Interview with Kenny Heatley, First Edition

21 October 2024

KENNY HEATLEY: Joining me now is the Shadow Finance Minister, Jane Hume. Jane, good to see you. So does this mean that the Teals brand is holding up in these electorates that were traditionally Liberal heartland, and does it spell trouble for the federal election when trying to win them back?

JANE HUME: Kenny, there were three by-elections on the weekend in New South Wales, and two of them, the Liberals held their seats and so we've introduced two new Liberals to the New South Wales State Parliament. The one seat that was won by a teal, I think there was some pretty exceptional circumstances with the but with the resignation of the previous member, and I'm sure that that's what played out. I very much doubt that this is a bellwether, most of the people that I've spoken to on the ground in Victoria and in New South Wales, who have Teal incumbents, have told us that they've been very disappointed that the fact that the Teals really can't seem to affect any change, that only major parties can do that, and that they'll be switching their votes back, come the next federal election.

KENNY HEATLEY: Okay, you met The Queen in 2011. You'll see The King and Queen in Canberra today. Are you looking forward to that?

JANE HUME: I am very much looking forward to that. I think it's a real honor that we have a reigning monarch coming into our country and to visit different states, different communities, and today they have a reception at Parliament House. I'm very much looking forward to this. Yes, you're right. I did meet The Queen in 2011. You have a very good memory there, Kenny, and it was an extraordinary honor then, it will be an extraordinary honor today.

KENNY HEATLEY: Victoria is reducing stamp duty on new developments today to encourage denser developments. Do you think that this is a good idea?

JANE HUME: Well, I find it an extraordinary announcement, in the light of other announcements that were made this weekend, if the State Government really wanted to see new supply of housing, they would fast track zoning and planning approvals. I know that there are around 18,000 houses that have been held up for nearly a decade in places like Ballan in Western Victoria or Western Melbourne, I should say and at the same time, there is already a stamp duty discount available to new home buyers. I'm not entirely sure what this is going to achieve. The Coalition, the Federal Coalition announced over the weekend an additional $5 billion over the next five years to unlock supply of new housing developments by creating enabling infrastructure. That seems to be where the roadblock is. That's what the Property Council have told us, that's what the Master Builders have told us, and the Urban Infrastructure Institute have told us, we've identified thousands of homes that could be developed immediately, if it weren't for that enabling infrastructure that's holding things up. That's what a Coalition government will deliver.

KENNY HEATLEY: Just on stamp duty, the Business Council of Australia wants to move away from stamp duty in favor of a land tax, in a plan that's been released today. Would you support the states in this move, if they did embark on ambitious stamp duty reform?

JANE HUME: Well, in Victoria, we've seen both stamp duty and land tax go through the roof, because Victoria is essentially bust. If you've got a broke state, all that's going to happen is they'll use this as a grab bag opportunity to increase taxes further. That's not going to help the housing supply in Victoria. This is simply a demand driven measure. We want to see housing supply open up. That is in the hands of State Governments, but they've failed to do their bid and Federal Government, Federal Labor, have failed to assist them in that. They've essentially thrown money at the states, but not delivered that extra supply. That's what a Coalition Government will do, is go directly to the heart of the problem, create and unlock that bottleneck of supply by creating enabling infrastructure on those greenfields and brownfields development sites that have already been identified.

KENNY HEATLEY: Former New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet, he tried to take it to the last New South Wales election, where he would phase out stamp duty to bring in land tax. Of course, he didn't, he didn't get in. Do you think that's a big reason as to why federally, at least we're not talking about this transition away from stamp duty, because, you know, parties are worried that it is politically unpopular?

JANE HUME: Well, it is very much the purview of State Governments and State Governments have failed to do that. Unfortunately, it seems to be that State Governments that have failed to unlock supply. Stamp duty is a demand driven issue. We want to make sure that there is more supply. That's the only way you're going to sustainably bring down the price of houses, right across the country. State Governments have failed to unlock that supply through both planning and zoning reforms and through providing the enabling infrastructure. Now, a Coalition Federal Government will step in and go to where the bottlenecks are, by enabling that, by creating that enabling infrastructure that will allow the developments to continue. We've identified hundreds of sites, thousands of sites, that will deliver around 500,000 new homes that would not have been built before. That will have been stalled, potentially for decades. That's what a Coalition Government, a Federal Coalition Government will do. Actually deliver on the promise of new supply land.

KENNY HEATLEY: Okay, Jane Hume, enjoy that Royal visit today.

JANE HUME: Thank you.