阿尔巴尼斯总理近日再谈住房可负担性：多重政策组合加每套新房1.5万现金奖励，加大房屋供应端以提升住房保障

随着澳洲住房危机愈演愈烈，住房可负担性成为澳大利亚政府及民众日益关切的话题。

上周，澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯（Anthony Albanese， Prime Minister of Australia） 在接受ABC澳广电台采访时表达了对澳洲住房可负担性的关切，并谈及了一系列政府旨在改善住房危机而推出或正在考虑中的政策计划，包括激励各州政府住房建设、激励私营部门“建造出租”计划以及住房密度增加考量等。

在谈到住房建设目标时，阿尔巴尼斯称，面对当前的住房短缺危机，联邦政府正在持续推进工党政策计划，从供应端入手以改善住房可负担性。

去年8月，澳大利亚联邦政府宣布其在自2024年中期起的五年内建设120万套新住房的目标，这意味着在其之前目标上再新增了20万套住房。（延伸阅读《澳洲计划五年内提供120万套新住房提高可负担性》）

与此同时，联邦政府还承诺，为计划新增的20万套住房提供总计30亿澳元的“奖励金”，即各州在为完成此前100万套新房计划下各自新房建设目标的前提下，每新建一套住房便可获得15,000澳元的“奖励金”。

阿尔巴尼斯在接受ABC澳广电台采访时强调称，上述30亿澳元的“奖励金”将在拟资助住房目标实现时才会发放。这意味着联邦政府期望各州能够进行“竞赛”式住房建设，建设速度越快者获得“奖励金”越多。

阿尔巴尼斯同时提及联邦政府对“建造出租”住房计划的激励。他称，“这将在全国范围内产生影响。我们需要联邦、州和地方各级政府与私营部门合作，以实现这一目标结果。”

图片说明：一揽子解决住房可负担性是澳洲总理阿尔巴尼斯及工党政府当下及未来几年目标和工作重心之一。

(来源： Facebook)

据仲量联行（JLL）数据，截至去年9月，澳大利亚“建造出租”公寓在建或拟建数量出现大幅增长。而MSCI Real Assets的数据显示海外投资者在该市场的表现分外活跃。（延伸阅读《澳大利亚“建造出租”市场蓬勃发展 海外投资者为重要推动力量》）

除以政策激励措施来加快住房建设外，阿尔巴尼斯还表示“应该在悉尼的某些地区增加住房密度并进行适当开发”。在此话题下，阿尔巴尼斯将“帕拉马塔路”（Parramatta Road）作为谈论案例，称该路沿途密度的增加将提高宜居性。

至此，澳洲政府为解决住房危机已推出多重措施并正在考量更多其它有效政策，而这一问题正如阿尔巴尼斯所言，尚需多方力量的合作来达成预期效果，在接受ABC澳广访谈时，阿尔巴尼斯总理亦谈及物价和减税等。

去年以来，面对通胀和持续的加息，越来越多的澳洲民众感受到生活成本上涨带来的压力。ACB News 《澳华财经在线》编辑团队留意到，阿尔巴尼斯的工党政府，目前在认证考虑各种政策选项，以切实缓解降低民众面临的生活成本高企困扰。

2024年，ACB News 《澳华财经在线》相关报道将持续跟踪关注澳大利亚房地产政策动向、市场变化及澳洲住房可负担性话题。

附：ABC 澳广对阿尔巴尼斯总理访谈原文

SARAH MACDONALD, HOST: The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, is with me in the studio on ABC Radio Sydney. Good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, great to be here.

MACDONALD: We just heard something about your electorate and that is that it could be ten tonnes of contaminated mulch at Rozelle Parklands. It's closed already, as soon as it opened. We've been covering this story. What's your response?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm shocked by these revelations and I don't understand how it can be that it wasn't foreseen.

MACDONALD: It was tested twice.

PRIME MINISTER: It's just extraordinary. The people of Rozelle and that local community were essentially given this parkland as compensation, in part for the disruption that occurred during the construction of WestConnex. That went for a long period of time. So it was, how do we have something that's lasting, a legacy that's positive? We know that kids, frankly, don't have enough parkland and ovals. All of the football teams like Balmain, particularly in both young girls and young boys playing soccer, football, just don't have enough ovals. This was seen as a plus as well as just recreational space. And the fact that it's closed is really disappointing. And I want to make sure that the appropriate authorities get on top of this really quickly, clean it up once and for all so that the people of the Inner West and others visiting can have access to this open space.

MACDONALD: Well, they've been ordered to clean it up by the 29 February. Would you like it to go much faster?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think getting it cleaned up properly needs to be the priority because people's safety is essential. So, I think that's a reasonable time frame. But they need to make sure they stick to it. They need to make sure that they can give those assurances to families. You don't want your young boy or girl playing in a playground that's risky to them. You want it to be a positive experience. And certainly the Parklands there, there's bike tracks, it's a really positive thing that has occurred, arising out of that construction activity and I just want people to have access to it as soon as possible because open space is a real priority.  

MACDONALD: Open space is important, yeah. And at the same time, we're having this huge push for more housing in Sydney and in NSW. The Premier conceding yesterday we just can't meet the targets for new housing this year under the State and the Federal Housing Accord. Are those targets you set out achievable?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes, they are, because they're targets over the decade. And Chris Minns is from a starting point, which is way behind because we haven't had appropriate planning mechanisms in place. We need to make sure that we get all different forms of affordable housing. We have our Social Housing Accelerator. NSW benefited with more than $600 million for that. This week I was with the Premier in Northmead announcing renewables going onto the roofs of social housing to make their energy bills cheaper.

MACDONALD: That's for social housing, though. But the 75,000 this year pretty much won't happen because they're only just starting to get the processes of the planning through. Will the state still get the funding though, if we don't achieve those targets?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the state funding for the targets is when it's met at the end. We put $3 billion on the table as an incentive, if you like, a bit like the way that competition payments used to work for all the states and territories to meet their targets. And I'm confident that we can work constructively with NSW to do so. There are areas of Sydney that should be subject to increased density and appropriate development. I mean, Parramatta Road for years and years and years has been spoken about. An increased density in that community will increase liveability, just like in my local community there's a great example, the old Marrickville hospital site that now has the Marrickville Library, has more open space, a coffee shop underneath, has appropriate development and housing that's quality. All private sector, but with some of it affordable, that's made a big difference.

MACDONALD: You'll be getting more in the Marrickville area of the new density that's coming for Sydney. But Paul Scully who's the Planning Minister for NSW told me yesterday that he would like some of the money from the Federal State Accord upfront for some of the infrastructure, such as the water and the sewerage and the drainage. Is he dreaming? Will you give NSW some cash up front?

PRIME MINISTER: No, we provide other funding of course for infrastructure separate for this, but we have very much that incentive. That's a national agreement as part of National Cabinet, and that is an incentive for states and territories, essentially, to be rewarded for meeting their targets. That amount of money will be carved up. If only one state wins the race to meet their targets, then that state will receive all of the funding.

MACDONALD: So it's a race?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it is a race to fix up housing in this country. We know that it's had a real impact and that's why we had measures in the Budget, including the incentive for the private sector for Build to Rent Schemes as well. Now, the Property Council estimates that that will result itself in the building of between 150 and 250,000 dwellings. That will make a difference right around the country. We need all levels of government, federal, state and local, to work together with the private sector to achieve this outcome. Because we know that for many, younger people in particular, what they say to me is the big thing they're concerned about, and parents are concerned about for their kids as well, is that they'll never be able to own a home - and part of that is about supply. Supply is the key.

MACDONALD: Well, and cost. It’s hugely expensive. Are you going to have to buy your son a house in Sydney?

PRIME MINISTER: The relationship is between supply and cost. There's a direct relationship there. We don't have enough housing and that puts upward pressure on prices which means that people can't afford to buy a house but it also puts upward pressure on rents. And that's why supply is so critical.

MACDONALD: It's twenty minutes to nine on ABC Radio Sydney. Sarah McDonald with you, with the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. The monthly fall in jobs we heard about yesterday could be good for interest rates, but it's still very expensive at the shops. The groceries are so expensive. Do you speak to the CEO of, say, Woolies and Coles about this? I know you've got Craig Emerson out on this and various inquiries, but do you give them a call?

PRIME MINISTER: I certainly have had discussions with all of the major supermarket chains.

MACDONALD: What do you say?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I say is that people expect that lower prices that they're paying for goods be passed on to consumers. What they expect is to pay the cheapest possible price at the checkout because people are doing it tough. And that's why we have a range of measures in place. There's the ACCC, and we'll have more to say about that as Gina reports back to us, the head of the ACCC. We also have Dr Craig Emerson and the work that he's doing over whether the current voluntary code of conduct needs to have an element of mandating to it. And the third is the Senate Inquiry as well, allowing people to come forward. I think for many farmers as well, who are getting less dollars for the goods that they're selling and aren't seeing that being priced on.

MACDONALD: Yes. That's $4 a kilo for lamb though, that then may be sold for $36 a kilo at the supermarket.

PRIME MINISTER: Exactly. There's something wrong there.

MACDONALD: Yeah. Do we need more sticks, less carrots?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is precisely what we are considering doing, and we'll take all of the recommendations seriously. And I've said if the ACCC asks for more powers, then my government will give it to them.

MACDONALD: You're on ABC Radio Sydney with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the studio. There are calls to stop the Stage Three Tax Cuts coming in this year. Are they definitely, absolutely, going ahead as written and planned?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course there will be tax cuts. We'll go ahead in July. We haven't changed our position. The current legislation that's been passed says that those tax cuts begin at $45,000 a year. One of the perceptions which is there is that somehow all of it is at the top end. That, of course, isn't the case.

MACDONALD: Will you modify it to be less at the top end and more towards the bottom end?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't changed our position on what has been legislated.

MACDONALD: Will you change your position?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't changed our position, I've said that very consistently the whole way through. I've used the same language the whole way through here because we think that tax cuts putting more money in people's pockets is a good thing. We have been responsible economically. We produced the first budget surplus in fifteen years and we in MYEFO, the midyear economic forecast we produced in December, also showed an improved budget position from what we anticipated in December. Now all of this is aimed at how do we provide cost of living relief to take pressure off families whilst continuing to put that downward pressure on inflation? And the figures we released this month showing inflation falling to 4.3% was good news. We need to make it fall even further, though. And we're engaged -

MACDONALD: But you're not going to change them at all?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're engaged in a war on inflation.

MACDONALD: Yes, but could they be inflationary if they're going forward.

PRIME MINISTER: Peter Dutton is engaged in a war against Woolworths it seems, and against Kmart and against other stores. It's bizarre how he thinks that inflation will be improved by having, largely one of the issues in this country is we have largely a duopoly of Woolworths and Coles, he seemingly wants it to be a monopoly. That won't do anything to help inflation or to help prices or to help the cost of living, which is the major concern that people have. So that is, our focus is on cost of living. We think that with regard to inflation and the tax cuts, that's been factored in by the Reserve Bank and by the Treasury.

MACDONALD: So they are going ahead as planned, okay. Sixteen minutes to nine on ABC Radio Sydney. We've been hearing Penny Wong, she's been in Israel and the Middle East and I asked you in October, I think it was October 8 if our support for Israel was unconditional. Since then we've had 1% of the population of Gaza die. Where do you stand on that question now?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the existence of the state of Israel is completely unconditional.

MACDONALD: No, but our support for their -

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have been very clear from day one with the resolution that was carried in the Parliament that we value every life, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian. And too many innocent people have lost their lives during this conflict by Hamas's terrorist action on October 7, and by too many innocent people in Gaza have lost their lives. There's been too many children and people who are not enemies of Israel, who don't seek the destruction of Israel, which is what Hamas's objectives are. So we need to be consistent about this, and we have been. The resolution passed by the Parliament with the support of both major parties spoke about the need for international law to be upheld, the need for every innocent life to be valued and protected. We think long term, and one of the things that Penny Wong's been stating very quickly, we don't have different messages to different groups. Our position is that we very much support -

MACDONALD: Your phone's going off. Is that Penny Wong on the phone? I’m heading home now.

PRIME MINISTER: It's Linda Burney, the Indigenous Affairs Minister.

MACDONALD: Hi, Linda Burney.

PRIME MINISTER: Hi, Linda Burney, why aren't you listening to 702?

MACDONALD: She should be.

PRIME MINISTER: Our position is very clear that we want a long term political solution here with Israelis and Palestinians able to live side by side in peace and security. And one of the things that I'm concerned about is the disruption to our harmonious society here. I don't want people to bring some of the conflict here. I think that we -

MACDONALD: Well, that's the thing, NSW is looking at hate speech and we're having a review into this.

PRIME MINISTER: As they should.

MACDONALD: There's rising sort of concern, distress, upset and antagonism in the community.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, there is rising antisemitism, we've also seen Islamophobia. And hate has no role to play here. Hate ends up in conflict and taking us into dark places. And I'm firmly of the view that part of the great Australian project is our success as a microcosm for the world. That people of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, of no faith can live side by side as they do in my local community, in harmony.

MACDONALD: Prime Minister, while I've got you here. The ABC has rejected any claim it's been influenced by external pressure in a case underway at the Fair Work Commission connected to this very program on ABC Radio Sydney. Are you worried about pressure on the ABC's independence and its complaint procedure in response to any pressure?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support very much the editorial and operational independence of the ABC. There's legal responses underway, so I certainly won't be commenting on them because that's not appropriate. But my government is a strong supporter of the ABC. We've increased our funding for the ABC and part of our cherishing of this great institution is its independence. And that's really important because at a time where -

MACDONALD: Yeah but by that, do you think that there should be, in terms of the official complaint procedures, are you happy with how they work?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a matter for the ABC, not a matter for me to do a running commentary on.

MACDONALD: I know you've got to go. You and I are not allowed to have too many personal opinions expressed in our job. We keep them very careful. I have one country music, I can't really cope. It's my kryptonite. I don't quite get it. Your thoughts briefly, before you head off?

PRIME MINISTER: I think the Tamworth Country Music Festival is one of Australia's great events. It's fantastic.

MACDONALD: You're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.

PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'm largely a rock and roll guy and an indie rock and roll guy. But a few years ago when I was the Transport Minister, I intervened to give Dolly Parton's tour the go ahead. She was going to cancel the tour, and it was worth in excess of $30 million, tickets had already been sold.

MACDONALD: What did you do?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, Dolly Parton doesn't like flying around.

MACDONALD: Right.

PRIME MINISTER: So, she has a bus that is larger than the regulations and the bureaucrats say is allowed on NSW roads and on roads in Australia. So I intervened and said, for goodness sake, surely going from A to B with Dolly Parton's bus, that I got to have a look inside. It's a bit more than a bus, she lives in there basically. It's quite luxurious, but it's longer and wider than a normal bus here. And so I intervened as the federal Transport Minister and her tour went ahead and I got to meet Dolly and to go to her gig there out at Homebush. And I've got to say, it was fantastic. She is a great entertainer. And so happy birthday, Dolly.

MACDONALD: 78 today. Thanks so much for your time. Next time, come in and take some calls.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.