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| State Revenue (Defence Force Concessions) Bill 2009 |
| Tuesday, 27 October 2009 | ||||||
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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [10.08 a.m.]: I lead for the Opposition on the State Revenue Legislation Amendment (Defence Force Concessions) Bill 2009. The Opposition supports the bill in its broad context. The bill will give men and women serving in the defence force access to same stamp duty and first homeowner concessions as other New South Wales residents when buying their first home. Many defence force personnel have been unable to qualify for stamp duty concessions as the nature of their job may cause them to serve overseas or interstate at short notice and they cannot commit to residing in their property for six months in the first year of purchase as required. The Opposition is pleased that this inequality is being rectified. However, I will raise a couple of concerns. When this initiative was first announced the Opposition asked the Treasurer some simple questions about how many people were likely to access this concession and the likely impact on the State budget. It was established that no modelling had been done and no-one knew what would happen. The Opposition welcomes this legislation. It is a principled stand and should be implemented to support our defence force personnel. However, the process is an example of the culture of decision-making in this State. That is the crux of the Opposition's concern. The member for Port Stephens will address the impact of stamp duty and its rate of increase relative to property values. I share his concerns about those issues. However, we must examine the fact that the Government made an announcement without doing any basic analysis. The object of the bill is to amend the First Home Owner Grant Act 2000 to allow a grant, similar to the first home owner grant, to be paid to members of the Australian Defence Force who are first home owners but who do not comply with the residence requirement for the first home owner grant. The new grant will be called the Australian Defence Force Home Buyers Grant. Schedule 1 [3] states that the amount of the grant will be the same value as the first home owner grant and the first home owner boost. Schedule 1 [3] also states that the amendment applies only to permanent members of the Defence Force and not to members of the reserves. Schedule 2 amends the Duties Act 1997 to provide for a similar concession to the First Home Plus Scheme, which is an exemption from or reduction in duty payable on the purchase of a first home or block of land for a first home for members of the Defence Force. That makes sense. We must examine the process and how it was announced. The Treasurer referred to this measure during the estimates committee hearings and proudly said that New South Wales was leading the nation with these changes. The Opposition is happy for him to lead the nation with these sorts of changes. Indeed, we would be happy if New South Wales were leading the country with the lowest unemployment rate and the highest growth rate. Sadly, that is not the case. We would also be happy if our businesses had the highest confidence in the country. However, again, not only is that not the case but this State's businesses have the lowest confidence and amongst the lowest growth and highest unemployment rates in the past 10 years in this country. The Government had no idea of the impact of this legislation on the State budget or how many people would access the grant. Questions were asked about the scheme and we were told that no modelling or research had been done. That is an example of how this Government makes decisions. It is a good announcement, but any announcement must be made only after a due diligence process has been pursued. The lack of such processes is the reason this State is in an invidious position with regard to the CBD metro. This is a very serious issue. Governments cannot announce an initiative simply because it is a good idea. This initiative is a good idea, but such ideas must be subjected to analysis and research about their impact on the budget. When the Premier announced the CBD metro he said that the Government and the people involved in it did not know what it would cost. Making announcements without undertaking research and analysis and understanding the full potential impact on the budget is a serious problem. That sort of approach by this Government is the reason this State is in the position it is. That is the golden nugget in understanding this State's plight; it demonstrates how decisions are made in this State. If governments do not do the research and analyses, they go around in circles and plunge the budget deep into the red—that is what we are facing in this State—and there is no credible path back to a healthy balance sheet. That is what this announcement has demonstrated. Notwithstanding the positive side of this measure, the Government had no understanding of its impact on the budget. The Opposition calls on the Treasurer to include Treasury in every decision to ensure that we know the impact of every initiative on the budget and whether we can afford it. That process should be applied to every decision. While the Treasurer could not answer the question about the cost of this measure, in answer to a question with notice provided after the estimates committee hearing he stated that it is estimated that about 120 defence force personnel are likely to be first home buyers this year. That is based on the assumption that the Defence Force has the same proportion of first home buyers as there is in the New South Wales labour force. That represents between $2 million and $3 million, depending on the concessions. The Opposition supports this policy, but it would be remiss of us not to make the point that the decision-making culture of the Rees Government must change. It must analyse all initiatives before it makes announcements that it believes will be popular and will work on the evening news. This State deserves much better than that. As I said, the Opposition acknowledges that this legislation should be implemented. Our defence force personnel deserve this support and they should not be penalised for serving their country. They are dragged away from home and as a result do not qualify for these concessions. Members on this side of the House are pleased that this bill will enable them to get the same level of assistance that other men and women in New South Wales receive when purchasing their first home. I urge the Treasurer to ensure that the necessary analysis is undertaken in respect of all announcements in which he is involved from this day forward and that attention is given not only to leading the nation in measures such as this but also in respect of business confidence, the unemployment rate and economic growth. If he were to pursue those goals, this State would be much better off. Add to: Write Comment
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