ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic to be in my electorate of Grayndler, here in Annandale with Clare O’Neil, the Housing Minister. And this morning we had the opportunity to meet with Maria. Maria’s a young woman who’s got into her first unit here in Annandale. And she couldn't have done that without taking up the opportunity to have mortgage insurance taken by the Commonwealth Government and paying a smaller deposit. What we are doing as of today is bringing forward our plan for 5 per cent deposits. What that will do is to allow more young people in particular to get into their first home. We want more Australians to realise the dream of home ownership. We want more affordable housing to be built, more social housing to be built, more rentals to be built. We want to address the housing issues, whether it be home ownership, private rentals or social and public housing. And here in the Inner West as well, can I congratulate the Inner West Council on last night approving its plan for 30,000 additional dwellings. Opposed by the Greens political party, but put through by the Labor members of the Council, because they understand that we need to boost supply. And we need to boost supply, particularly in areas such as this that have good access to public transport. Good quality housing matters. The security of a roof over your head is so important. And I grew up about 1.5km from here in a home where my mum lived for every one of her 65 years. Having that security of public housing that she had made an enormous difference. And I'm pleased that the Housing Australia Future Fund is making such a positive difference as well. It was held up by the No-alition of the Liberals and the Greens for a long period of time, but it's now off and running and going gangbusters, making a difference. And it stands in stark contrast to what we inherited, which was no housing minister for most of the time that the former government was in office, no support for public or affordable housing and essentially nothing done to boost supply. We understand that you need a whole suite of measures. We need to boost supply. We need to increase the capacity of people to own their own home as well. So, from today, more young Australians will be able to get the keys to their first home quicker. And instead of paying off someone else's mortgage, they'll be paying off a home of their own.
CLARE O’NEIL, MINISTER FOR HOUSING: Such a pleasure to be here with the boss today in his beautiful local community. And I've done a little mini-tour with the PM, and boy is he proud to come from this neck of the woods. Today, our Government is slashing the time it takes young Australians to get into their first home. As of today, every single first home buyer around the country will be eligible to get into their first home with just a 5 per cent deposit and our Government's backing. Ultimately, we're in Sydney today where it's taking a young family 11 years or so on average to save up for their first home deposit. Our Government's policy, as implemented today, will take that back to two or three years. This is life-changing stuff and a genuine expansion of home ownership opportunities for that generation of Australians who are facing such a different housing market than their parents and grandparents faced. This is just a part of Labor's ambitious Homes for Australia program. We have a $43 billion agenda. We're building more homes, we're getting renters a better deal. And today particularly we're getting more young people around our country that amazing opportunity to get into home ownership.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: How much will property prices increase under the scheme for first home buyers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it will have a minimal impact. There will be a slight increase in prices, but already 185,000 Australians have benefited from this scheme with minimal impact on prices. Treasury did modelling. They suggest a very small increase, but what it will do is to allow more young people to get into home ownership. And this is just one of the measures. We are dealing with supply. We have that incentive for state and territory governments as well, a $3 billion incentive for them to deliver more homes so that we reach our target of 1.2 million homes.
JOURNALIST: What will happen, though, in the short term? The Treasury modelling was based on this increased supply, that modest increase you talked about. Now, we've heard from the RBA Governor that that's not happening in the next few years –
PRIME MINISTER: That is not what the RBA Governor has said at all. What the RBA Governor said was common sense, which was within two years, she spoke about – because it takes time to build a home. So, what we will see is an acceleration and the incentives that we have, whether it be our Build to Rent scheme that will lead to more private rentals, our increase in social housing, which will lead to more builds as well, the renovation of existing homes that currently aren't occupied so that people are in them as well. On our watch, 500,000, more than 500,000 additional dwellings have been built. We're seeing an increase in construction, 3 per cent year on year. And that will ramp up with measures such as the one that we saw right here in the Inner West just last night, 30,000 homes. A plan for an additional 30,000 dwellings in just this one relatively small local government area.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned this announcement would benefit younger buyers. Won't they now just be bidding against each other?
PRIME MINISTER: No. What will happen – you need to have the full suite, you need to – I’ll ask Clare to comment on this. But you need to have the full range of measures. And that's what we're doing. We're increasing supply. Young Maria has got into her first home and she's very proud of it, that she's taken the plunge, and it wouldn't have been possible without the support. So, what it will do is enable the playing field to be more level. Instead of paying off someone else's mortgage, Maria is paying off her own. And that is such a positive thing. Maria would have been living somewhere. It's a matter of whether she's paying someone else's mortgage or paying her own. Instead of that, she's paying her own.
MINISTER O’NEIL: Look, our Government absolutely understands that the housing affordability issues faced by the country are solved by housing supply. We need to build homes, more homes, more quickly. And that's exactly what our Government's doing. A $43 billion agenda, the majority of which is going towards building more homes. But the Prime Minister and I are not going to look a generation of young people in the eye and tell them that we're not going to do anything to help them until these supply challenges are resolved. They are facing a fundamental injustice here, a very different housing market than their parents and grandparents faced. And our Government is stepping out and giving them a hand to get a better opportunity in the housing market.
JOURNALIST: Going back to the short term, though, those increases, what you were saying, modest increases in prices – will that mean that there will be future generations saddled with more debt? The affordability issue?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because instead of paying someone else's mortgage, not paying off the home over a period of time, instead of paying someone else's mortgage for year after year after year, their mortgage is being paid and their debt on that mortgage being reduced. It makes an enormous difference. The earlier people can get into home ownership, the more it makes economic sense.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about China possibly banning BHP iron shipments? Do we have an update about this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I am concerned about that. And what we want to make sure is that markets operate properly. And of course, we have seen those issues in the past. I want to see Australian iron ore be able to be exported into China without hindrance. That is important. It makes a major contribution to China's economy, but also to Australia's.
JOURNALIST: Are you disappointed, considering your recent visit to China?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, these measures are always disappointing. But let's hope, certainly, that they are very much short term. Sometimes when people are negotiating over price, sometimes these things will occur. But I want to see this resolved quickly.
JOURNALIST: Can I come back to the first home buyers. So, if they're paying, first home buyers, are paying more, taking out bigger loans, is this a boon for the banks with the money they'll be getting in interest rates?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Why is that? Because if people are paying, if they're having larger mortgages, isn't that a boon for banks?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're not having larger mortgages. They're having a mortgage rather than paying off someone else's mortgage. That is what is occurring.
JOURNALIST: If house prices are inflated –
PRIME MINISTER: The modelling suggested a half a per cent increase after six years. That is what the modelling suggests. That is very, very modest indeed. And the relative saving by people like Maria, practical example, real world example, a real person here in Annandale paying off her own mortgage instead of someone else's.
JOURNALIST: Just a question on Optus. There's two reviews happening into the outage, one from Kerry Schott and one from Kearney, the consulting firm. Are you okay if those reviews only get delivered to Optus or do you want them delivered to government or made public?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think it is in Optus’ interest to restore some confidence. Optus have failed their customers and they need to be transparent about these measures. ACMA will certainly make its review public, and they need to – Optus has been asked by the Minister in the meeting that was held yesterday, was asked to make sure that there's an independent review of what they are looking at. They've appointed Kearney yesterday afternoon. That's a good thing and we welcome that, but this should never have occurred.
JOURNALIST: And so, do you want to see that report? Do you want it to be given to government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, certainly it is in Optus’ interest to be transparent about that. The Government's doing our own, through the independent regulator, is doing its own review as well.
JOURNALIST: On EVs, do expect to have a road user charge in effect during your time in office?
PRIME MINISTER: You know, road user charges were talked about when I was the Infrastructure and Transport Minister. So, these things need to be worked through with state and territory governments as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when United Nations experts like human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti say Australia risks being complicit in genocide through defence agreements with Israel, does that alter your thinking on whether or not Australia should enter into the supply chain of arming Israel?
PRIME MINISTER: We don’t provide. We provide no weapons to Israel. None.
JOURNALIST: Australia’s involvement in the supply chain, you’ve acknowledged that previously –
PRIME MINISTER: We supply no weapons to Israel. Full stop.
JOURNALIST: So, Prime Minister, coming back to the first home owners, the Opposition has said that the lifting of the cap will benefit those with wealthier families with the banks of mum and dad. What do we say to that?
PRIME MINISTER: The Opposition, what they say is that the Opposition opposed the Housing Australia Future fund. They're opposing 5 per cent deposits, they oppose the Build to Rent scheme. They didn't bother to have a Minister when they were in government and they left us with a supply-side problem after ten years of neglect. The Opposition just oppose every single measure that is put forward on housing. They did that when they were in government, they did nothing. And now in Opposition, they have blocked legislation, along with the Greens political party in the senate during the first term. And every single measure that has been put up, they oppose.
JOURNALIST: Can you step through though what those impacts will be for lifting the cap?
PRIME MINISTER: They oppose every single measure. What lifting the cap will do, as well as of course as a level of increase so that it reflects the price of housing in each market around – that will enable more people to access the scheme. That's what we want. That's what we had a mandate for at the election, and we received strong support. And young people in particular at the election had two choices. They had Labor offering a 5 per cent deposit, increasing access to home ownership. They had Labor cutting student debt by 20 per cent which will make a difference as well in people being able to get their first mortgage and get into home ownership. They had Labor acting on issues which were of concern to young people, such as climate change, such as gender equality. And you had a Coalition that was just stuck in the past and continuing to oppose every measure that was put forward. Thanks very much.