Interview with Craig Reucassel on ABC Radio Sydney

Subjects: NSW Liberal Party, Gazan Refugees, Senate Lending Inquiry

E&OE………

Craig Reucassel

Andrew Bragg, he joins me from Parliament House in Canberra. Liberal Senator. Morning, Andrew.

Senator Bragg

Craig, how are you going?

Craig Reucassel

You've been part of the Liberal Party organisation. How does this thing happen that so many councils are not going to have Liberal candidates?

Senator Bragg

Look, it's incredibly disappointing for the people who want to vote Liberal at the upcoming Local Government Elections, and it's very bitterly disappointing for the candidates and the prospective councillors. I really do feel for all those people.

Craig Reucassel

Some areas like Northern Beaches, Lane Cove, Shoalhaven, Wollongong, Campbelltown, Camden, Blue Mountains will have no candidates from the Liberal party. These are in some areas where previously Liberal candidates weren't there and had pulled back. This was going to be the big return to council elections.

Senator Bragg

Yeah. Look, it's clearly a massive failure, and it is very regrettable for people who want to vote Liberal and also for the councillors and the prospective councillors. But....

Craig Reucassel

Do you think that Richard Sheilds can maintain his position after this?

Senator Bragg

Look, I think the President, Don Harwin, I have a lot of confidence in the President and the Executive to ride the ship. I think that the division has in the past, demonstrated competence. It has been able to run a lot of federal preselections in the last year or so. I think any of the concerns people had had about the division, I think, have been addressed, at least in a federal sense. This is a very significant failure of administration, but I do think that a quick investigation into what's happened here needs to happen, and I'm sure that will happen, and then we'll see what happens.

Craig Reucassel

Now, to housing affordability and buying your first home, you've been quite active on this. And at the moment, the Opposition, and you've teamed up with The Greens in the Senate to establish an inquiry to look at the laws, the requirements to put on banks for lending. Currently, if somebody assesses whether or not I can get a mortgage, they have to assess whether or not I could take a 3% increase in my interest rates. Do you think this is too cautious?

Senator Bragg

Look, it could be, Craig, and it's something we want to look at through the Senate inquiry. Some of the major banks have next to no delinquencies. Now, I think that's bad because we want banks to be able to take some risk. There's a very heavy regulatory burden here, and so we want to look at the 3% buffer. We'll look at the impact of HECS debts to see whether they are damaging the prospects of first-home buyers. We'll look at the ability of people to get access to housing finance.

Craig Reucassel

I'm speaking to Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg. When you say HECS debts, you've discussed maybe deferring them or at least pausing them. Is this so younger people can get a mortgage?

Senator Bragg

Yeah.

Craig Reucassel

Are you saying that banks would have to ignore the fact that they've got a debt? Because obviously, they take them into consideration when they're thinking about serviceability. Or are you just saying you wouldn't even have to pay back your HECS debts if you had a mortgage?

Senator Bragg

You've got to pay back your debts...

Craig Reucassel

But is there a pause? I'm saying is there a pause or something?

Senator Bragg

The status quo is that the Prudential Regulator APRA forces the banks to consider HECS debts when they are assessing loans for home buyers. For people under the age of 40 that have substantial HECS debts, and they're already facing a very high deposit cliff, the HECS debt could be the thing that tips them out of getting access to a mortgage. We are going to look at whether there are any policy options there for us to defer HECS repayments, for example, because I don't think anyone imagined that HECS debts would be retarding the ability of people to get into the first-home market. If you can't get access to a first home, you're not going to have, in many cases, long term retirement stability. It's a very important thing that we change course for Millennials and Gen Z who feel that they will never own a house.

Craig Reucassel

Yeah, absolutely. Look, it's definitely something that lights up our text line every day, this particular issue. So it'll be interesting to see where you land. Just on another issue, yesterday, Peter Dutton made a captain's call. He didn't discuss it with the party, has called for a ban on any refugees from Gaza. Are you comfortable with this position?

Senator Bragg

Well, I think it's very important that the country runs a non-discriminatory migration program, and that's what Peter is committing to. But he's also highlighting the fact that this is not a normal war zone. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which is a prescribed terrorist organisation, and so we need to be very cautious.

Craig Reucassel

How are you saying you support a non-discriminatory policy? You're saying no one can come from Gaza. Obviously, not everyone in Gaza supports...

Senator Bragg

He's saying that right now.

Craig Reucassel

But wouldn't you be supporting people, there would be many people in Gaza who would oppose Hamas, and you don't want to give them any support?

Senator Bragg

Well, we've always run, well, not always, but as you know, since the Holt Government dismantled the White Australia Policy, we have committed to a non-discriminatory policy for migration and we have run a significant humanitarian resettlement programme in Australia. That is still our position. What we are saying is in relation to the current situation in Gaza, where Hamas runs the show, we want to be very careful.

Craig Reucassel

With that, it's interesting because even the current figures of the current Government policy would suggest there is a discriminatory policy there. At the moment, 70% of applicants from Palestinians have been rejected, whereas only 2.6% of applicants from Israel are being rejected. It suggests at the moment it's pretty restrictive and discriminatory at the moment, isn't it?

Senator Bragg

I'm not sure. I think you already know that they issued 3,000 visas from Gaza in 24 hours. James Paterson, my colleague, has raised concerns about whether all the proper vetting has been done. That is one of the reasons why Peter has flagged that we need to be very judicious and careful here.

Craig Reucassel

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks for talking to us. I appreciate it.

Senator Bragg

Thanks, Craig. Cheers.

Craig Reucassel

That's Andrew Bragg there. He's a Liberal Senator speaking to us from Canberra.

[Ends]