The Business Council of Australia has put forward its plan to fix Australia's housing crisis claiming the Albanese government is 64,000 homes behind per year - on its target.
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00:00We have this target to build 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade.
00:06The Albanese government's put that forward and actually the Business Council of Australia
00:10backs that target, but they say we're moving too slowly and to reach that 1.2 million figure
00:17we need to be building about 64,000 extra homes per year between now and the end of
00:23the decade.
00:24They've put forward this proposal for a $10 billion fund, basically which would see states
00:30and territories incentivised for smoothing out planning and regulation issues that are
00:37stopping the construction of houses.
00:40Part of this $10 billion would go towards more money for apprenticeships to get those
00:46skills needed to get more houses built.
00:49Also a fast tracking of permanent residency applications for people from overseas who
00:55have the skills needed to build houses more quickly.
00:59And critically in this plan from the Business Council of Australia, a proposal to move away
01:06from stamp duty towards an ongoing land tax.
01:11We know that there are many state governments that are somewhat addicted to the revenue
01:16of stamp duty.
01:18That's that large upfront payment that we make when we buy property.
01:22There's a proposal to move away from that.
01:26And Bran Black from the Property Council of Australia has explained why the organisation
01:32thinks that's a good idea.
01:33It's largely around downsizing people or empty nesters.
01:37Here's what Bran Black had to say.
01:39You think about it from the perspective of somebody who's perhaps young and looking to
01:44move into state and buy a home.
01:45They might be disincentivised from doing that, from freeing up a larger family home because
01:50of that large upfront cost.
01:51So any step that we can take towards abolishing stamp duty is going to be a good step.
01:57This all really kicked off about a week ago when we learnt that the Prime Minister, Anthony
02:01Albanese, is looking to settle on this $4.3 million home in New South Wales on the Central
02:08Coast.
02:09Then we saw some analysis released from the Greens about the impact of negative gearing
02:14and capital gains tax discounts.
02:17They said that if Labor's old policies were in place, about 700,000 renters could become
02:23home owners.
02:24The Labor Party was quick to sort of quell that idea and say that it's actually not on
02:30their agenda.
02:31And then over the weekend, we saw a pretty major housing policy announcement from the
02:35Coalition.
02:36A plan to set up a $5 billion fund to get things like power, access roads and sewerage
02:44to Greenfields developments.
02:47Basically getting that money into the hands of councils and property developers to increase
02:53the supply of housing.
02:55We saw a response to that policy yesterday on the Insiders program from a government
03:00minister, Murray Watt, saying that basically it's a disingenuous policy and actually the
03:05Albanese government would be spending overall more money on housing than the Coalition.
03:11And then we've seen a response to that response.
03:14This morning from Shadow Housing Minister, Michael Suka, here's what he had to say.
03:19Their $500 million, not 1.5, their $500 million program at the moment, the first round of
03:24it has been funding bureaucrats.
03:27It's been funding increasing the number of planners in local councils, been funding planning
03:33and scoping studies and feasibility studies.
03:36That's not infrastructure.
03:37So if they want to claim that's infrastructure, they're entitled to.
03:40Our fund will be limited to pipes, to bitumen, to concrete, the things that actually get
03:46houses moving.
03:48Shadow Housing Minister from the opposition, Michael Suka, basically saying that the Coalition's
03:55policy when it comes to this critical infrastructure is better than the Albanese government's.
03:59Look, lots of mud being slung either side between both the major parties.
04:05The Greens also getting involved.
04:06What's clear is that housing is shaping as a key issue and the federal election's not
04:10too far away.