FIRST HOME OWNER GRANT AMENDMENT BILL 2026 (No. 20)

[6.00 p.m.]

Ms BURNET (Clark) - Thank you, honourable Speaker, and I, too, will be mercifully brief. I rise to speak to the First Home Owners Grant Amendment Bill of 2026 and acknowledge that this will retain a grant of $20,000, coming down from $30,000. In some ways it's a symbolic gesture. There's still going to be a grant available.

But I think what I've heard from Professor Razay, Ms Johnston and also from Mr Bayley is that there is an inflationary impact. When we were briefed on this, it was described as a modest inflationary aspect to this grant. I note that Ms Johnston moved an amendment last time to cap the value of the property, because it's not means tested. A cap of $750,000 could have helped reduce the likelihood of this grant going not necessarily to people who were just trying to break into the market and find housing.

Mr Bayley talked about other ways to - there are many levers that should be available to help with the housing crisis. This is not something that the government really wants to pursue which is very unfortunate - by looking at reining in short-stay accommodation or looking at using the planning scheme to stimulate new housing by targeting areas where housing could get out of the ground or using planning schemes to ensure that is the vehicle to have affordable housing in particular areas in urban growth boundaries. But the government does not really want to pursue using all of these levers available to stimulate and find the right kind of builds in the right kind of places. This grant does not do that at all. There's no targeting, which would be a lot more effective, one would think, if the government set its mind to finding solutions across the board to find housing for people who really require it.

I will relate this anecdote told to me of a young mother who lives in Moonah. She has a baby under one year. She lives with her partner. They rent. The rental property has just been sold and the rent will go up $150 per week. They're in the situation where they cannot go and buy a new house. They can't afford to move, so they'll just have to suck it up and pay that extra $150 a week. They're totally at the mercy of the new owner and the housing market. The government should be stepping in to solve these problems because this, in turn, has an impact on population growth, on people staying in Tasmania or having to go interstate for housing, jobs and opportunities for their kids. So, it's a telling story and whilst I understand this bill and I understand the importance of getting houses out of the ground, I am concerned about the inflationary impact and I'm concerned that this will not be the best solution to find housing solutions for people.