MEDIA STATEMENT
4 August 2026
When I was on the tools as a tradie, if someone’s trade skills were somewhat lacking, the vernacular expression was “they wouldn’t know s##t from clay”. Enter the Albanese Government.
For nearly four decades I have worked in Australia’s building and construction industry.
I started my carpentry apprenticeship in 1987, ran my own small building business. I remain a registered builder. I then later spent 16 years working as a construction law barrister.
I know how housing markets work because I have spent my working life in them.
That is why it is so frustrating to watch Labor get housing so badly wrong.
Australians were promised greater affordability. Instead, we have fewer homes being built, higher rents, falling confidence and growing uncertainty for families trying to buy, build or invest.
Recent reports showing significant falls in housing values should concern every Australian homeowner, particularly those who have only recently entered the market with very small deposits.
The greatest risk is for first home buyers who entered Labor’s uncapped expanded 5 per cent deposit scheme with very little equity. If property values continue to fall, many will find themselves in negative equity, owing more on their mortgage than their home is worth.
That is not helping young Australians into home ownership. It is exposing them to greater financial risk.
Labor dramatically expanded this scheme while taxpayers now currently carry an estimated $11 billion in guaranteed housing liabilities. At the same time, the Government has introduced housing tax changes (when they promised they wouldn’t) that have weakened confidence, discouraged investment and made it harder to deliver the additional housing supply Australia desperately needs.
The Coalition warned Labor that pumping more demand into a market already suffering from chronic supply shortages would not solve the housing crisis. It would simply place further upward pressure on prices while increasing the financial exposure of first home buyers.
Unfortunately, those warnings are now being borne out.
Housing cannot be fixed by clever announcements or bigger taxpayer-backed guarantees.
It is built by tradies, apprentices, small builders, developers and investors who have confidence to get projects underway.
When governments undermine that confidence, investment slows, projects are delayed and fewer homes are built.
As someone who has spent his career in construction, I know there is no shortcut around supply.
We need policies that encourage investment, reduce unnecessary costs, cut red tape and make it easier to build more homes.
Instead, Labor has chosen policies that have damaged confidence at precisely the time Australia needed certainty and Australian homeowners are paying the price in falling house values.
Australians are also facing the prospect of paying more capital gains tax under Labor’s changes, reducing incentives for investment and making it even harder to grow the housing stock our country desperately needs.
Australia deserves better.
A Coalition Government led by Angus Taylor will scrap Labor’s toxic housing taxes, restore confidence, link migration to available housing supply, support the construction sector, drastically reduce housing red tape and invest in civil infrastructure to get more homes out of the ground.
The choice at the next federal election is clear.
Australians can continue down Labor’s path of higher taxes, weaker confidence and fewer homes, or they can choose a Coalition Government with a practical plan to restore affordability, rebuild confidence, protect aspiration and restore our standard of living.
[ENDS]
Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
