Interview with Peter Stefanovic, First Edition

14 April 2025

PETER STEFANOVIC: Joining us live now is the Shadow Finance Minister, Jane Hume. Jane, good morning to you. Thanks for your time as always. So a few weeks ago, you accused Labor of handing out bribes. Is this yours?

JANE HUME: Pete, yesterday at the campaign launch, not only was there a terrific vibe in the air, but there was also an enormous amount of excitement about the final piece of the Coalition's housing policy. We've already announced that we'll reduce net migration to reduce pressure on supply. We've already announced that we'll block foreign owners from buying new homes or buying homes for a period of two years. We've said that young people can access their superannuation to help build their deposit, and we'll continue on with the successful policy of a previous Coalition government, the first home buyers guarantee that will allow new home buyers to go in with as little as a 5% deposit. But yesterday we also announced that for those new home buyers that are buying a brand new home, building a new home, that for five years they will get a capped tax deduction. Now this will be a game changer. It will turbocharge supply of new homes. In fact, industry suggests that about 30,000 new homes will be built because of this policy. We think this is the right policy for the time. Labor's policy is simply more of the same. They've asked for an enormous amount of money that they will borrow to get there and let's face it, they've already spent $10 billion of taxpayer money to build not a single home with their signature housing policy from the last election. Why on earth should they be trusted to build new homes this election?

PETER STEFANOVIC: Right, but back to the question. The tax offset. Isn't that just a bribe?

JANE HUME: The tax offset is an incentive to allow first home buyers to get in there and build new homes. This is the ultimate supply side measure. We want new home buyers in the market, but we also want them to build new homes because this is a supply side measure above and beyond anything else. We think that it's going to turbocharge new home builds and so does industry.

PETER STEFANOVIC: How does it address the issue of supply though? Because isn't that the root cause of the housing problem? Then you've got more people with more money going after fewer homes, which is obvious what that does to prices.

JANE HUME: So we've already said that we will address the supply of the market with a $5 billion injection into enabling infrastructure that allows those new housing developments to get off the ground. Now, those new housing developments need buyers, and that's what this tax deduction, a limited five year tax deduction.

PETER STEFANOVIC (TALKS OVER): The problem is, though, that those bills would take years to build those homes, right and then you've got the money that's going into the system now or next year for homes that aren't built yet. So that's just going to drive up prices.

JANE HUME: The market is ready for new home builds. We want to make sure that enabling infrastructure is there, so the property developers are ready to go and that they know that they can get started and then we provide the buyers. By providing those buyers with a five year tax deduction that will inspire them to go and buy new homes, new builds, as opposed to existing residential properties. That puts new supply into the system. It's about having an interactive housing policy, one that works on the supply side, but also on the demand side, so that we can get the country back on track and get Australians into homes.

PETER STEFANOVIC: How is that not inflationary?

JANE HUME: This is a problem in the market that is, you know, far and above, beyond one of the things that's driving the problems in our economy. I went to a country town in Western Victoria, in Hamilton, who had a sign out the front saying that there were no new houses that were to be built and no new houses for rent, no houses for rent. Now that's a real problem for industries down there that can't get the skills that they need in order to operate at their capacity. We want to see new homes being built in country towns and regional Australia, and also on that outer peri-urban fringe, because Australians want to live in houses, they want to live in houses, they don't want to live in high rises. We want to make sure that young Australians, in particular, get the great Australian dream of owning their own home by having a combination of supply side policies as well as opportunities to build a deposit and get in there with a tax deduction of five years. We think that this will be the right path to get Australians on that dream.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, like Labor, much of these are short term band aid populist policies. Are you like the Labor Party, addicted to spending?

JANE HUME: Pete, that might be your assertion, but it certainly is not ours. In fact, we will go to this election with a better bottom line than Labor.

PETER STEFANOVIC (TALKS OVER): That is not my assertion. That's a fairly common view from leading economists who like to point out that there is a whole lot of money washing through the system now, and no real plan to pay it down.

JANE HUME: Pete, we will go to this election with a better bottom line than Labor. Last week we announced that there will be no windfall revenue waste under a Coalition Government. In fact, we will sequester that those revenue windfalls that Labor have squandered into a future generations fund for younger Australians so that they can prosper from the resources prosperity that has been delivered, are being delivered to this generation of Australians. We'll make sure that we manage the economy without the wasteful spending of a Labor Government. We'll rein in inflation and tackle the cost of living at its source, particularly by driving energy prices down. Now we're saying we'll also deliver affordable housing. That's an important commitment to the next generations of Australians. We'll deliver quality healthcare and we'll keep Australians safe. This is the starkest choice that you could possibly have at an election. A stronger, safer, better Australia or more of the same under Labor.

PETER STEFANOVIC: All right, Jane Hume, thank you for your time as always.