The Albanese Government is set to revive debate over its housing agenda with a key bill to be reintroduced in the lower house after being blocked in the Senate. Source: Canberra Times.
The Greens – who are pushing for negative gearing to be abolished – have refused to back the Government’s Help to Buy Bill, which would give buyers the opportunity to co-own their home with the Government with as little as a 2 per cent deposit.
The stand-off has created a wedge for the Government’s reform agenda as housing affordability shapes up as a hot-button issue ahead of the next federal election.
The reignited housing debate is set to dominate a short, sharp sitting week that begins today.
The Government will also introduce legislation to implement changes to indexation on university HECS debt and a wage increase for early childhood education workers.
The Help to Buy Bill’s passage through Parliament stalled in September when it failed to pass the Senate and the Coalition and the Greens voted together for a two-month delay on the bill.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said last month the bill would enable “40,000 Australians”, including nurses, childcare workers, teachers and paramedics, to enter the property market.
But an analysis of the proposed scheme prepared by the Parliamentary Library at the request of the Greens showed the average worker in these industries would either be ineligible, or at risk of mortgage stress.
A single person must not earn more than $90,000 a year to qualify for the scheme, meaning the average full-time earnings for a registered nurse ($112,900), a paramedic ($127,600) or a primary school teacher ($105,000) would make them ineligible.
A childcare worker earning the average $67,430 a year would meet the income test, but would struggle to make payments in many capital cities, the analysis found.
The Coalition has criticised the Help to Buy scheme for being a replica of programs already operating in states and territories.
If the bill passes the House of Representatives again but then fails to pass the Senate a second time, it would provide a trigger for a double dissolution.
FULL STORY
Contentious housing agenda in focus for three-day sitting week (By Brittney Levinson and Dana Daniel, Canberra Times)
