Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Greg Jennett – ABC

THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR MP – SHADOW MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, NDIS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH GREG JENNETT – ABC

Monday 4 March, 2024

TOPICS: Labor’s housing crisis, Dunkley by-election

E&OE

Greg Jennett: Michael, welcome back to Afternoon Briefing. We might get to some thoughts on the Dunkley by-election results in just a moment, but with that as background context, your colleague Keith Wolahan has been pretty adamant since his entry to the parliament, and again over the weekend that the road back to the recovery of seats for the Liberal Party in metropolitan Australia will be lined with an appealing housing policy. Where are we up to with actually populating that policy? What still stands from the last election?

Michael Sukkar: Well, I think his comments are very widely shared amongst colleagues. I think our view is that the Liberal Party and indeed the Coalition is the party of home ownership and that that is going to be a very compelling part of what we take to the next election, obviously as a former Housing Minister I’m very proud of what we were able to achieve in the former coalition government, and sadly what we have seen since the election of a Labor government is so many of those gains that we made go back. First-time buyers at the lowest record levels for over a decade, we have new home starts down, new home builds down, rents up by 26%, so a lot of that good work has sadly gone missing. Obviously in the Leader of the Opposition’s budget in reply speech last year, we committed to going forward with the policy that we did in fact take to the last election, providing first home-buyers with the opportunity to access up to $50,000 of their super with a requirement that it goes back into their super once they cease holding that property, to enable them to use their superannuation, which is their money, as a deposit for a first home. Just as recently as last week we saw the Labor government reject that. So a very clear difference, and the truth is, Greg, we are seeing throughout our country Labor governments led by Anthony Albanese’s government waving the white flag on home ownership.

Greg Jennett: Of course, they would say they aren’t, with help to buy, you know, as a policy on the books in the parliament, they just can’t get through at the moment. Just on your super home buyer scheme, in view of the fact that markets haven’t really cooled much since the original design of this policy fully two and a bit years ago now, might it be necessary to revise upwards the maximum limit there? $50,000 worth of super that could be pulled out of that purpose and put towards housing?

Michael Sukkar: We will have more to say about that policy in the range of other policies, Greg. It is a fair point you make but we will consider that in the context of the full suite of policies for the election. Let’s remember for a couple that is $50,000 each, so for a couple it is $100,000 towards your deposit, in addition to other savings, because this is obviously being accessed out of super, so we think it is a very compelling policy that we took to the last election. It will be refreshed in the context of what we take to the next election.

Greg Jennett: So made more generous in other words? Well, not more generous but numbers updated. Do you rule out that possibility?

Michael Sukkar: I’m not announcing that today, Greg. I think my point is, and you made a good point, that was a policy we took to the last election. We have recommitted to the policy in broad strokes, but we will be taking a suite of policies to support home ownership for the next election. That will be part of it, and an important part, quite a significant part, I must say. But just one part of that suite of policies. To go to your point, you can’t compare any of those to what the government have announced with their help to buy scheme. It is a shared equity scheme where the government owns 40% of your home. Shared equity schemes already exist throughout our country, and the verdict is in – Australians don’t use these products. In the basically identical shared equity scheme in New South Wales, 94% of places are still available. So it is the sort of policy, the so-called help to buy scheme, that you come up with when you really don’t want to do anything, you sort of want to have something on the books, as you say. It is not a meaningful homeownership policy.

Greg Jennett: And who knows, it might not ever be legislated anyway on current indications in the Senate. Now what we could probably deduce from the result of the Dunkley by-election at the weekend is that minority government, for either the Coalition or perhaps more likely Labor, is in the realm of possibility at the next general election. Under negotiation with a crossbench, would you rule out ever touching investment property tax breaks? That is obviously capital gains and negative gearing command that scenario?

Michael Sukkar: Greg, you are drawing a very long bow there but credit to you for that question. The truth is, putting aside any hypothetical discussions you have raised, we have committed to not abolishing negative gearing or capital gains tax. We went to two elections where we fought the Labor Party on these very points. We honestly now see the Labor Party playing footsie with the Greens and others on negative gearing and the Prime Minister, ‘my word is my bond’, who has said that there are no intentions to change negative gearing. I think many Australians have doubts about that now, because you can’t take what the Prime Minister says for granted anymore. So that can be a debate within the Labor Party, but we won’t be proposing any changes to negative gearing or capital gains tax. In the end, if you want more of housing, you’ve got to tax it less, not more. If you want fewer houses built, like we’ve got at the moment under the Labor Party, you tax it more, and that has been our mantra for a very long time, and sadly we are seeing the consequences of it now with new home starts at their lowest levels, as I said, for over a decade, and we’ve got simultaneously a prime minister talking about supply being the answer to housing. Fewer homes are being supplied on his watch, there is no plan to change that.

Greg Jennett: I will put your remarks in the future file to be reopened if necessary beyond the next election. Just on the Dunkley by-election, what are you celebrating is a fairly senior Victorian Liberal from that result, a swing to be sure, but still well short of clenching that seat.

Michael Sukkar: Look, I don’t think celebrating is the word. I think what Dunkley has highlighted that most hardheaded political operatives and observers such as yourself understand is that, you know, Australian politics is an arm-wrestle. There are no silver bullets, knockout blows, anywhere. You need to work hard and early trust and faith of the Australian people. You need policy offerings that will ultimately make their lives easier. I think what we saw in the week and was a welcome increase to – a significant increase to the Liberal Party primary vote, a decent swing. We are always in it to win it in these contests, but you’ve got to be realistic about it. We’re cautiously optimistic but politics is an arm-wrestle and we’re going to have to earn the trust of Australian voters one by one between now and the next election. That is what we will be trying to do. I’m confident we will be able to do that and win the next election.

Greg Jennett: More work to be done. We will have many more conversations as well, Michael Sukkar, between now and that next date with voters at the general election. Thank you for joining us.

Michael Sukkar: Thank you, Greg.

Ends