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senate vote 2024-11-26#1
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2024-12-27 14:46:15
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Title
Bills — Help to Buy Bill 2023, Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023; in Committee- Help to Buy Bill 2023, Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023 - in Committee - State and Territory laws
Description
<p class="speaker">Tim Ayres</p><p>I table a supplementary explanatory memorandum relating to the government amendments to be moved to the Help to Buy Bill 2023.</p>-
- The majority voted in favour of [amendments](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2024-11-26.45.5) introduced by the Government, which means they'll now be included in the bill. The amendments related to how this bill should interact with State and Territory laws.
- ### Amendment text
- > *(1) Clause 34, page 24 (line 28), omit "subsections 42(1) to (3)", substitute "section 41, 41A or 42".*
- >
- > *(2) Clause 34, page 24 (lines 29 to 31), omit the note.*
- >
- > *(3) Clause 42, page 29 (line 21) to page 32 (line 7), omit the clause, substitute:*
- >
- >> *41A When Help to Buy program does not apply — exclusion by law of State or Territory*
- >>
- >> *(1) This section applies if a law of a participating State, a cooperating State, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory declares a matter to be an excluded matter for the purposes of this section in relation to:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) the whole of the Help to Buy program; or*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) a specified provision of the Help to Buy program; or*
- >>>
- >>> *(c) the Help to Buy program, other than a specified provision; or*
- >>>
- >>> *(d) the Help to Buy program, otherwise than to a specified extent.*
- >>
- >> *(2) The Help to Buy program, other than the provisions mentioned in section 42B, does not apply in relation to the excluded matter to the extent provided by the declaration.*
- >>
- >>> *Note: This subsection has effect subject to subsection (3) and section 42C.*
- >>
- >> *(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to a declaration to the extent (if any) prescribed by the regulations.*
- >>
- >>> *Note: See also section 42A (when declarations and regulations may take effect).*
- >>
- >> 42 Avoiding inconsistency with State and Territory laws*
- >>
- >> *(1) This section has effect despite anything else in the Help to Buy program.*
- >>
- >> *(2) Subsection (4) does not apply to a provision of a law of a State or Territory that is capable of concurrent operation with the Help to Buy program.*
- >>
- >>> *Note: This kind of provision is dealt with by section 41.*
- >>
- >> *(3) Subsection (4) applies to the interaction between:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) a provision of a law of a participating State, a cooperating State, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory (the displacement provision); and*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) a provision of the Help to Buy program (the Commonwealth provision), other than a provision mentioned in section 42B;*
- >>>
- >>> *only if the displacement provision is declared by a law of the State or Territory to be a Help to Buy program displacement provision for the purposes of this section (either generally or specifically in relation to the Commonwealth provision).*
- >>
- >> *(4) The Commonwealth provision does not operate in, or in relation to, the State or Territory to the extent necessary to ensure that no inconsistency arises between:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) the Commonwealth provision; and*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) the displacement provision to the extent to which the displacement provision would, apart from this subsection, be inconsistent with the Commonwealth provision.*
- >>>
- >>> *Note 1: The operation of the displacement provision will be supported by section 41 to the extent to which it can operate concurrently with the Commonwealth provision.*
- >>>
- >>> *Note 2: This subsection has effect subject to subsection (5) and section 42C.*
- >>
- >> *(5) Subsection (4) does not apply in relation to the displacement provision to the extent to which the regulations provide that the subsection does not apply in relation to the displacement provision.*
- >>
- >>> *Note: See also section 42A (when declarations and regulations may take effect).*
- >>
- >> *42A Declarations and regulations*
- >>
- >> *Declarations*
- >>
- >> *(1) For the purposes of this Subdivision, a declaration by a law of a State or Territory (the declaring law) that:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) a matter is an excluded matter for the purposes of section 41A; or*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) a provision of a law of the State or Territory is a Help to Buy program displacement provision for the purposes of section 42;*
- >>>
- >>> *takes effect at the later of the following times, if the declaration would otherwise take effect before that time:*
- >>>
- >>> *(c) the commencement of this Act;*
- >>>
- >>> *(d) when the declaring law is enacted or made.*
- >>
- >> *Regulations*
- >>
- >> *(2) Subsection 12(2) of the Legislation Act 2003 (retrospective application) does not apply in relation to regulations made for the purposes of subsection 41A(3) or 42(5) of this Act.*
- >>
- >> *(3) Section 46 (approval of States and Territories required for regulations) does not apply in relation to regulations made for the purposes of subsection 41A(3) or 42(5).*
- >>
- >> *42B Excluded provisions*
- >>
- >> *A reference in subsection 41A(2) or 42(3) of this Act to the Help to Buy program does not include a reference to:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) Part 4 of this Act (finance); or*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) this Division; or*
- >>>
- >>> *(c) Division 3 of this Part (other miscellaneous matters); or*
- >>>
- >>> *(d) regulations made for the purposes of a provision mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of this section; or*
- >>>
- >>> *(e) a legislative instrument (other than regulations) made under a provision mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).*
- >>
- >> *42C Preservation of Commonwealth entitlement and security*
- >>
- >> *(1) If:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) disregarding sections 41A and 42 and this section, Housing Australia, on behalf of the Commonwealth:*
- >>>
- >>>> *(i) is entitled under a Help to Buy arrangement to a return on a contribution made under the Help to Buy arrangement; or*
- >>>>
- >>>> *(ii) under a Help to Buy arrangement, secures such an entitlement by means of a mortgage or other right relating to a residential property; and*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) apart from this subsection, an effect of section 41A or 42 would be:*
- >>>
- >>>> *(i) that Housing Australia is not entitled to that return, or does not secure that entitlement in that way; or*
- >>>>
- >>>> *(ii) to diminish or restrict that entitlement or security or Housing Australia's functions or powers in relation to that entitlement or security;*
- >>>>
- >>>> *section 41A or 42 does not apply to the extent that it would otherwise have the effect described in paragraph (b) of this subsection.*
- >>
- >> *(2) To avoid doubt, in subsection (1):*
- >>
- >>> *(a) a reference to a Help to Buy arrangement includes a reference to a Help to Buy arrangement that Housing Australia would be taken to have entered into if section 41A or 42 were disregarded; and*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) a reference to a contribution made under a Help to Buy arrangement includes a reference to a contribution Housing Australia would be taken to have made, on behalf of the Commonwealth, under a Help to Buy arrangement if section 41A or 42 were disregarded; and*
- >>>
- >>> *(c) a reference to Housing Australia's functions or powers in relation to an entitlement or security includes a reference to Housing Australia's functions or powers in relation to a Help to Buy arrangement, to the extent that the Help to Buy arrangement relates to the entitlement or security.*
- >>
- >> *42D Modification of Help to Buy program*
- >>
- >> *(1) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, the Minister may, by legislative instrument, modify the operation of the Help to Buy program if the Minister is satisfied that modification is necessary or desirable because of the effect of section 41A or 42 on the operation of a provision of the Help to Buy program.*
- >>
- >> *(2) To avoid doubt:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) without limiting subsection (1) of this section, the Minister may make an instrument under that subsection because of an effect that section 41A or 42 might or will have in the future; and*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) a modification made by such an instrument must not commence before section 41A or 42 begins to have that effect.*
- >>
- >> *(3) To avoid doubt, a legislative instrument made under subsection (1) of this section may not do the following:*
- >>
- >>> *(a) create an offence or civil penalty;*
- >>>
- >>> *(b) provide powers of:*
- >>>
- >>>> *(i) arrest or detention; or*
- >>>>
- >>>> *(ii) entry, search or seizure;*
- >>>
- >>> *(c) impose a tax;*
- >>>
- >>> *(d) set an amount to be appropriated from the Consolidated Revenue Fund under an appropriation in this Act;*
- >>>
- >>> *(e) directly amend the text of this Act;*
- >>>
- >>> *(f) substantively remove or override section 41A or 42.*
<p class="speaker">Mehreen Faruqi</p><p>by leave—In respect of the Help to Buy Bill 2023, I move Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3160 together:</p><p class="italic">(1) Clause 25, page 17 (after line 21), after subclause (2), insert:</p><p class="italic">(2A) Directions in the Help to Buy Program Directions about the matter mentioned in paragraph (2)(c) must require housing Australia to prioritise entering into Help to Buy arrangements in relation to priority residential properties.</p><p class="italic">(2B) Directions in the Help to Buy Program Directions about the matter mentioned in paragraph (2)(d) must provide that the Commonwealth's maximum contribution under a Help to Buy arrangement in relation to a residential property is:</p><p class="italic">(a) if the property is a priority residential property—40% of the cost of acquiring the property; and</p><p class="italic">(b) otherwise—30% of the cost of acquiring the property.</p><p class="italic">(2C) For the purposes of subsections (2A) and (2B), a priority residential property is a residential property that:</p><p class="italic">(a) will be, is being or has been built; and</p><p class="italic">(b) has not been previously occupied; and</p><p class="italic">(c) is or will be a Class 2 building (within the meaning of the National Construction Code); and</p><p class="italic">(d) is or will be located within 800 metres of a train or light rail station, a tram, bus or ferry stop, or any other public transport service that is frequently available for use by the public.</p><p class="italic">(2) Clause 26, page 18 (after line 14), at the end of the clause, add:</p><p class="italic">(3) The Minister must not give a direction under paragraph 24(1)(a) that has, or is likely to have, the effect of:</p><p class="italic">(a) requiring a party to a Help to Buy arrangement to repay an amount to the Commonwealth if the party's income exceeds a specified threshold; or</p><p class="italic">(b) requiring the Board or Housing Australia to terminate a Help to Buy arrangement if the income of a party to the arrangement exceeds a specified threshold.</p><p>Despite months of keeping our doors open and despite months of offers to compromise and negotiate on securing some housing policies that will actually impact people's lives, Labor have refused to budge and made it clear that they don't care about the depth and the extent of the housing crisis. Last year, the Greens secured $3 billion in new investments for social housing, which is six times more than what the government has proposed to spend. This year, despite the need being even greater, the government has snubbed every opportunity to work together with the Greens again, and we are—we have to admit this—bitterly disappointed that Labor has turned down an opportunity to house up to 60,000 people currently on the brink of homelessness. The government's build-to-rent and Help to Buy schemes sound nice, but they really are just tinkering around the edges.</p><p>The Greens will, however, pass the government's bills, both build to rent and Help to Buy, because we're now just months away from an election and we want to focus on keeping Mr Dutton and his fearmongering and politics-of-division coalition out of the Lodge. That is going to be our focus. There does come a point in every negotiation where you've pushed as far as you can, and we have reached that point. We have tried so hard to get Labor to shift on soaring rents and negative gearing, but we couldn't get there this time around.</p><p>So we'll wave these housing bills through and take the fight to the next election, where we will keep Peter Dutton out and we will fight even harder for renters and first home buyers. We will wave through Labor's Help to Buy Bill and also Labor's build-to-rent bill after accepting that Labor doesn't care enough about first home buyers to do anything really meaningful for them, like scrapping the unfair tax handouts to property investors that drive up house prices or establishing a public developer to build and sell homes cheaply to save first home buyers up to $249,000.</p><p>The bill we're debating is deeply inadequate for the—really, you can call it monstrous—affordability crisis facing first home buyers, because, for the average family, the typical home costs eight times their income. It now takes 10 years to save for a deposit. If they've managed to save one, mortgage repayments could take up to 60 per cent of their income. How is that fair? Help to Buy tinkers around the edges, helping, at most, 0.2 per cent of renters every year and leaving the other 99.8 per cent behind to face a brutal housing system and doing nothing to address the out-of-control house price rises, which have really made it impossible to buy a house in most cities around the country.</p><p>We've also tried our best to work with Labor to secure changes to investor tax concessions that could see up to 770,000 renters become homeowners, but, like I said earlier, we have come to a point where Labor doesn't want to do anything more than just tinker around the edges. So here we are. But we will make one more attempt to make this bill better. That's what these amendments are about.</p><p>Through amendment (1) on sheet 3160 we are trying to secure changes that would encourage the affordable well-located medium-density housing our cities need that isn't being delivered. It is not being delivered by profit focused developers. We want to do that, rather than simply having an inflationary effect on the cost of existing housing and new-build suburban sprawl. This amendment would require Housing Australia to prioritise properties for the Help to Buy program that support the delivery of new affordable homes in medium- and high-density locations that are close to public housing. This would ensure that this bill delivers the housing that we need, rather than simply driving up the prices of existing homes. If the government were serious about delivering on the housing crisis and ensuring that the bill is fit for purpose, then they would support this amendment.</p><p>The second amendment prohibits the minister from directing that a participant in the Help to Buy program must repay the government share of their homes if they exceed the income threshold, following their successful entry into the program. The income thresholds are already so low. If the bill passes as is, participants may be penalised for changed circumstances, even after they have been able to buy a property. This income trap is really unfair. This amendment would ensure that Help to Buy homes remain affordable throughout the buyer's lifetime, without penalties for people going through any changing circumstances. I commend both the amendments to the Senate.</p> <p class="speaker">Andrew Bragg</p><p>I indicate that we will not be supporting this bill or these amendments. The reason for that is that we believe that the government, having presided over a massive collapse in housing construction—from as high as 220,000 houses in 2018 down to 160,000 houses this year, the same amount of houses that we had in 1989 when the population was just 17 million—has created a terrible situation for so many, particularly younger, Australians—millennials, gen Z—who feel that the Australian dream is out of reach for them. A large part of that is because of the collapse in housing construction. It's very hard to solve this problem of housing—we all care about housing—unless you get the houses built. Ultimately, the numbers don't lie. We're down to 160,000 houses this year. So we are in a terrible position in this country on the supply side. The government, seemingly having given up on supply, now wants us to consider a demand-side bill for which no modelling has been done by the government on its impact and which is very clearly only going to work at the absolute margins for very few people.</p><p>These shared-equity schemes have been massively unpopular for cultural reasons. Australians do not want to co-own their house with any government, and the reason that these schemes have been so unpopular at the state and territory level is all the problems that that proposes. The Australian dream is not about co-owning your house with Mr Albanese or any government.</p><p>These shared-equity schemes have been undersubscribed at the state level, and so the idea that the Commonwealth would come in now and seek to put in place a shared-equity scheme as their only demand-side measure, without any other consideration of other demand-side policies that they may be able to deploy to support what is ultimately a supply challenge, is very regrettable. So we are opposed to the Help to Buy Bill for cultural reasons. But we are also opposed to it because it is not very imaginative. There are other things that the government could have done to help people with a deposit. They could have opened up superannuation, but they don't want to do that because that doesn't suit their vested interests. They could have looked at the lending laws. It's pretty hard to get a first house without a mortgage, but they haven't bothered to look at the mortgage rules. This is their only policy.</p><p>As we traversed this at Senate estimates with Senator Gallagher, the Minister for Finance, she made it very clear that this is the government's only demand-side policy. This is it—a friendless shared-equity scheme, one that will cost the Commonwealth $5.5 billion and offer a maximum of 40,000 places. To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, we need to be building about a quarter of a million houses a year in this country. This is a tiny but very expensive scheme which has already proven to be very unpopular.</p><p>I indicate that we will be opposing this bill. We will be opposing all of the amendments in this debate, and I look forward to asking some questions now we're in committee of the whole. I might see if others want to make a contribution before I do that.</p> <p class="speaker">Malcolm Roberts</p><p>I have questions. I asked three questions in my speech in the second reading debate. My first question goes to the minister. It seems that the government will essentially become the second mortgagor to a bank on a home loan. In the event of a default or price fall, is a bank entitled to recover all of its losses before the government recovers any money, due to this priority? Secondly, what is the priority of security the government holds compared to the bank mortgage?</p> <p class="speaker">Glenn Sterle</p><p>We will go back to Senator Faruqi's amendments and then come back to open and broad debate.</p> <p class="speaker">Tim Ayres</p><p>The government will not be supporting either of the amendments from the Greens. I'll go into further detail if required, but the basis for this is that the legislation must match the legislation in the states and the territories for it to be properly founded. That makes the referral of powers valid and ensures that the legislation is constitutional. The legislation already passed in Queensland earlier this year. So, as a matter of process, that means that the government is unable to support that amendment. However, on the substance, we believe that Australians should have housing choices. If Australians want to live next to a train station close to the city or on a farm in the bush, that's their choice. It's not a choice for government.</p><p>In relation to the second amendment, we have the same objection—that is, the legislation has already been passed in Queensland, and the government wants to ensure that the referral of powers is valid and constitutional.</p><p>However, on the substance of the proposition that sits behind the amendment, it is a matter for ministerial program directions, not the legislation before the Senate right now. The program directions make it very clear that, if a participant earns above the income caps and cannot pay the government's share, they won't be required to. But, if someone can—for example, if someone earns a million dollars—we should expect them to start to pay back the taxpayer and expect this money to be recycled through the scheme to support other low- and middle-income Australians. Section 36(11) of the program directions notes that 'Housing Australia may not seek payment in certain circumstances' after considering 'the participant's personal circumstance and financial capacity'.</p> <p class="speaker">Glenn Sterle</p><p>The question is that Australian Greens' amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3160 be agreed to.</p><p>Question negatived.</p> <p class="speaker">Tim Ayres</p><p>Shall I respond to Senator Roberts's question?</p><p>The TEMPORARY CHAIR: That would be helpful.</p><p>There are two questions, I think, sitting in Senator Roberts's question. Will the government own people's homes or will the government be on the title? The answer to that is very straightforward. Contrary to Senator Bragg's political assertion, the government will not be a co-owner of scheme properties and will not be on the title; rather, the government's contribution in participants' homes will be secured through a second mortgage. The government's interest is more akin to a private mortgage holder. Help to Buy applicants will need to be approved for a mortgage with a lender participating in the scheme. That is the role that lenders will have in the Help to Buy scheme. Lenders will manage those mortgages just as they typically do with other home loans.</p> <p class="speaker">Malcolm Roberts</p><p>Thank you, Minister. Just to confirm, the bank or the lender would be the first mortgagor and the government would be the second?</p> <p class="speaker">Tim Ayres</p><p>Yes, that's exactly right, and there are, of course, other arrangements that people have in the private sector that that will look very similar—that is, for the participant, the relationship with the approved lender and the second mortgage will be exactly the same as other Australians have, but there will be a lower mortgage threshold and lower repayments for that group of Australians who satisfy the criteria.</p> <p class="speaker">Malcolm Roberts</p><p>In the event of a default or price fall, is the bank entitled to recover its losses before the government does? That would seem to be the case.</p> <p class="speaker">Tim Ayres</p><p>Yes. Just like in an arrangement that you might have or any other Queenslander might have with their lender, there are shared risks and shared benefits.</p> <p class="speaker">Andrew Bragg</p><p>Minister, can I take you to the price caps. What is the price cap in Sydney?</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>-
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