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Pressed as to whether the government had other options to address housing affordability outside of its stalled Help to Buy bills, the Treasurer doubled down on the need to make the scheme a reality.
The bills in questions, The Help to Buy Bill 2023 and the Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023, both serve to pave the way for the government to introduce its shared equity home buying scheme, which will assist low- to middle-income earners purchase a property with an equity contribution from the government.
During an appearance on The Guardian podcast, Treasurer Jim Chalmers stressed the government’s belief that this scheme is integral to addressing the housing affordability issues that have been plaguing the nation.
“We haven’t got all of our eggs in one basket, but those two bills are really important,” Chalmers said.
With home prices having risen exponentially in recent years, rents in record highs and home building far below government targets, Chalmers voiced his belief that Help to Buy is a fundamental missing piece of the puzzle.
“If we’re genuine about wanting to build more homes to help renters, and to make it easier for people to get a toehold in the market, then we need those bills to pass.”
Currently, they are stalled before Parliament, with the leader of the Greens and and member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, remaining adamant that the government must promise significant changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount in return for the party’s support of the bill.
Chalmers called the Greens’ stance a “source of considerable disappointment and frustration”, accusing the party’s members of voting “against more homes, because they want to play politics with housing and homelessness”.
He stressed, however, that while the Help to Buy bills were important, the government had other housing policies meant to deliver relief. With the recent change up in Housing Minister, he foreshadowed that more initiatives could be forthcoming.
“We’ve got a whole range of policies, $32 billion worth of investment, an ambitious target, which will be difficult to hit, but we can do it if everybody plays their part,” Chalmers said.
Asked what else the government could do to address high housing costs, Chalmers said he would not front‑run the kind of thinking that [Minister for Housing and Homelessness Clare O’Neil] was doing.
“Clare O’Neil is an absolutely outstanding minister, and I think that she will lend her considerable intellect to this task, building on the great work that [former housing minister Julie Collins] did”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
