Radio interview - ABC Radio South West

CHELA WILLIAMS, HOST: Now let’s break it down with Assistant Minister for the Prime Minister and Perth Labor MP, Patrick Gorman. Good morning, Assistant Minister.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Chela, and thanks to your listeners.  

WILLIAMS: Let's start with negative gearing changes. That seems to be the one of the bigger ticket items from the Budget. I have to ask, are there any regrets on breaking an election promise just over a year ago to not amend any negative gearing?

GORMAN: We have had to look at the circumstances that we face right now. We have done a lot of work when it comes to investing in helping first homeowners into the housing market. Our 5% deposits, that's helped about 500 people in the South West. But we know that we needed to go further, and so we have made changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax to put homeowners and first home buyers first, and to help more Australians into the housing market. Because I think that speaks to our Australian values of the fair go. I know that it speaks to our values of not wanting to leave people behind, and most Australians want to be able to aspire to a home of their own, and if the federal government can help make that happen, then we should, and that's why we've made this decision.

WILLIAMS: I'd like to play you some audio from Mike Tucker, he is the REIWA South West spokesperson. He's based in Busselton. He spoke on the breakfast program this morning. He's concerned that there's going to be less rentals, and there is a supply issue. 

[Audio plays]

MIKE TUCKER, SOUTH-WESTERN ELECTORAL REGION REPRESENTATIVE FOR REIWA: Yeah it's not the right time for intervention at all. Anything that could potentially discourage private investment in the housing market is, is not what we need right now. We need more landlords, not fewer. We can't tax our way out of, out of the housing shortage. We've got a, we've got a supply issue here, so, and like we've just started to see things starting to free up a little bit. There's been a, there's been a slight easing of the rental market. So, any changes right now obviously puts uncertainty in investors’ minds, and I don't think it's the right time to be doing it.

[Audio ends]

WILLIAMS: That's Mike Tucker, he's the REIWA South West spokesperson speaking on South West Breakfast earlier this morning. It can be argued that investors and landlords are actually helping to provide the rental market. Do you think there is concern about penalising them could mean less rentals will be available?

GORMAN: Well firstly, and it's important that your listeners know this, and I recognise the Budget’s only been out for just over 12 hours, but it's important that Mike knows this as well. Those who already invest in residential real estate, their arrangements are grandfathered through the changes that we've put through. So that means if you've already got a negatively-geared property, you can continue doing that, and that will stay. We're trying to change the incentives for investors into the future. But I'd also say to Mike and to REIWA that they know that in Margaret River, over the last 5 years, we've seen the cost of houses go up 104%. They've doubled in Bunbury over the last five years - and this is REIWA data that I'm using - they've gone up 82%. Now that is something that is holding people back, meaning that they're not able to get into the housing market. And we want to do a sensible rebalance. And for those people who want those incentives, we're going to put the incentives in our tax system where we need them, and that is to incentivise more new builds, which is clearly what we need in the South West. And that also means more jobs, and it means that capital is being invested in job-creating housing infrastructure, which is what I think most of your listeners will recognise is the right sort of incentive to have in our tax system.

WILLIAMS: Assistant Minister, one of the other interesting things that has come out of this conversation when we're talking about holding people back into getting to their homes, is the short-stay accommodation issue. We had a lot of listeners text in through the program this morning. The South West, as you may well know, there's a lot of investment properties, a lot of expensive higher end scale properties, and many of them are short-stay holiday homes. There's concerns that they're responsible for the lack of housing in the region. Would the government ever put maybe blanket measures in place or restrict short-stay accommodation?

GORMAN: That's not really within the Commonwealth's responsibilities, when it comes to short-stay accommodation. Local governments have some powers that they can choose to use, as has the state government. We saw that with the Cook Labor Government doing some initiatives a year or so ago around short-stay accommodation. What I would note is that we do want to have - and all of the incentives that we're trying to build into the Commonwealth system is about encouraging people to be able to have that dream of home ownership, or investors to be investing in those most productive bits of the housing market. That is new homes for people to rent as they're starting out in life.

WILLIAMS: I'm speaking with Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Perth Labor MP, Patrick Gorman. We're breaking down the Federal Budget and how this may apply and impact you in the South West. Let's move on to the tax offset, Assistant Minister. The new income tax offset of $250 will be paid to more than 13 million workers every year from July 2028. This obviously applies to employed people, there is a question mark over, what about the marginalised that aren't currently employed? The retirees? What can be done for them?

GORMAN: Of course, what we want to have is for those about 1.5 million people across our great state of Western Australia, we want to give them that Working Australians Tax Offset. It's an important initiative to make sure that we are bringing tax down for working people. One of the things that we've seen in our tax system for a long time is that so much of the tax burden is on working people. For those retirees that you ask about, I'd say one of the things we've really worked on across multiple budgets is making sure that we do have significant cost of living measures for those things that do take quite a bit of money out of retirees’ pockets. The work that we've done when it comes to Medicare bulk billing, we've doubled the number of bulk billing practices in the electorate of Forrest, and we've done that in just the last year. We’ve seen some 2.6 million cheaper medicine scripts - again, leaving more money in the pockets of retirees who rely on having regular medication. So, we'll continue to do those things that make a difference, just as we'll continue to invest in the WA State Government,

WILLIAMS: I'd like to turn your attention to the NDIS. $37.8 billion in savings will be taken out of the NDIS over the next four years, and this is to help restore the program to its original intent and root out fraud rorters in the system. On the other hand, is there concern about risking less support for those who actually need disability services, Assistant Minister?

GORMAN: One of the things we know is that the commitment we have made when it comes to reforming the National Disability Insurance Scheme is that there are better ways to provide support outside of the scheme. What we know is that if we don't make it sustainable now, it's at risk of not being there for future generations. We've already started that work in a pretty substantial way when it comes to Thriving Kids, having more support in school environments and in non-NDIS models to support younger Australians. So, we'll keep doing that work.

WILLIAMS: We've already seen some disability services shut down in the South West though, unfortunately. Forrest Personnel, which said federal changes made its operations unviable. You mentioned that there'll be localised support to actually help to get those services to those that need it most. How would that look?

GORMAN: So, there's the $6 billion. Let’s talk firstly, Thriving Kids. That's $6 billion of new community supports outside of the NDIS. When it comes to other parts of the NDIS, we're having those conversations with the states and territories right now. So, we want to expand the number of supports outside of the NDIS. We'll do that in a constructive way with the states and territories, because we know that that's the most cost-effective and often the best model of care or support, and it means it's sustainable for the long term. 

WILLIAMS: We'll leave it there. Thank you so much for your time. 

GORMAN: Thank you very much.

WILLIAMS: That's Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Perth Labor MP, Patrick Gorman.