Housing will be a big focus of the federal budget. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Getting more houses built and fast-tracking development approvals will be two big focuses of tomorrow’s federal budget.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers hands down his fifth budget on Tuesday night (12 May), and he has spent the weekend revealing some details, particularly on housing.
Cutting red tape for housing projects, as well as for energy and mineral development projects, will get a lot of attention in the budget.
It will include $500 million in new funding for faster development approvals as part of the recent changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, but also an extra $2 billion over four years to fund infrastructure that will help get houses built.
The $2 billion will go towards building local roads and other infrastructure such as water, power and sewerage, in the hope of building up to 65,000 new homes.
“Building more homes is a big focus of this budget,” the Treasurer said.
“Our housing plan is pro-aspiration, and it’s pro-investment. We’re coming at this housing challenge from every responsible angle and boosting supply is central to that.”
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil added to the news, describing the infrastructure projects as the “boring but essential work” that needs to be done to help unlock housing supply.
The money will be given to local governments and state and territory utility providers to get the infrastructure projects underway, with a quarter of the allocation ($500 million) to be directed to the regions.
A separate $500 million to help fast-track development approvals will include a $105.9 million plan for artificial intelligence to deliver environmental data to government.
Environment Minister Murray Watt described the four-year funding commitment as a “win-win” situation.
“This new funding will put those [EPBC] laws to work, unlocking major projects and helping proponents get a faster yes or a faster no,” he said.
“That’s a win-win for our economy and our precious natural environment.”
Dr Chalmers said the budget’s funding allocation for fast-tracking approvals is part of the government’s productivity agenda.
“Our big productivity push is all about getting compliance costs down and cutting red tape, making it easier and faster to build, and making Australia a more attractive place to invest, and that’s what we’re doing through the EPBC,” he said.
“We’re fast-tracking approvals to build more homes for Australians.
“More efficient approvals mean projects get off the ground quicker and Australians get into homes sooner.”
The Treasurer was also keen to fan the wide speculation that his budget will overhaul the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount and negative gearing.
That will amount to a broken promise and the government fully understands such a move poses a “lot of political risk”, but Dr Chalmers said something needs to be done to address intergenerational equity.
“The status quo in the housing market and in the tax system is broken,” the Treasurer said.
“It’s not working. It is locking out too many Australians and we’re not building enough homes … The budget on Tuesday night will signal, I think, a year of more ambitious reform which recognises that the status quo in housing and tax is broken, it is unfair, it is unacceptable.
“A lot of the work and all of the comments that we have made in the past have reflected that overwhelming focus on supply, as the Prime Minister said.
“But there are additional steps that need to be taken to make the housing market fairer.”
The Treasurer added that any such tax overhaul would be about “reform not revenue” and “transitional considerations” such as grandfathering would be taken into account.
Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson said the Coalition would have a hard time accepting Labor’s plans in that area.
“The government is just taking from young Australians and from older Australians and not giving them anything in return. It’s very hard to see how you could back that,” Mr Wilson said.
“I’ll absolutely be looking at what the government announces in the budget. So far, their budget seems to be in complete disarray, where the narrative the Treasurer was putting forward was that we’re doing all of this for intergenerational equity.
“If you believe the leaks that have come out of the budget bunker in the past 12 hours, they’re now saying, well, boomers will be protected, but young Australians won’t be able to get their first foot on the ladder of opportunity.
“My position is this is clear, which is we need to have a tax system that’s oriented towards encouraging wealth creation, jobs, and growth for the next generation of Australians.
“Labor’s plan is to feed resentment and redistribution. We have wildly different views about how to build the future of the country.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
