Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor team deserve the highest of praise for their comprehensive election win over the weekend.

Having a strong majority government is a blessing for Australian democracy.  The 48th Australian Parliament should not be held to ransom by an obstreperous Senate.  Even if the Greens hold the balance, their dismal display at the election highlights the folly political point scoring in the Senate through holding up core government legislation on housing supply.  The public repudiation of the Greens was a salient lesson. They paid the price – they would be stupid to make the same mistakes again.

The Coalition’s abject performance on both policy development and campaigning, combined with the impact of Donald Trump and a completely bizarre push towards nuclear power, have combined to deliver Labor a solid mandate.

The vanquishing of the Liberal vote in urban and peri-urban electorates can be directly tied to housing affordability, the cost of paying off a mortgage or the rising burden of rent.  Labor targeted their messages on housing supply. They put $10 billion on the table with a plan to deliver 100,000 homes for first home buyers.  They significantly expanded the Help to Buy Scheme, they promised to fund a plethora of infrastructure, they doubled down to their commitment to Housing Australia and the Housing Australia Future Fund – and they were rewarded.

The Coalition went for an early foray into funding Housing Related infrastructure with a $5 billion commitment.  The problem was, they promised to shut down the Housing Australia Future Fund to pay for it and the five billion dollars they promised was a mere drop in the bucket compared to the size of the task.  Peter Dutton announced tax deductions on interest payments on mortgages for first home buyers for five years.  This policy was too complicated for any millennial to appreciate, and was obscured by the flurry of election campaigning. Then came the Easter break, the Anzac Day long weekend, and the passing of the Pope.  Come election day, almost no one could remember this commitment had even been made.

The coalition commitment to allow up to $50,000 of your superannuation to help get a deposit on a new home was un-popular with women (who often have low Superannuation balances). Also unpopular was their Work from Home policy (then backflip), their nuclear power policy, and their myopic obsession with a 25c/l discount on petrol. Put simply, these policies were out of touch with urban families and reflected a disastrous policy malaise in the Coalition.

But as the post-election cliché goes, the election is now over and it’s back to work for the Albanese government.

The key now is for the Government to strike on housing commitments made during the election while the iron’s hot.  If legislation is needed to support the delivery of Labor’s $10 billion, 100,000 new homes commitment – then pass it through the Parliament now and get on with it.

The National Housing Accord targets remain, and the nation continues to be a long way behind.

Urban Taskforce and the property development and construction sector support the following 5-point plan for Housing:

  1. Fast track the funding and delivery of all the infrastructure projects which were promised across the nation. The Commonwealth must support the delivery of infrastructure that links existing infrastructure assets with growth opportunities for housing supply. That’s what the Albanese Government promised – so now it’s time to deliver.
  2. Roll out the third round of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) as soon as possible.  Round 1 was strongly backed by Community Housing Providers and the private sector builders who deliver new housing. The Coalition promised to abolish the HAFF – but this was clearly rejected, and Housing Australia must move quickly now to finalise contracts and deliver housing.
  3. Shift the focus beyond social and affordable housing and support the sector that delivers 95% of housing for Australians – the private sector.  Our industry is keen to work with the Albanese Government to deliver housing to solve the crisis – but we need to work together to drive productivity forward and reduce costs across the board.
  4. Any housing related payments to the states must be based on improvements in their planning systems and reduced fees, taxes and charges.  Both the states and the Commonwealth have a massive role to play in driving productivity in the housing space and the Commonwealth needs to encourage the states to drive cost reductions and reward them accordingly.  Supporting off-site prefabricated housing is key to improving costs and productivity and this is an area where we have fallen a long way behind.  National Competition Policy payments were granted in conjunction with reforms being achieved to successfully drive productivity improvements in the 1990s. That system of rewards for change should be adopted now.
  5. Housing Australia should see its role expanded and be central to the government’s commitment to deliver 100,000 new houses.  Housing Australia should become a key “off the plan purchaser” of new housing supply, then use the $10 billion commitment to allocate, sell or rent those houses to key workers, for use as affordable housing through Community Housing Providers or for social housing, at whatever discount the government chooses or is prepared to fund. This would be an important under-write for new housing supply as well as ensuring that affordable housing is made available to those that need it.

A lot of work has been done by all the states to improve planning processes and increase the number of approvals.  There is more to be done here, but the key now is for the Commonwealth to assist in bridging the feasibility gap and improving home affordability by driving down fees, taxes and charges while supporting improved productivity, as well as funding housing related infrastructure.

The Albanese government has a clear mandate and should progress with legislation with alacrity where this is needed, and if not – full steam ahead from today.

By Tom Forrest, CEO, Urban Taskforce Australia

 

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