First Home Owner Grant

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:18): Supplementary arising from the original answer: will the Attorney care to reflect on the difference in providing concessions for new builds and how they impact on the economy in general and jobs, as opposed to providing concessions for existing housing stock?

The PRESIDENT: I'm not sure that is arising from the original answer. However, if the Attorney would like to answer, he can.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:18): I thank the honourable member for his question. As with his counterpart across the chamber, the Hon. Dennis Hood, you can certainly tell the members of this chamber who have been around here for some time and understand how to phrase questions and how this place works. I thank the honourable member for his question.

As I outlined to the Hon. Sarah Game in her question, sometimes policy initiatives have a number of different aims in what they seek to do. Certainly, for first-home owner concessions for new builds, it does help with cost-of-living pressures. It helps people getting into the housing market, but it also helps with increasing housing stock in South Australia.

The Hon. Ian Hunter has asked about what other benefits come from such policies. When you increase housing stock not only is there more housing for South Australians but it does tend to stimulate the economy. We see people in all sorts of professions who are involved in building houses employed in South Australia, so having first-home owner relief that is directed at new builds not only increases housing stock but has the great benefit of making sure that there are people employed in trades in the construction of houses, which helps with employment in the state.