Affordable Housing, First-Home Buyers

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (14:53): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer please update the house on how the Malinauskas Labor government is assisting South Australian first-home buyers?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Police) (14:53): I am very grateful to the member for raising this question because I know it's front of mind for a lot of young South Australians at the moment about how they can get into the housing market and what the government is doing to make it more affordable.

For the first time, this government very proudly abolished stamp duty for first-home buyers when they are purchasing their first home but particularly when they are buying a new home or they are building a home—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley can leave until the end of question time. You have only been back in here 10 minutes. It has been so quiet without you.

The honourable member for Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I know he is an apprentice and not an English professor, but 'particularly' is a synonym for 'specifically'. He has got something to learn, hasn't he? Maybe he can go back and hit the books now that he has some extra time to himself for his unparliamentary interjections.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Do you know what I really enjoy? I really enjoy the footage of you doing the robot with your new candidate, trying to work out who can shake hands with whom, the boomer and the millennial working it for the cameras. It's quite a performance.

The SPEAKER: Are we over that? I know there were some people over here, the member for Morialta, who were sitting there objecting to the Treasurer reacting—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I will take control and you can leave until the end of question time as well, member for Chaffey, for interrupting the Speaker when I was explaining that the Treasurer was responding to interjections. The interjections are disorderly and perhaps the Treasurer was getting into that disorderly behaviour, but you started it.

The honourable member for Chaffey having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you for your guidance, Mr Speaker. As I was pleased to report to the house, not only has this government been the only government that has removed this burden from first-home buyers, but particularly, specifically, we have targeted that for those people who are building a new home or purchasing a newly built home which, of course, is assisting the overall housing market in South Australia by adding to supply.

In the past financial year, the financial year that concluded on 30 June, we have provided $120 million of relief to South Australian first-home buyers across our state. That is a combination of the money that they have saved through the stamp duty relief and also the additional amount we have provided in the $15,000 first-home owner grant which they are still eligible for. This, of course, is a multiple of the amount that we first thought we would be saving first-home buyers, which shows you, Mr Speaker, that the number of South Australians taking advantage of this has increased really significantly, and means that we are helping more South Australians than even we had designed in the first place. That is absolutely terrific, so $73½ million in stamp duty relief provided to 3,705 households, first-home buyers here in South Australia, and the balance, of course, in those first-home owner grants.

That, of course, stands in stark comparison to a policy which would extend it to established homes and hence driving up house prices on established homes. You do not have to take my word for it, you can take the Productivity Commission's advice—the federal Productivity Commission. The Leader of the Opposition wants to spend $130 million a year boosting house prices across South Australia. He wants to drive up house prices and make housing even more unaffordable for South Australians locked out of the housing market. We are fixing the problem; they want to make it worse. We are looking forward to the contrast at the coming state election.