Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027

Ms SITOU (Reid) (18:08): I will give the shadow treasurer some credit here. He does have some great oratory, with a lot of flair and a lot of hyperbole, but let's look at some of the facts here. Something that they don't want to admit is that a change to the CGT in 1999 by then prime minister John Howard did not have the result they were hoping for.

Instead, that change—the 50 per cent discount on CGT—had the unintended consequence of making homeownership harder for first home buyers. In the shadow treasurer's hyperbole, I don't know if he's going to recognise that fact, but let us all recognise the fact, today, that the change failed to do what the Howard government was hoping it would do, which was to increase investment in shares.

What actually happened was that investment in shares and dividends went down, whereas investment in property shot through the roof. We want people to succeed. We want them to invest.

But we don't want a first home buyer going to an auction and having to compete against an investor who has the whole taxation system—negative gearing and the 50 per cent discount on capital gains tax—working for them. That's an unfair playing field. Anyone would admit that.

So what happened under their watch? When my parents bought their first home 40 years ago, the dream of homeownership was within reach because a home cost about three times the average household income and you could save for a deposit in just four years. When I bought my first home 15 years ago, it had already become twice as hard.

Homes were six times the average income, and it took eight years to save for a deposit. For a young Australian today it's even harder. Homes cost around nine times a typical household income, and it takes close to 12 years to save for a deposit.

So what have we done as a country in less than three generations? We've made it three times harder to buy a home and take three times longer to save, because homes cost three times more relative to income. And that's not just a statistic; it's a whole generation locked out of homeownership.

Those opposite don't want to admit this fact. They don't want to talk about how first home buyers are finding it really difficult. The challenge is absolutely difficult.

The challenge is immense. Part of it is making sure that we get our tax system right. Part of it is making sure that we increase supply, that we're building more homes.

And part of it is to help first home buyers get their foot in the door. We on this side of the house are actually trying to address it from all three fronts. While those opposite ignore it—in fact, they fuelled it—we on this side of the house are addressing it on all three fronts.

At every budget that we have delivered since we have been in government, we have put measures in place to increase housing supply and to support first home buyers trying to buy their first home. Let's remember what those opposite did. They failed so completely that they forgot to appoint a minister for housing.

That's how seriously they took the problem. But we have addressed supply, we're addressing support for first home buyers and now, in this budget, we are levelling the playing field. We are making changes to negative gearing and we're making changes to the capital gains tax so that, when that first home buyer, that young Australian who has an aspiration to own a first home, goes to that auction, they are getting a fair crack at being able to afford buying that home.

They're not having to bid against investors who have a taxation system that is heavily weighted towards them. Now, if that is not aspirational, I do not know what is. We on this side of the House are pro homeownership.

We are pro aspiration and, importantly, we are supporting that first home buyer.