Master Builders Australia and the Property Council of Australia have both welcomed the Federal Opposition’s plan to rebuild the economy, as outlined in Anthony Albanese’s Budget Reply Speech.
“A strong pipeline of building and construction work is vital to building our way of out recession and we acknowledge the Opposition’s policy to invest in the building of new social housing and in the maintenance of current stock,” Master Builders Australia CEO, Denita Wawn said.
“This is an important policy, which, as the Shadow Minister for Housing acknowledges, is the shared responsibility of Australian governments.
Ms Wawn was heartened that the Opposition recognised the building industry “must be supported to be at the centre of the recovery,” noting Mr Albanese’s historical support of the industry.
“The Opposition Leader has always been one of the nation’s strongest advocates for the construction of productivity boosting infrastructure and we commend him for his continuing commitment to this policy,” she said.
“The leadership the Opposition Leader has shown to ensure bipartisan support for bringing forward personal income tax cuts and measures to encourage business investment is recognised by Master Builders Australia.”
The Property Council of Australia also welcomed several policy markers flagged in the Opposition Leader’s Budget Reply speech, while seeking clarification on the ALP’s negative gearing and capital gains tax policies.
“Australia faces some huge challenges in recovering from the impact of COVID-19,” Property Council of Australia Chief Executive Officer, Ken Morrison said.
“It’s imperative that all sides of politics and across all levels of government are strongly focused on dealing with the immediate and longer term economic and social impacts of COVID-19.
“As such, Labor’s support for the Government’s personal income tax cuts and incentives for business investment and job creation are to be strongly welcomed.”
The Property Council also acknowledged Labor’s continued support for housing construction as a vehicle for economic recovery.
“Labor’s proposal to invest $500 million in repairs and maintenance would help stimulate economic activity fast,” Mr Morrison explained.
“There is also an opportunity to do much more to encourage more private sector involvement in the delivery of affordable housing at scale by leveraging taxation settings to encourage more private and institutional investment.
“As Australia’s biggest industry and employer, the property industry will do a lot of the heavy lifting in getting the Australian economy growing again as well as meeting the housing needs for all Australians.”
However, Mr Morrison also indicated he wished to know the fate of Labor’s negative gearing policy.
“If Labor is serious about supporting jobs in housing construction, it would finally put its negative gearing and capital gains tax policies to rest,” he said.
“The most comprehensive analysis of the policies by Deloitte Access Economics showed these would have been a jobs and economy killer.
“Far from encouraging new construction, it would have delivered a $766 million drop to construction activity, cost 7800 construction jobs and shaved $1.5 billion off GDP. Deloitte Access Economics said these outcomes would be worse in an economic downturn.
“It was the wrong policy in 2019, and it would be disastrous coming out of this recession,” Mr Morrison concluded.
