Latest news with #ClareO'Neil
West Australian
14-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Jim Chalmers doubles down after Treasury advice revealed Albanese Government can't meet 1.2m housing target
The Government will not meet its 1.2 million homes target and cannot fix the budget without raising taxes and cutting spending, according to leaked advice from Treasury bureaucrats. In advice released by mistake in a freedom of information request, the Treasurer's department warned in its post-election ministerial briefing the target to build 1.2 million by mid-2029 'would not be met' and suggested changing it. The briefing offered ministers options to speed up housing construction and better leverage existing grants to States, identified a 'dysfunctional' funding model for infrastructure such as water and sewerage connections, and said there were challenges with the responsiveness, capability and speed of key agency Housing Australia. It also advised 'tax should be raised as part of a broader tax reform' and 'improvements to the budget will need to come from economic growth, additional revenue and spending reductions'. Another crackdown on superannuation tax breaks for wealthy Australians was suggested. The information was released to the ABC, which was asked to delete the document released under freedom of information laws after it realised it had not blacked out several headings and subheadings from redacted sections. The ABC said it decided to publish details because they provide insight into the department's thinking of key economic issues facing Australia. Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday said he was 'pretty relaxed' about the accidental release of the document, which also canvassed tax reform and global economic volatility. 'The point that the incoming government brief makes is the same point that I've been making (Housing Minister) Clare O'Neil and others have been making, is that we will need more effort to reach that substantial, ambitious housing target,' he said. 'We're investing tens 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. I've changed the tax arrangements for build-to-rent… but we'll need to do better, and we'll need to do more. And the advice just reflects that.' Master Builders Australia estimates, based on housing approvals figures from May, that the nation will build just over a million homes by mid-2029 at the current construction rate. This falls short of the target by almost 160,000 homes, or 13.3 per cent. In WA, Master Builders estimates more than 125,000 homes will be built over that time, falling short of the State's share of the target by 3.4 per cent. Dr Chalmers insisted the target could still be met and said it wasn't a mistake to aim so high. 'We'd rather have a big, ambitious, difficult target, and work around the clock to meet it in all of the ways that I've run through today, than to continue the approach of our predecessors, which was to build too few homes,' he said. 'It's not the worst thing from time to time for it to be understood in the broader community that this will be a difficult target to meet, but if we all do our bit, we all play our part … then we can build the homes that people desperately need.'
West Australian
08-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Australian news and politics live: Labor focused on cost-of-living relief after RBA decision to hold rates
Scroll down for the latest news and updates. US President Donald Trump has indicated a potential 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals, which are among Australia's largest exports to the US. However, he said manufacturers would be given time to relocate production to America to avoid the tariff. The US president also mentioned that copper could face a 50 per cent tariff. Speaking to reporters before a cabinet meeting, Mr Trump said drug manufacturers would receive a grace period to move their operations to the US. 'We're going to give (drug manufacturers) about a year, a year and a half to come in, and after that, they're going to be tariffed,' he said. Read the full story here. As digital payments rise, Australia plans to mandate cash acceptance for essential goods and services starting in 2026. Currently, businesses can refuse cash, but that will soon change. It comes as the New Zealand First party introduced a bill requiring businesses to accept cash payments for purchases under NZ$500. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil says 'that's something that the Government is actually looking at at the moment. The Treasurer announced we're going to mandate that businesses across the country for essential goods and services do need to continue to accept cash,' while speaking to Sunrise. 'The Government absolutely recognises for lots of Australians it's important to them. We see a lot of elderly people who for them cash is their mainstay.' 'It's important we operate in an economy where people have choices. We're looking at the exact implementation of this at the moment. We think cash is actually still really important.' Housing Minister Clare O'Neil has acknowledged the disappointment felt by millions of Australians after the Reserve Bank's surprise decision to keep interest rates on hold at 3.85 per cent. 'Millions of Australians were hoping for a rate cut yesterday and as you say, that is very much what all of were predicting. But the RBA has chosen to keep rates on hold. What the RBA told us yesterday is this is about pace not direction. The RBA has already cut interest rates twice this year and kind of indicating that they want to keep moving on that but they're being very cautious,' she told Sunrise on Wednesday. Ms O'Neil stressed that the government's main focus remains easing cost-of-living pressures, highlighting new supports like increased childcare benefits, bill supplements, and wage rises for minimum wage earners. She added, 'It shows we're over the worst of the cost of living issues facing the country but we've still got a long way to go. The Government is firmly focused on that task.' 'I want my community and people around the country not to be struggling in the way they are, so of course I was hoping for an interest rate decrease from the Reserve Bank, but we are very respectful of the independence of this institution. There's a good reason we don't put politicians in charge of setting interest rates.'
Perth Now
02-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Major update on Labor's $10bn housing plan
Labor has rubber-stamped funding for 5001 new social homes across every state and territory set to be built under it flagship Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), despite criticisms the $10bn fund has yet to build any new homes. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil will confirm on Thursday that more than 18,000 homes are now under the construction or planning using funding from the HAFF, with Labor targeting the creation of 55,000 social and affordable homes by June 30, 2029. Of the 55,000 homes, the HAFF, which offer loans and grants to incentivise developers to build social and affordable housing, will contribute 40,000 dwellings. The latest round of funding is set to deliver an extra 5001 homes with 1535 earmarked for NSW, 1275 in Victoria, and 1005 in Queensland. Investment is also expected to build 515 homes in Western Australia, 149 Tasmania, 335 in South Australia and 187 across the ACT and Northern Territory. More than 18,000 homes funded through the HAFF are currently under planning or construction. NewsWire / Gaye Gerard Credit: NewsWire The fund has been criticised for having yet to deliver any purpose-built homes since it was established on November 1, 2023, with former opposition leader Peter Dutton threatening to scrap the policy if the Coalition claimed government. As it stands, 370 homes have been delivered through the HAFF through instances of developers releasing more homes onto the market, or the purchasing or conversion of homes into affordable or social stock. Lagging construction times for homes are also an issue. Across Australia it takes an average of 10.3 months to build a detached house from commencement to completion, with townhouses taking 12.9 months and build times for an apartment stretching out to 27.8 months, according to ABS figures from October 2024. However fresh figures released on Wednesday found housing approvals had increased by 3.2 per cent to 15,212 in May, however the pipeline still puts Australia behind the ambitious 1.2 million National Housing Accord target. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil said the HAFF was 'hitting its stride'. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Ms O'Neil welcomed the speedy approvals of the 5001 homes, and said the program was 'hitting its stride'. 'Every one of these homes represents hope for a family doing it tough – whether it's a mum escaping violence, a veteran needing somewhere safe, or a nurse priced out of her own community,' she said. 'This round was progressed much faster than previous rounds with more than 18,000 homes now in stages of building and planning, a clear sign that the HAFF is hitting its stride. 'We're creating a pipeline of homes that will make a difference for decades.' In NSW, where $1.2bn of funding has been committed across 14 projects, state Housing Minister Rose Jackson said dwellings will give 'thousands of people the stability and dignity they deserve'. 'In just one year, we've delivered the biggest increase in public, social and affordable housing for NSW in over a decade – this new funding means we can build even more,' she said.
West Australian
02-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Housing approvals in WA drop by 7.5 per cent and put the State's ambitious new homes goal at risk
Housing approvals dropped by 7.5 per cent in WA in May, putting them at higher than a year ago but the sluggish numbers mean the State is not on track to build enough houses to meet its target and win extra cash from the Federal Government. The Commonwealth has put bonus funding on the table for States that meet their share of the 1.2 million new homes five-year housing accord target. Nationally, building approvals grew by 3.2 per cent in May, but this was mainly driven by strong growth in Victoria and NSW, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed. Approvals in WA dropped 7.5 per cent from a month earlier. Federal Housing Minister Clare O'Neil saw green shoots in the data, with her office saying momentum was building nationally towards the targets. 'These positive trends show we're on the right track, but we'll keep doing the hard work so more Australians have access to affordable, secure housing,' a spokesperson from her office said. But shadow minister Andrew Bragg said the improvement was 'marginal'. The Property Council estimates WA will fall about 9.4 per cent short of its target to build about 129,700 new homes by mid-2029 if current building trends continue. Separate forecasts from the Master Builders show the State will be 3.4 per cent shy of its target – although this would drop to about 12 per cent below if building approval rates don't pick up. Master Builders WA chief executive Matt Stanton said the State was among the closest in the country to meeting its housing target. But a hurdle is Perth's long cultural and lifestyle attachment to lower-density living, with apartments and townhouses playing little role in the city's development. 'If we're going to meet demand on housing supply with the fastest growing population of any state and also an economy that's firing pretty close to on-all-cylinders, then we do need a higher and medium density construction … to make up a greater part of new developments moving forward,' he said. Property Council WA chief executive Nicola Brischetto said approvals too often didn't translate into building actually starting, so the data tended to be a bit volatile. 'The biggest barriers are the availability of builders, cost of construction, and the economic viability of many apartment projects,' she said. 'Workforce continues to be the biggest challenge … It's the physically being able to get stuff done, but also, when you've got a constrained labour market, that will put pressure on prices and drive costs up.' Ms Brischetto commended the WA Government for having concentrated heavily on easing workforce shortages but said now there also needed to be a focus on boosting productivity, through using more pre-fabricated and modular construction or adopting AI for scheduling and ordering.
7NEWS
01-07-2025
- 7NEWS
Clare O'Neil fights tears as she speaks of her own ‘panic' on news of allegations at Melbourne childcare centre
Federal Housing Minister Clare O'Neil fought back tears as she spoke of her own 'panicked' response to the alleged child sexual abuse that occurred at a daycare centre in Melbourne. Childcare worker Joshua Brown, 26, was arrested over charges related to eight victims who attended a Point Cook childcare centre between April 2022 and January 2023. Melbourne-based O'Neil, whose young children attend childcare centres in Victoria, said she was left 'panicked' herself as she scanned list of childcare centres involved in the incidents. 'Can I first say I am a parent of a child in childcare in Victoria, and this has been enormously upsetting news for all of us here,' she told Sunrise on Wednesday. 'We take so much care of our children and then to place your trust in an institution and have it betrayed in this way, it is just awful.' The alleged victims are aged between five months and two-years-old, and the charges include sexual penetration of a child under 12, sexual assault of a child under 16, producing child abuse material and possessing child abuse material. Due to the nature of the alleged offending, around 1200 children have been recommended for screening for infectious diseases. 'I just want to say to Victorian parents, we stand with you as you are trying to process this.' As the news broke, O'Neil spoke of her own distress. 'I was so panicked yesterday, looking on that list to see if any of my kids have been affected in any of these centres. '(I know) thousands of parents around Victoria having to go through these discussions with their children, that we would never want a parent to have to talk to a child about, so I just say from a human perspective, this is absolutely awful.' O'Neil explained there would be a 'very fierce' and 'appropriate discussion' about what needs to be done to ensure this never happens again. A national watchdog for childcare centres has been suggested. 'You won't find this being politicised,' O'Neil said. 'Every politician, every leader, every regulator in a country will be poring over this case to see how things could have been done differently. '(Federal) minister Jason Clare has made a statement yesterday pointing some things that have been happening across the Commonwealth and the state. 'But please, for the public to understand that we are desperately concerned about what has happened here and will be looking at every step that we can to try to address the situation.' Parents need reassurance Senator Bridget McKenzie was equally upset. 'I was reading those stories, and I am just so thankful my kids are through childcare, and I can imagine what it would be like,' McKenzie said. 'Childhood needs to be innocent, needs to be enjoyed, and to have those conversations, I just can't imagine it. 'It is horrific, these monsters need to be identified, they need to be locked up. 'Parents need to have confidence in our childcare system that their children will be safe from these types of predators. 'So, absolutely back the calls for a review of the safeguards, and I know that as Clare said, everyone on all sides of politics will want to be getting measures in place to absolutely get this sort of behaviour out of our childcare centres and society, more generally.'
