Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann is again calling on the Morrison Government to expand its support for first home buyers and social housing to boost the economy and jobs in the housing construction industry.
Labor has repeatedly called on the Government to ensure that their construction support package included:
- expansion of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme for new builds and grants to first home buyers who build their first home;
- construction of more social housing and repairs and maintenance of existing social housing; and
- construction of more affordable rental accommodation for frontline workers.
Mr Neumann said the Government should expand the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme by lifting the cap for first home buyers who build new homes beyond the current 10,000 places over 12 months to help save the jobs of thousands of builders and tradies.
“This will assist more first home buyers on low and middle incomes to build a new home with a deposit of as little as five per cent without the requirement to pay for lenders mortgage insurance.
“Labor and the housing industry called for this on 30 May, but it was ignored by the Government in its flawed HomeBuilder scheme, which has been panned as poorly targeted and too small to save many tradie jobs.
“It was pleasing to see the Queensland Government step up to fill the void left by the Federal Government with the Premier’s announcement in Springfield last week of $267 million for the construction industry, which will benefit tradies, homeowners and the regions.
“But this will not be enough on its own to stop the industry falling off a cliff. The Morrison Government has an opportunity to fix this on Wednesday when the next round of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme opens on 1 July,” he said.
On top of this, Mr Neumann reiterated Labor’s calls for the Government to fund the construction of more social housing and repair existing public housing.
“A new report by leading thinktank the Grattan Institute this week has backed this, saying that funding the construction of more social housing will help get Australians back to work and speed up economic recovery.
“This is exactly what Labor did in the GFC and analysis by KPMG shows it worked, delivering around 9,000 full-time jobs in the building industry and for every $1 of construction activity, this generated around $1.30 in total turnover in the economy.
“The Government needs to get its head out of the sand and start pouring concrete.
“Building more housing is a win-win. It will improve housing affordability, put a roof over the head of people who need one, and save the jobs of thousands of tradies and small businesses,” Mr Neumann said.
