Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Housing affordability

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:19): (919) My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, Labor’s tax take has surged upwards in its almost 11 years in government. In fact the land transfer duty take has increased from $4.9 billion in 2014–15 to an estimated $9.6 billion in 2025–26, up 95 per cent. Treasurer, why have you erected a massive barrier that blocks young families and potential home owners from purchasing their first home?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:20): I thank Mr Davis for his question and the opportunity to put on record that it is our government’s policies in housing, planning and tax settings that have helped us lead the nation in first home buyers. There have been over 38,000 first home buyers in Victoria in the last year. That is 10,000 more than in New South Wales and 15,000 more than in Queensland. There are a number of initiatives that we have invested in in recent years to support people to enter the housing market and produce more supply. Supply is in fact the best way for people to access housing. If there are no houses to buy, it does not matter what incentives there are available, so getting the balance right is what we are committed to doing.

The Victorian Homebuyer Fund has worked so well that it has actually been rolled out across the country now. We will always put housing as one of our top priorities, building housing where people want to live. That is what our planning measures are about, ensuring that townhouses can be built around transport hubs, close to services, hospitals, education and jobs. This is what people are after, and we will continue to build on our track record of having the most first home buyers in the country, the most new housing approvals and completions –

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Treasurer to continue.

Jaclyn SYMES: I do not think I will be taking lectures from those opposite in relation to housing, when all you do is block new housing and continue to ensure that there are no options for first home buyers.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:22): Treasurer, by 30 June the Labor government will have collected more than $79 billion from Victorian home owners and failed to properly adjust the land tax transfer scales over your almost 11 years in government. Isn’t it a fact, Treasurer, that you and your predecessors through that long decade of Labor have torn the dream of home ownership from young Victorians via your high taxes – and that includes the massive hikes in stamp duty?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:22): Mr Davis, I went through, in my answer to your substantive, the stats. The stats are: we are leading the nation in first home buyers by thousands. We are leading the nation in dwellings approved. Last month alone in Victoria 4147 dwellings were approved. That is more than Western Australia and South Australia combined. It brings us to an annual approvals rate of 56,195, clearly the highest in the nation. Mr Davis, I will be more than happy to send you all of these stats, because they do not correlate with your narrative.