Radio interview - ABC Sydney

RICHARD GLOVER, HOST: Prime Minister, welcome.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G'day, Richard, good to be with you.

GLOVER: They say this bill, which will allow the government to take up to 40 per cent of equity in people's houses, therefore help them get the deposit together. They say it'll just push up the price of housing, which is the last thing we want to do.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's nonsense, of course, and it's actually Greens party policy. And today they voted with the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation and Clive Palmer's Party to not have a vote. They're voting to not have a vote over and over again, just like they did with the Housing Australia Future Fund. That, of course, is about building social housing. But what this is about is giving people the opportunity to get into home ownership that mightn't otherwise be able to do so, and it would assist some 40,000 Australians to do so. So, it is beyond my comprehension how the Greens can vote with the Coalition against a policy that is pretty straightforward, it's very clear it's just one of the suite of measures that we have as part of our $32 billion Homes for Australia Plan.

GLOVER: Why won't it push up the price of housing?

PRIME MINISTER: Because on what possible basis could it? What it will do is ensure that the opportunity will be there. So that instead of, if you're buying a house for $500,000, then up to $200,000 of the unit to get you into home ownership could be owned by the government. You then can pay off that percentage at any time that you wish to or upon sale, then the same percentage would be then paid back to the taxpayer. Now this is a system that has operated very effectively in Western Australia for decades. It is just another measure to try to assist people into home ownership. But the Greens have voted against that, along with the Coalition. The same No-alition, if you like, have voted against Build to Rent. That's about giving incentives to developers to build private rentals for affordable housing. And they delayed the public housing investment for the Housing Australia Future Fund. We announced 13,700 new dwellings would be built for social and affordable housing just yesterday. But that has been delayed for a long period of time because it was held up in the Senate. Now this is a Senate only sitting week. They've been sitting for two days. They haven't passed a single thing, they haven't voted on anything. They're just talking away, stopping things being voted on. And I don't think that's what the people who voted either for the Liberals or the Nationals or the Greens or One Nation, no matter what way people voted, for goodness sake get on with it. Vote for this legislation or be honest and vote against it rather than what is effectively a vote against the legislation along with the Coalition.

GLOVER: Well they say they're trying to use their leverage, and that's their right as a minor party to try to get you to do more, particularly for renters before we end up in the next election cycle.

PRIME MINISTER: They've just voted against the Build to Rent Scheme that would do something for renters. And just this week, literally, a 10 per cent increase in maximum Rental Assistance. The second consecutive increase in Rental Assistance is being provided by the federal government. The largest increase in 30 years. You can't just say what you're against, you've got to say what you're for. But they've managed to vote against social housing, vote against private rentals, and now they're voting against home ownership.

GLOVER: And whenever we talk about this on the radio, Prime Minister, people say Mr Albanese, he's just trying to cure a problem of his own creation. They absolutely point to the migration figures getting out of control as the reason why we've got this crisis in the first place.

PRIME MINISTER: No, we've had a problem with housing supply for a period of time. In NSW for example under the Coalition government there was less social housing dwellings after twelve years than there was at the beginning of the process. So that's one step in the problem. The second step is private rentals, that's why we have the Build to Rent Scheme. And the third is home ownership. Now what we have is a comprehensive housing plan. The former Federal Government for most of the time it was in office didn't even have a federal Housing Minister, they thought it was nothing to do with them. Now what we are doing is making sure that we can make a difference by engaging in housing policy. It's something that I'm very passionate about. I want to see more homes built in Australia. I want to see more social housing. I want to see a downward pressure on rents. And the key to that, of course, is housing supply, which is why we have this suite of measures going forward in conjunction with, not just government taking action, but how do we support the private sector to take action as well.

GLOVER: Ok, but the Greens say the key, the real key is doing something finally about negative gearing, doing something finally about the capital gains offset. They say that, you know, due to the election campaign before, the 2019 election campaign, Mr Shorten's election campaign, Labor's too scared of doing anything that would really make a difference. That's their point of view.

PRIME MINISTER: No, well the analysis is that that could potentially have a negative impact on supply. That is one of the concerns that's there from some of the analysis, but that, changing that won't boost supply.

GLOVER: So, when you say changing that, you mean negative gearing?

PRIME MINISTER: Correct. There's, one analysis is, certainly the Property Council argued that that would have a negative impact on supply. So that is one of the reasons why we're very cautious about that. But the key is to increase supply. Every economist knows that that's the case, and that's why we want to make sure that we give support to people. And if you say you care about renters, one of the things that renters want, if you ask them, is to get into home ownership. They want to be able to own the roof that's over their head. And this is one opportunity that would do that and would also provide an equity opportunity, if you like, because people who wouldn't be able to buy a home by themselves essentially get a hand up from the Federal Government so that there's that shared equity basis. This has been very effective operating in the UK, New Zealand, in Europe, in large parts of the world have measures such as this, which is why we went to the last election with a clear mandate to implement this. And what's more, the Greens Party had this on their website. It is part of their platform that they took to the last election and they're voting against it just to be spoilers in order to, their own housing spokesperson has said that passing housing legislation would mean that 'we're unable to campaign against it'. Well, what I'm concerned about isn't the politics of this, it's getting things done, and that is what our government is trying to do. And the Senate refusing to, across a range of areas, not just this one, but refusing to pass at this point there's not the support to pass the Future Made in Australia legislation. Pretty straightforward, saying we should make more things here in Australia.

GLOVER: Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister here. Just finally, what happens now? Is there a chance that this can be negotiated tomorrow, or is it now off the table, in your view?

PRIME MINISTER: No, we will continue to put the case. This counts as a rejection by the Senate, but tomorrow there'll be an opportunity for some common sense and for the Greens party to vote for their own policy.

GLOVER: Sorry, are you saying there might be a double dissolution election because of it?

PRIME MINISTER: I'm not concerned about the politics. What I'm concerned about is the policy and getting this done. And today I was there in Rosebery with the local member, Tanya Plibersek, and our Housing Minister, Clare O'Neil, talking with a young woman, Codie, who's been able to get into home ownership under a different scheme that's also available, that allows you to get into home ownership with just a 5 per cent deposit. And she's very happy being able to get into a one bedroom, very nice place there in Rosebery, close to where her family are. We need to provide those opportunities for people and we'll continue to argue that case.

GLOVER: Okay, but if you're confident about the policy, some would say a double dissolution election is absolutely the thing to threaten.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I'm arguing for is for the Greens party to actually vote for their policy, not for them to hold up housing. I've seen it locally as well in my local community. The site where Marrickville library is now, that's won awards, that's a fantastic development that was opposed by the Greens for a long period of time. Really nice, appropriate, medium density housing. We need to do something about supply in this city. It's also, of course, an environmental issue. You can't continue to just have the spread, you do need to have a higher density where it's appropriate. But you also need to provide people with an opportunity to get into home ownership. And we will give all of the Senate over the next couple of days, there's just a Senate only sitting. It would be remarkable if the Senate sat for a whole week in order to catch up on legislation and they weren't prepared to have any votes on any legislation. That would be farcical.

GLOVER: We'll leave you to get working the phones or whatever those negotiations involve. Thank you very much for your time this afternoon.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Richard.

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