00:00It seems like this bill is heading for a fairly swift end in the Senate, perhaps as soon as
00:07this afternoon, because, again, the government remains unable to convince the coalition or
00:12the Greens to get on board with its shared equity scheme.
00:15It's interesting on its own, the government is pushing this bill through the parliament
00:18knowing it is likely to fail, it seems.
00:21There's probably a little bit of politics at play in that decision.
00:25This is a shared equity scheme the government's been pitching since the last election it was
00:29an election commitment, essentially it would allow the government to buy 30 to 40 percent
00:34of your home with you.
00:35If you were buying a home, the government quite literally takes a stake, the idea being
00:39to reduce the size of the deposit needed to buy that home and the size of the mortgagory
00:44payments to service that mortgage as well, leaving open the option that you can simply
00:49buy out the government at some point down the track.
00:51There are similar schemes up and running in many states around Australia, something the
00:56government has pointed to as evidence this scheme could work.
00:59But the coalition and Greens remain opposed, arguing it's not the right solution to Australia's
01:04housing problems.
01:05They, of course, have different ideas, the coalition backing its super for housing policy.
01:10The Greens saying this isn't the right idea, but they would be willing to support it if
01:14the government considered other options to things like changes to negative gearing, capital
01:19gains tax or rent caps as well, all things the government is unwilling to negotiate on.
01:25Here's the Greens Max Chandler-Mather speaking on this issue earlier this morning.
01:30What this scheme will do is deny 99.8 percent of renters access to it every year and then
01:36drive up house prices for them by flooding the private housing market with more cash.
01:41Look, we've seen Labor and the Liberal Party peddle schemes like this again and again,
01:45whether it's the first homebuyers grant or whatever it is, they clearly don't work.
01:51The government has been unwilling to negotiate, it seems, so far with either the coalition
01:55or the Greens on this particular issue.
01:58The prime minister was asked this morning what happens if this does get voted down in
02:02the Senate?
02:03Does the government stick with this policy?
02:05Does it dump it?
02:06Does it change it in some way?
02:07He says they will continue to make the case, arguing this legislation is good legislation
02:12that deserves to go through.
02:14We will continue to advocate for this.
02:18The Greens and the Liberals and the Nationals have to decide whether they are just blockers
02:24or whether they're looking for a solution.
02:27And we're at the stage in the political cycle, after two and a half years, where increasingly
02:35it would appear that the coalition and the Greens are teaming up together to block things
02:43that are just common sense reforms, that if you ask them in isolation, is this a good
02:49reform or not, they will answer yes.
02:51Well, if it's good reform, they should vote for it.
02:55Interestingly, this bill does have some support in the parliament, particularly from some
03:00independent MPs.
03:02Independent Senator David Pocock has spoken in favour of it, as have some of the Teal
03:06independent MPs in the lower house who have also advocated for this policy and asked the
03:11Greens and coalition to get behind it.
03:13Of course, that support won't be enough to really help out the government in the parliament.
03:17The arithmetic just isn't there.
03:19The Prime Minister was also asked about the possibility of using this to trigger a double
03:23dissolution election, which is a terrifying prospect for political reporters.
03:28That seems extremely unlikely, despite the fact the Prime Minister kept that door open.
03:32Given the timing, it just doesn't quite work out, given we're close enough to an election
03:36already.
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