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Central Coast Housing

Published on: October 2022

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-127710

Central Coast Housing

Ms LIESL TESCH (Gosford) (21:57:32):

I speak on the housing crisis on the beautiful Central Coast. The average rental on the coast is now $620 per week and many are struggling to find affordable properties. We now have over 2,000 homeless people and many people are couch surfing with friends or family. Many people who are in desperate situations have contacted my office about the severe dire straits they are in. They are struggling to rent or buy a property or get into public housing. I was informed of one local dad who has been forced to retrofit his workspace in West Gosford with beds and other living facilities to house his four children. He was a small business owner who had fallen on hard times due to COVID-19. Faced with eviction and scores of other competitors at open homes, he fell into homelessness with his kids. When he applied for housing, he was told that he would need an eviction notice from the warehouse before housing would grant his application. That is just one of the many cases in my electorate into which we have had to intervene because of our broken housing system.

Grassroots community organisations have been working hand over fist in my community to try to fix those problems. I commend the work of Women's Community Shelters and I welcome its arrival on the coast. We were devastated to hear that the Presbyterian aged-care facility in my community was being sold because it has 32 affordable housing spaces. Given the housing crisis on the coast, it was a delight to work with the new owners to ensure that those 32 affordable housing spaces stayed. Alongside Pacific Link, our community housing provider, Women's Community Shelters has also opened 16 spaces for women escaping domestic violence [DV] in our community. This "meanwhile" housing model has been absolutely essential to low-income housing owners on the coast and to women escaping DV in the absence of the New South Wales Government investing in sufficient bricks‑and‑mortar solutions.

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Liberal Government's lack of effort and action and the resultant lack of affordable housing is also impacting businesses across the coast. I thank Paula Martin, the business chamber and everyone involved in our Central Coast housing summit, which identified numerous problems and possible solutions. As businesses try to attract more workers of varying pay grades, more than 70 per cent of attendees at the forum saw housing affordability as restricting the Central Coast's ability to grow its economy. For example, health workers who want to work on the coast cannot find affordable housing. Borg, which is a fantastic local manufacturing firm, has some 50 per cent of employees who are renters. It is now struggling to attract people from outside the region and it is not alone. Clearly we need solutions from the Liberal Government and we needed them yesterday. Premier Perrottet has released another excellent proposal—not—by chucking a big new tax on home owners right across this State. Five years ago fresh-faced Treasurer Dominic Perrottet used a puff piece in to decry stamp duty. He stated:

I don't think it's fair that my generation is going to foot the bill for modern-day governments that don't live within their means.

Flash forward five years and the Government has blown out the New South Wales budget to over $180 billion in debt, and Premier Perrottet is now unveiling a forever tax on homes in the name of "generational equity". But Premier Perrottet's big new tax does the exact opposite of what he claims it stands for. Picture a young person aged 25 who has been saving up. They have worked extra shifts and saved as much as they can to finally have enough to scrape together a deposit.

Ms Felicity Wilson:

Point of order—

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr David Layzell):

Order! The Clerk will stop the clock.

Ms Felicity Wilson:

I have raised this point of order a few times during private members' statements. Under previous Speakers' rulings there is a requirement for private members' statements to be relevant to the member's electorate. The member for Gosford should return to discussions around her electorate rather than smearing attacks on the Government.

Ms LIESL TESCH:

The member for North Shore has not been listening to my contribution.

Ms Felicity Wilson:

I have been listening. If there is going to be a debate, I am happy to talk about the misrepresentations.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr David Layzell):

I am satisfied that the member for Gosford has been relevant to her electorate.

Ms LIESL TESCH:

Imagine a young person aged 25 who lives on the Central Coast has been working extra shifts, scrimping and saving as best they can until finally they have enough money to scrape together a deposit. The mortgage is for 40 years. On day one they will receive a letter in the mail from Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean asking for hundreds of dollars extra for the house they just bought. A year later, the same letter will come in the mail asking for more. Two years later, another bill will come and after three years an even more expensive bill will arrive. A decade later the bill will be larger still.

That will go on until the home owner has paid more than the stamp duty they may have paid when they first bought the property. Each year administrative costs will also be charged. Those bills keep coming even when one is forced to retire and live on the Age Pension. The tax starts when you pop the cork on the champagne and move into your new home and continues every year onwards—forever. That is the housing solution for New South Wales. Mr Perrottet and Mr Kean want to tax our homes forever. That does not solve our housing crisis on the Central Coast. It does not solve generational inequity. We need more than a forever tax to fix the housing crisis on the Central Coast.

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (22:03:15):

I want to educate the member for Gosford. She has carried out a fallacy of misrepresentation at the Government's agenda to try to introduce housing affordability and choice for younger members of the New South Wales community. The amount of misrepresentation and lack of facts that have been spewed forth in the past five minutes is incredibly disappointing. I ask members opposite what their plan is to ensure that the people of my generation and younger can get on the housing ladder. This Government represents choice for young people in New South Wales. Members opposite expect people to save for many years and spend $30,000 to $60,000 in stamp duty. That will keep people out of housing forever.

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