Jim Chalmers (and Grogs)

“New plans for cost-of-living and health are accompanied by new investments in housing.

We are tackling the housing shortage from every responsible angle – Making home ownership more affordable for young Australians and young families in particular.

Our $33 billion plan will help build 1.2 million new homes before the decade is out.

More homes, more quickly

This includes $54 million to accelerate the uptake of modern methods of housing construction.

Which is all about building more homes, more quickly.

It supports our work to cut red tape and reduce financial barriers to more efficient construction methods.

The first two rounds of the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund are helping build about 18,000 social and affordable homes for those who need them most.

And lifting the cap on Housing Australia’s financial liabilities to $26 billion also helps here. [You know what also would have helped? Getting rid of the 50% capital gains tax discount and negative gearing. But that was not touched and I ‘d suggest not even considered]

We’re making sure new properties are well-located and connected to the infrastructure they require.

Our Housing Support Program is funding the crucial roads, water and power these new homes need.

Our national leadership is incentivising states and territories to reform their planning systems to accelerate new housing supply.

To build more, we need to train more builders.

That’s why we’re attracting more apprentices into the housing industry.

By doubling incentive payments so eligible apprentices get up to $10,000 if they train-up in the housing construction sector.

More support for first home buyers

Speaker, Tonight, we’re expanding our Help to Buy scheme.

This is part of our efforts to help more Australians buy a place of their own.

We will update the property price and income caps so more first home buyers are eligible for the scheme.

This will help 40,000 Australians buy their first home in the next four years. [This year around 116,000 first home buyer loans were taken out, so that’s about 8%. Is that a lot? Well yes, but if it is not 8% people who otherwise would not have bought a first home, then no – it is just helping people who would have bought a house to buy a house]

The changes will mean they can access a bigger range of homes and buy one that suits them.

And we’re easing pressure on the housing market by banning foreign investors from buying established homes, and cracking down on foreign land banking as well.”