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A blunder from the Treasury has resulted in information around the 1.2 million housing target and federal budget shortfalls landing in the hands of ABC News journalists.
According to the documents, the Treasury admitted that the ambitious goal of building 1.2 million new homes by 2029 “will not be met”.
It also revealed that a revised target would allow for a “coherent and well-prioritised” housing agenda.
There was an identified disconnect between the government and Housing Australia that is impacting the effectiveness of the Housing Accord.
Challenges have arisen due to the “responsiveness … capability … [and] speed” of the agency.
The documents said the relationship between the government and Housing Australia needs to be “reset” to help improve capabilities.
As revealed by ABC News, in order for the government to make good on the promises made in its federal budget, taxes would need to be raised and spending cut.
The taxes were reportedly not explicitly revealed, but alluded to. “Indirect taxes” and “superannuation tax” were highlighted as a means of making budget commitments.
The “ambitious” housing target was announced in 2023. Since its establishment on 1 July 2024, figures have consistently fallen short.
While progress has been made, recent estimates revealed the target would fall short by 20 per cent at its current rate.
Construction costs, tradie shortages, and the complexity of development approval processes are all impacting the effectiveness of the government’s Housing Accord.
With the Treasury recognising that the target won’t be met without additional funding, there are only two options: abandon the target or raise taxes.
The government is hosting the Economic Reform Roundtable from 19–20 August. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has made it clear that he wants to use this platform to address the Australian tax system.
At a press conference yesterday (14 July), Chalmers wasn’t concerned about the release of the Treasury documents and said “that sort of thing happens from time to time”.
He also admitted that more needs to be done to reach the target and there will be a continued effort to do so.
“We’re investing 10s of billions of dollars. We’re working well with the states and territories and local governments. We’re engaging with the industry. We’re trying to get the capital flowing, [and] I’ve changed the tax arrangements for build to rent. There are a whole range of things that we’re doing and that Claire [O’Neil] is doing, which will make an important contribution to achieving that target, but we’ll need to do better, and we’ll need to do more,” Chalmers said.
Chalmers still has hope that over the next four years, the target can be met through a concerted effort.
The unintentional leaking of budget shortfalls occurred after ABC News made a Freedom of Information request to the Treasury, in which it accidentally included an incoming government brief, meant for department ministers. Included was information on the shortfalls of the budget.
“Treasury asked that the document be deleted after realising the error, but the ABC has decided to publish it because it provides a rare insight into how top advisers view the major economic and policy challenges facing the Albanese government as it begins its second term in power, and so is in the public interest,” said ABC News.
This article was first published on REB’s sister publication, Broker Daily.
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