Build to Rent, now they say they'll abolish it. They say they will vote against our tax changes to better align the taxation system with actually equalising, not giving that advantage to investors over homeowners for the first time for existing properties, and that they'll reverse it. This is the same mob, of course, that said not only did they vote against our tax decreases, but they said they'd reverse them as well. We are the party of aspiration. There is nothing more Australian about aspiration, than the aspiration to live in your own home, and that is what we want to give people the opportunity to do. And programs like this are the other part of the equation in increasing the stock and supply of social and affordable housing. Just think about this - if we had not been elected, where we are standing now would not exist, would not exist. These 45 homes. And if we are not re-elected, then there won't be projects like this with 45 new homes springing up all around the country, that'll be a part of history, something Australia used to do. Well, we're concerned about the future, and we're concerned about opportunity, which is why we are so proud to be here today. And I'll hand to our fantastic Housing Minister, who's done such a good job in developing our $47 billion Homes for Australia Plan, of which the Housing Australia Future Fund is a central component.
CLARE O'NEIL: Thanks so much, boss, and thanks, Kate and Anthony, for having us in your beautiful part of Melbourne. We've been at this site before, some of you were here with us, and it looked very different to what it looks like today. There were wires hanging down, there were raw materials all over the ground, and we were all wearing hard hats and high vis vests. Today we are on the cusp of handing over the keys to Australians whose lives will be changed forever because of their access to stable housing. The PM talked just before about how central this is to the Australian experience. Housing is not just a roof over your head, this is the platform and the foundation on which every single person living in our country builds a good life in Australia. And the truth is that our housing market is cooked. It has not been serving Australians for a long time, and our government is stepping up and doing something about it. We announced some really big and important changes in the Budget this week that will level the playing field for first home buyers and build more homes for the country. This is the next chapter in what is easily the most ambitious agenda an Australian Government has had for housing in our country for 70 years, part of a $47 billion plan to build more homes, get renters a better deal, and get more Australians into home ownership.
Now, the contrast with the Liberals could not be clearer. We've got Labor levelling the playing field for first home buyers and building more homes for the country, and the Liberals bulldozing our social and affordable housing programs and leaving first home buyers floundering in a broken system. Someone had to step up and do something to change the situation, and that's exactly what our government is doing.
Now, I want to spend just a minute on home building. We've got a housing challenge facing the country that's been building for 40 years for one single reason - we have not been building enough homes. And if we want to improve affordability for Australians, we've got to build, build, build, because building more homes will create more affordable housing for Australians. Now we are tackling that problem from every possible angle. We're investing in skills, we're recognising construction skills when migrants come here and are able to help us with this task. We're reducing red tape, and we're making sure that we actually do something the Commonwealth did a long time ago, and that is roll up our sleeves and build homes ourselves. I want the Australian people to understand our commitment is we are on a pathway to building 55,000 social and affordable homes for Australians. Every one of those homes will change a life, and I'll hand it to back to the PM to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, one of your new taxes captures the income from testamentary discretionary trusts. Those kinds of trusts are often set up for people's wills. Should people preparing their inheritance now be using fixed trusts instead to avoid a death duty?
PRIME MINISTER: No - it's made it very clear in the Budget that testamentary trusts are not included.
JOURNALIST: Do you think the changes to Capital Gains Tax around non-property assets will impact young people's access to the market?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. These changes are designed to assist young people. And the truth is that our tax system, and people have written in the newspapers in this country for years have spoken about the need for tax reform. What we're doing is delivering tax reform, real tax reform that treats in a fair way income that people earn from their work, better aligns it with income that people legitimately earn from assets and from their wealth that they own. So, better aligning those things is a sensible thing to do. The Capital Gains Tax changes are about real gains, that is the amount in which an asset increases less inflation. That is the system that occurred right up until 1999. Before 1985 of course, there was no tax in this country about capital at all. So, what it is, is it is only Labor that makes the big reforms. It's a difficult reform, but it's one that people have spoken about for a long period of time. People have said that we need tax reform in this country. What we're doing here is delivering tax reform, but with a clear objective - tax reform to better align those income from assets compared with income from working, but importantly, as well, a tax reform that will result in 75,000 Australians getting access to their first home. And our comprehensive plan for housing will make an enormous difference in this country. Just like this building here is literally a concrete, well, a concrete and wood and carpet example of what real reform looks like.
JOURNALIST: What do you say to young people that perhaps wanted to use Capital Gains Tax, negative gearing to get ahead like their parents, but now no longer will be up to?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they still can. So, people should talk about what's in the Budget, rather than some of the suggestions, which are there. Young people can either, if they have currently a negative gear property, then there's no change there. But if they want to have a new investment, they'll invest in a new property. Now this is social and affordable housing, but if this was a private build, then it's new. People could invest here, get a return on that investment, have negative gearing, either choose when it comes to Capital Gains, either 50 per cent discount or indexation, either one, will be up to them to choose. And the difference is that not only will they be building an asset and wealth for themselves, they'll be building an asset and wealth for the nation at the same time, boosting supply. Now that is a change, that is a commonsense change, one that will benefit as well, young people will benefit. Because at the same time they're doing that, there'll be greater supply and more opportunity for them to get into the housing market. I've known for so many people, and I'm sure that you probably know people as well, they've gone along to an auction and they're bidding against an investor, and they really want to live in the home that they're trying to buy, but they get outbid because the investor, because of the tax advantages which are there has a starting point that's different, so if an investor wants to win the auction by bidding an extra $20,000 or $30,000 over the potential first homeowner, then they'll do that because they know that that leads to a higher deduction and the taxpayers are helping in the bidding process. What we want is a level playing field, and for - this will assist, therefore, owner-occupiers to get into that first home. I don't want to see the Australian dream of people owning their own home be something that we talked about, 'remember when it was possible', that's why we're making these changes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I just want to take you back to the trusts. Why have you decided to increase tax on testamentary trusts used regularly in people's wills? What's changed since the -
PRIME MINISTER: The premise of your question is completely wrong, as we've explained to The Australian on a number of occasions. And the premise is wrong. If you look at what is happening with trusts, coming in 2028, we have a process of consultation. But we've made it very clear that testamentary trusts will not be included.
We - if there's no more questions, can I just give a shout out to Delta Goodrem, who finished fourth in Eurovision this morning and did Australians proud. We were all cheering on, watching SBS, watching the coverage as the votes rolled in. And Delta Goodrem, I think, is someone who can be very, very proud of her efforts, and all Australians are proud of Delta. Well done.
