MATT “MACCA” MACCARTHY, HOST:

Tim Ayres is here this morning. Tim, how are you?

SENATOR TIM AYRES:

Oh, Macca, good morning. It's good to be on the show. Sounds like pretty hard work on a bike out there. It’s been pretty wet in Sydney. I don't know what it's like there.

MACCA:

Certainly, you’ve had all of the rain in the last 24 hours. The only cycling I'm interested in is motorcycling with 1340 cc's or more, so they've got that one on their own, I think particularly coming into the winter Tim, fair bit going on at the moment, obviously Albo in a bit of damage control over the last couple of days, sound like things are settled in. He's starting to make some student funding announcements this morning, so he's back in front of the camera.

SENATOR AYRES:

This is a very significant announcement ahead of the budget whereas the Prime Minister's said, and the Treasurer has indicated, our primary focus as a government is about dealing with the cost-of-living and there are millions of Australians who have HECS debts. The HECS system is a good system. It has supported our growing higher education sector and supports equity in higher education. But the indexation system has been identified as being unfair. So, we've fixed the indexation system so students will be charged either the CPI or the wage index, whichever is the lower backdated to last year. There was a big hit for HECS payers last year when inflation in the previous year went to 7.2%. We're backdate in that change. It means for the average HECS payer, it's several thousand less. That means less payments over a shorter time. It takes some of the pressure off for young people, particularly young students and young students who have got a debt either through university or through TAFE.

MACCA:

Yeah, there we go. So, let's hope that some of that money heads our way. I'll tell you what, speaking of affordability, and we'll get on back onto the subject of education, as the money has been granted locally and quite a bit of money for Manilla School, which we'll talk about. Just on the subject of affordability, raising Job Seeker and related payments over the poverty line. This is basically people that are struggling to get work at the moment, little bit of a crisis in that situation, but also a housing crisis as far as affordable homes are concerned. What's the government up to then?

SENATOR AYRES:

As we've indicated, we are having a look at the Job Seeker rate in every budget, and making a careful decision based upon what the budget can afford to do the very best that we can. Now announcements about Job Seeker rate and those levels of payments aren't going to be made by me today on your station Macca, but will be made in the budget itself. But we are absolutely attuned to the position that lower income Australians are in, and we made significant increases to the Job Seeker payments and payments like Commonwealth Rent Assistance, which got its biggest uplift in a generation in last year's Budget. Obviously, this year's Budget we are focused on two things: doing what we can to support low- and middle-income Australians to make sure that we're dealing with the cost-of-living, but also, we're focused on making sure the budget itself isn't inflationary. The Budget puts downward pressure on the cost-of-living so we have been weighing those questions up, the Treasurer will have more to say in the lead up to and on Budget night on that question, but we absolutely get it. We've made significant progress on inflation, significant progress on the cost of living. The battle is not over yet, and that is going to mean continued focus on those issues.

MACCA:

Not sure if you're aware of our numbers here, Senator, but the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute is showing that we have a shortfall of 4300 social and affordable rentals across New England and Northwest, and by 2036 the number is actually expected to grow to five and a half thousand. So doesn't sound like the gap is closing with affordability and serviceability or even housing at the moment but setting to get bigger.

SENATOR AYRES:

I saw those figures and they don't surprise me Macca. Housing shortages and housing affordability are not just issues for the big cities, they are issues for regional Australia as well. We can do that the work that I just referred to, increases in Commonwealth Rent Assistance. That is all very important, and it's been very welcome for people who are in receipt of those payments. In the end the work that is going to make a difference in housing affordability, of course is about housing supply, building more homes. The government has put the Housing Affordability Future Fund through the parliament, that is $10 billion that is there for building the stock of housing and supporting the work of the states and the private sector, building private housing, and building social and affordable housing as well. This is an enormous challenge. It is a shared challenge. The Commonwealth is out there working with the states and with the private sector to put energy and impact there behind the building of new homes and new housing supply. It is hard work. We're not out there pointing fingers at the different levels of government, we are there working with the different levels of government on planning reform, on making sure that more land is opened up for housing. It is hard work, it is going to require not just months and months of focus, but years and years of focus from the Federal government. We had the first meeting of Housing Ministers in more than five years, the previous government didn't get the State Housing Ministers together and didn't focus on this issue. The housing minister has convened them I think six times since we were elected, making sure we are working together, making sure we're keeping focus on these issues. But as I say Macca, a lot of hard work ahead on this front.

MACCA:

$10 billion, I'm just doing some quick maths as an ex-real estate agent, that's around 20,000 homes for our region alone to be 5000. Down. You're talking for reasons we might be able to help with $10 billion. Is it enough money, it sounds like a lot of money, but at $500,000 a home? Tim you've got 20,000 new homes out there. Fair enough. But if one region is 5000 short, you haven't covered New South Wales?

SENATOR AYRES:

It is a lot of money. There are other programs there that add up even further than that. That fund, the $10 billion, is there for co-contributions into private and public sector housing projects. It is there designed to lever up the amount of capital that's available for housing projects, to co-invest, whether it's with the private sector investment, or with the State Government agencies who are building homes. It is a contribution. It is not the only thing, and it just underscores Macca that this is an enormous job. It requires real focus from a government that's actually committed to it. You hear some of these people from the opposition who suddenly discovered there's a housing crisis when they left government. It's a new thing, according to some of these people. This is the accumulation of many years, of inaction on housing and on housing supply. It is going to require many years of effort to get it back. There are people right now who are struggling in regional areas and in the big cities, you know, the queue for rental housing is very challenging for people.

MACCA:

What about the government as far as, Tim, perpetual land title or Crown land? I know there's a couple of our local politicians in particular have started to do some work, particularly with indigenous communities on affordable housing. Surely, the Government has got a fair bit of land out there on perpetual lease titles, or Crown land that might be able to help this housing situation and at the moment it's not being used.

SENATOR AYRES:

As I understand it, I'll check in about this, but there has been an audit and there are periodic audits of the availability of public land. Some of this is held at the state level, but there may well be opportunities for freeing up some of that land. There is rezoning, of course, particularly on the edges of country towns, and in Western Sydney in particular, there's a lot of activity around rezoning and planning reform to make sure there's more land available for housing. This is not one of those problems where there is one policy answer that is just going to fix that right up. I hate this phrase Mecca, but it's multifaceted. There are many things that need to be improved to improve the stock of housing, at many levels of government. Traditionally, this has been dealt with at the state and local government level, but the Commonwealth is here providing funding and using our leverage as the Commonwealth Government to bring people together, it's the private sector, and a number of those community organizations as well that have been engaged in particularly low-income housing provision. We've all got to work together. That's the point here, it's not going to be easy, but you've got to start we've got a big bold policy agenda here, where we're getting through it. But nobody's pretending that you go from nought to a million homes in five minutes. It is the work of many years of activity and we're not going to pretend that it's any different speaking.

MACCA:

Speaking of a million dollars, $1,000,000 for Manilla School. This is very exciting stuff. We've only got a minute to the news if you just give us a quick rundown this is going to go a long way for a little school out in Manilla.

SENATOR AYRES:

A $1,000,000 in Manilla. I went to a country school; I know how important these schools are. I know how rundown facilities get. I'm really proud of this contribution, I hope it makes a difference for kids and families and the staff there and I really want to congratulate them on this. They've all done a lot of work to make this happen and I'm just really proud that the Albanese Government has been able to stump up with the cash that's required to make it work.

MACCA:

Thank you very much. Senator Tim Ayres. Appreciate the yarn today. We'll get a Troy Cassar- Daley song for you on after the news, I believe “Some Days.” This one's only been on YouTube for about three days, so you're onto it.

SENATOR AYRES:

It's a brand-new song. I mentioned Troy in my first speech. He is a fantastic Australian country music artist and I'm delighted that his new single will get around your show.

MACCA:

Good on your mate. Once again, thank you from Manilla for the million bucks from the Federal Government. We'll talk to you next week.

ENDS.