E&OE……………………..

Tim Wilson: Families are sitting around the kitchen tables of the nation right now are worried about disappearing wealth and wages. New data released today shows and confirms what Australians know, that house prices are declining by now 10 per cent. We have a situation where the wealth of the nation is disappearing. At the same time, wages are disappearing, and that means that Australians are going to the supermarket and they're trying to buy more and they're getting less in return. What we have is a government, as a consequence of their budget, that laid a series of tax landmines across the Australian economy. Those tax landmines have blown up on the Treasurer, but now they're blowing up the Australian housing market and destroying the real wealth and wages of Australian families. And as they sit around the kitchen tables of this nation talking to their families about economic security, more and more people are getting out their calculator and wondering how it is they're going to pay higher interest rates on a house that's depreciating in value. We know that the government continues to dare the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates, we know the government is engaged in a game of interest rate chicken with the Reserve Bank, and what we know is off the back of recent employment data, inflation data, that Australian households are serious risk, by the end of this month, of higher interest rates. Everything the government is doing is only ending to lower wages, lower house values, and destruction of wealth, and making it harder for Australians to get ahead. Andrew.

Andrew Bragg: Thanks very much, Tim. So, four months after the budget, what we see is a disgraceful failure of housing policy. We see supply numbers down, 75,000 down over the decade as a result of the tax hikes and the SMSF ban. We see higher rents, Chalmers said it would only be $2 a week, but it's going to be more like 200 bucks a week in places like Sydney, but he won't give us the modelling. And in the Senate this week, they have blocked attempts for us to see the modelling which underpins their ridiculous and laughable $2 a week rent claim. And then we have the collapse in loans to owner-occupiers. We have seen a 15 per cent reduction by some banks, major banks, on home loans to owner-occupiers since the budget. So, after the $77 billion of new taxes on housing, we see fewer houses, we see higher rents, and we see fewer owner-occupiers. I mean, you really couldn't cook up a worse set of policies to destroy the Australian dream. If Jim Chalmers was the CEO of a company, he would have walked the plank a very long time ago, because this tax policy and this budget has collapsed, just like his policy last year on unrealised gains collapsed as well.

Tim Wilson: That's the best press conference ever.

Camera operator: Have a free kick if you want.

Tim Wilson: Well, I think we've already had a few free kicks, but Andrew's right. The challenge Australian households are facing right now is it does not matter what stage of life they are facing, they have a problem of increasing rents, falling wages, and of course now falling wealth. Until this government gets economic settings that are focused on growing the economic pie and building a future economic growth pathway for Australians, they will continue to fall further behind. This government is not focused on improving the living standards of Australians, and that's what Australians are now living, this data today confirms it, as every single piece of data has confirmed every step of the way. The tax landmines in this budget are exploding on the housing market, they're exploding on the Treasurer, and the real question now is, particularly after yesterday, we had the realisation that his budget now includes a birth tax, he's imposed taxes at every stage of life. The old saying is that there are only three guarantees in life: birth, death and taxes. The Treasurer seems to interpret that as now a birth tax, a death tax, and then an every stage of life tax. This government needs to change their economic priority, their economic policy, because it is not focused on the Australian people and their pathway to get ahead.

Andrew Bragg: I might just briefly comment on the story today about Dr Millane’s report into the superannuation scheme. Dr Millane tells us what we already know, which is we have a major problem in Australia that we might become a nation of retired renters, and that is not a future that we want for Australians, and the fact that Dr Chalmers has run away from having the debate on this topic tells you all you need to know about his record as the Treasurer. He is afraid to debate this great issue of public interest. I mean, we want to be a country where people in retirement own their own house. We don't want to be a country where people are retired renters. And so, for the Treasurer of the Commonwealth to run away from this debate and try and raise money off the back of it, really shows you what a small person he has become. Thank you.

[ENDS]