Michael Sukkar MP

INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC TALKING CANBERRA

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

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC TALKING CANBERRA

Tuesday, 21 February 2023

TOPICS: HOUSING, HOMEBUILDER

E&OE

Stephen Cenatiempo

Now we touched on this yesterday and it kind of ties into the argument about superannuation and whether you should be able to use it to buy a home. But the deadline for the $25,000 home buyers grant is fast approaching and it’s mostly going to affect potential buyers here in the ACT, in Victoria and in South Australia who are urging the Government to extend the grant so they can receive the much-needed payment they were once eligible for. To talk to us about this. We did want to talk to the Housing Minister, Julie Collins, who didn’t want to join us on the programme, but the shadow Housing Minister, Michael Sukkar, joins us.

Michael Sukkar

Good morning, Stephen. Good to be with you.

Stephen Cenatiempo

Now, this policy was introduced under the previous government, which you were a part of, and there was always a deadline on this. But unfortunately, people have fallen out of qualification through no fault of their own.

Michael Sukkar

Yes, Stephen, I was actually the housing minister that introduced this policy. And, you know, what we did during government was extend the deadline. In 2021 I extended the deadline for commencement from 6 to 18 months. And we did that at the time because we realised that construction delays were blowing out massively. So, we took that decision to extend that deadline. And I think it’s incumbent on the government now to live in the reality of the world we’re in, which for a number of people, particularly for those who purchased off the plan apartments, to recognise that through no fault of their own there have been delays and these deadlines should be extended just as we did when we were in government, because, you know, people who are in good faith entered into these contracts a prima facie eligible for the grant shouldn’t now be withheld because of delays that have occurred through no fault of their own. And we’re all aware of what has caused these delays over the last couple of years.

Stephen Cenatiempo

Michael, the government would argue, though, that the uptake of this programme has been has far exceeded what you might have expected it would when you introduced it. Therefore, it’s going to cost a lot more than it initially would have. Surely there’s got to be a point where the government says we don’t have the money and we know they don’t have the money.

Michael Sukkar

Well, no, I closed off the scheme. So those who have applied are now in and no further applications. So all this is doing is ensuring that those who are validly applied and when we left government there was, you’re right, a huge uptake. There were 137,000 applications, which was great news for the sector, great news for first home buyers. But all those people are now in the system. So we know with certainty what the programme is capped at. All this extension would do is enable those people who have validly applied to actually get their grant by pushing out the time frame again, as we did when we were in government, so there’s no new applications coming into the system. This is just facilitating the applications that are already validly there. Yeah, okay. That makes sense.

Stephen Cenatiempo

The problem is, though, that this government doesn’t seem to be focusing on the things that are affecting everyday Australians on a day-to-day basis. And this just is another inclusion in that long list.

Michael Sukkar

Well, there’s two things that they’re doing there, either focused on things that aren’t really making a difference to people’s cost of living issues that they’re facing. You know, we saw the Prime minister speaking about anything other than the economy. You know, I think most Australians know he’s not particularly comfortable talking about the economy, and so he’s avoided it. Or as we saw with the Treasurer yesterday, we see a succession of broken promises from the Government. So, Anthony Albanese promised cheaper power. We have far from cheaper power. In fact, he promised $275 a year reduction for households. People are seeing hundreds of dollars of increases. We saw yesterday the Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced potentially paving the way for new super concession taxes. Now he said before the election that Labor had no plan to touch super. So, it’s a succession of broken promises or ignoring, as you say, the main game in town. And for those who have entered into contracts that enable them to access a HomeBuilder grant, the reality is this is the worst possible time to withhold that grant from those people because we know builders are starting to do it tough. You know, new home sales have fallen off a cliff since the election of this government. The last thing we can afford is for the projects that are already in the system to start having problems because people, you know, aren’t able to get their grant – that might mean they’re not able to complete the purchase of their home. So, you’re right, Stephen, it’s been very bizarre. I sit in Parliament in the first two weeks that I assumed I would come to Parliament and see a government that was ruthlessly focused on cost-of-living pressures that are being faced by everyday Australians. And they wanted to speak about everything but that it was quite a remarkable first couple of weeks in Parliament.

Stephen Cenatiempo

Michael, thanks for your time this morning. Good on you, Stephen. Michael Sukkar is the Federal Opposition housing spokesperson.