Interview with Steve Cannane on ABC RN Breakfast

Subjects: Build-to-Rent, Housing Australia Future Fund

E&OE………

Steve Cannane

Today, we're joined by the Coalition's Spokesman on Home Ownership, Andrew Bragg. Welcome back to the programme, Senator.

Senator Bragg

Steve, how are you?

Steve Cannane

Good, thank you. I hear you have pulled out of a speech today because you're sick, so we appreciate you coming on this morning.

Senator Bragg

No worries.

Steve Cannane

Thank you. Can we assume that in their current state, the Coalition will not be supporting these Bills?

Senator Bragg

Well, we want the Australian dream to be focused around people, and Australians need to own houses, not the government. The shared equity scheme here that the government has in the Senate gives up on home ownership. It allows the government to take a 40% stake. Frankly, this is the government's only policy to help first-home buyers on the demand side. So, the cup is bare apart from help to buy. They won't look at lending policy, they won't look at superannuation. So, it's pretty embarrassing.

Steve Cannane

What about the supply side, though? There are bills that they think will make a difference to supply. What's the Coalition's position on that?

Senator Bragg

Well, eight years ago, we were building 220,000 houses. This year, we're going to build about 160,000. So, construction has collapsed under this government and it's only going to get worse, even with all these boondoggle policies. So basically, the build-to-rent idea, I think, is a very bad idea. Australians don't want to live in a country where corporations are landlords, like BlackRock. That's why we are against these policies, which corporatise the housing market and give up on home ownership, frankly.

Steve Cannane

Yesterday, Claire O'Neill announced that the preferred tender for 13,700 homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund had been selected and that almost 40% of construction would start this financial year. It's the case, isn't it, that those homes would have been built earlier if the Coalition hadn't blocked that policy?

Senator Bragg

Firstly, we have no idea who is getting the money. For a government that promised transparency, they give no transparency at all. We have no idea where this money is going, and we have no idea whether it could be exposed to the CFMEU. Twice last week, Labor voted against our Bill to protect taxpayer funds held by the Housing Australia Future Fund from the CFMEU. Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.

Steve Cannane

But it is a scheme that's supported by the Master Builders and the Property Council. They're hardly your ideological opponents.

Senator Bragg

Steve, the country needs to be building close to a quarter of a million houses a year. These are not the ways to solve housing. The way to solve the housing crisis is to get the private economy firing to build their houses. Basically, Labor has spent billions of dollars on these schemes to build no houses.

Steve Cannane

Okay, let's talk about the build-to-rent scheme because the government believes that it will get houses built through that scheme. The Property Council, Shelter, and the Community Housing Industry Association believe the legislation can be improved from what Labor has proposed through compromises. They want to see the right tax settings to encourage growth, and they want issues around affordable housing dealt with as well. They believe those changes could result in 105,000 rental homes and a minimal cost to the government. Would you support that compromise if the government embraced it?

Senator Bragg

We don't accept the idea that foreign fund managers like BlackRock and others need a tax cut to build houses in Australia.

Steve Cannane

But it's not inevitable that BlackRock will be investing in those homes.

Senator Bragg

Steve, this is institutionally focused. This is designed all of Labor's housing solutions are almost all about helping big super funds and big fund managers own the housing stock. We don't believe in the corporatisation of our housing market. We want people to own houses, which is why we're against this perpetual renting plan and this corporatisation that Labor seems to be obsessed with. The problem for Ms O'Neil is that she's got the same policies as the last Minister. There's new marketing, but the policies are absolutely hopeless.

Steve Cannane

When you say you're against perpetual renting, the fact of the matter is, and if you look at the figures Shelter has put out over the years, that renting has increased in Australia from 26% between 1995 to 31% now. Isn't it the case there will be perpetual renters and that we have to deal with that element of the housing market?

Senator Bragg

Of course there will be Steve. There's nothing wrong with renting, but we don't need to have a policy that locks it in forever and gives tax advantages to major institutions. We're supposed to be working here for people, not for major vested interests like super funds and fund managers. That's the job in Canberra. That's why I've put the superannuation policy on the table because we understand how important it is that people own their own house with their own money. The key determinant of your success in retirement is your housing status, not your superannuation.

Steve Cannane

Just quickly on your super policy. Shane wrote a piece in The Age today. He said the idea has been attacked by economists and parts of the superannuation sector, which would argue it would drive up house prices while costing the government billions. In 30 seconds, what would you say to that?

Senator Bragg

Well, Steve, I don't think you or I are shocked that the superannuation industry doesn't like it. But look, effectively, it's an $11 trillion market. It wouldn't be a material change to prices, and it would allow people to use their own money to buy into the Australian dream. It's always been part of our country, and we don't want to see it slip away out of Labor.

Steve Cannane

Senator Andrew Bragg, thanks for talking to us this morning.

[Ends]

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