April 14, 2025
JUSTIN SMITH:
The Coalition has released its tax and housing policies ahead of the federal election. For more, we've got Senator James Paterson, who is Shadow Home Affairs Minister and Liberal Senator for Victoria. Senator, thank you very much for your time.
JAMES PATERSON:
Good to be with you, Justin.
JUSTIN SMITH:
I want to ask you first up, if you don't mind this protest or rally outside of your office from the Nazis, I wanted to ask you, how are your staff feeling? Are they alright?
JAMES PATERSON:
Yeah, look, it's certainly not pleasant for my staff, and it's obviously very distressing for the local Jewish community in that part of Melbourne. But for me, it doesn't change anything. It doesn't intimidate me at all. In fact, it makes me even more determined to stand up for all Australians against extremists like this or, frankly, extremists of any type. They've just got no place in our country.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Why were they, and I don't want to get into their policies and what's going on in their heads, but why were they targeting your office?
JAMES PATERSON:
Look I suspect it's because of my strong stands on antisemitism, some of these people have targeted me online before, never in the physical world, because of my advocacy for the Jewish community and condemnation of antisemitism. And you know what's particularly offensive about it I think, is that these guys get around and call themselves patriots but you know they worship a failed foreign regime of history's worst loser, Adolf Hitler. There's nothing patriotic about that. The patriots were the people who went and fought and defeated Nazism, and we honour their memory by not allowing Nazism to rear its ugly head in our country in the modern day.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Yeah, I must admit my first thought was of your staff having to turn up to work in that kind of environment. So, I hope they're doing okay.
JAMES PATERSON:
Yeah, thank you, mate. Appreciate that.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Your new housing policy that has just been released, you've got every chance you want to talk about it if you like, but is that going to help enough people? Does it make enough of a difference?
JAMES PATERSON:
I think it will make a real difference, particularly in concert with all the other housing policies that we announced. I mean, this is a game changer for a first home buyer. If you're in the market and you want to buy a new home, then you'll be eligible to deduct five years of the interest against your mortgage, up to $650,000 of the mortgage against your tax. And for a young couple buying a home, this could be $11,000, $12,000 a year in tax back for you. So it just means you can service a loan much more easily than you otherwise would have been able to.
JUSTIN SMITH:
I guess the big criticism is this is only for new homes. What if someone is buying a, you know, a home that's 10 years old or one year old, even? They don't get anything, do they?
JAMES PATERSON:
That's right, and that's a very deliberate design feature of the policy because what we want to do is to encourage supply and the housing industry bodies have already been out and said that this will give them confidence to start building more homes and to expand supply, because the last thing we want to do, is to drive up prices any more than they already have been. And that's why it's also important that we're going to unlock supply. So we're investing $5 billion in infrastructure that unlocks 500,000 new homes over the next few years to boost that supply in the market.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Well, there is an argument from economists that there is criticism that it will drive up prices. As you've got it at the moment, it will drive prices up.
JAMES PATERSON:
I have heard that, but I really think it fails to take into account all the other policies that we're proposing, which is particularly important. We're actually trying to drive down demand in some aspects of the housing market. So we want to ban foreign investors from buying homes in Australia for two years. And we want a reduced migration by about 100,000 a year in net overseas terms. So what that means is about 100,000 homes freed up over the next few years.
JUSTIN SMITH:
So all those things will need to click into place to keep the cost down and to be of benefit to enough people. You'll need all of those things to work?
JAMES PATERSON:
I think they certainly work in concert together, along with our policies to reform the building industry, because, of course, the CFMEU has been completely out of control, especially in our home state, and that's driving up construction costs. We're going to deregister the CFMEU and introduce tough new laws to get the criminals and the corruption out of the building industry to make it more affordable. We are also going to support businesses that want to bring on new apprentices and trainees, especially in the building industries, so we've got the workers who are going to be there to support it.
JUSTIN SMITH:
There has been some criticism from the Liberal camp about activity centres, the new home areas that don't have the infrastructure set up. You've criticised the state government for that. If you're giving a benefit to people that are only buying new homes, does that not feed into that problem?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, certainly, my state colleagues have been very critical of that. And I understand why, because the state government has just dropped this on communities without any proper consultation at all in a way that would kind of fundamentally reshape some of our suburbs. But we're very pro-housing supply. It's just got to be done in a way that's supported by the community, because the last thing we need are pitched battles over apartment towers across our suburbs. What we want to do is expand supply and our housing infrastructure fund is particularly aimed at getting new housing developments, new housing estates that are sitting, waiting to go ahead, but because of the lack of a road or a water or sewerage connection or electricity connections, they're not proceeding.
JUSTIN SMITH:
I was just imagining a young couple who say, Look, we want to live in this area here, whether it's because of their work or because of their parents' need for them to be closer by, and they can't live in one of those new areas. It needs to be in the old. They are missing out here with your plan, aren't they?
JAMES PATERSON:
No, they wouldn't because, say, a new townhouse development of several units in an inner suburb would be eligible as long as it was a new build, and so would a new apartment tower in the CBD, if that's what works for them.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Yeah, but you know, James, that doesn't work out realistically, does it?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, I think it will for a lot of young people, but of course, no one policy can solve this problem for every Australian because this is a complex problem that's got a lot worse over the last couple of years, particularly with a million people coming in under this government's watch, but the housing hasn't been built to accommodate them. We're also allowing people to access their super if they choose to pay for their deposit. And actually the Home Guarantee Scheme that the government likes to talk about, which allows you to buy a home with 5% deposit and no mortgage insurance, that was a coalition government policy that is helping people get into the housing market, and that will expand and grow.
JUSTIN SMITH:
We're going to be putting this question to the other side as well this week, but what have the Liberal Party, what has the Coalition got for renters in your bag of tricks?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, I think one of the most critical things we can do for renters is take that pressure off demand. One of the reasons why rents are up 18% over the last three years is because of, particularly in inner cities and major cities, that demand, including from international students, that's just put a rocket under the market because international student numbers in Australia are up 65% over the last three years to record highs we've never seen before in our country. Some universities have about 50% of their students coming from overseas. We've promised to bring that down because that is making it harder to get a rental property.
JUSTIN SMITH:
What are the figures here, I'm sorry I haven't got them in front of me, what figures are you going for again with the international students, what's your target?
JAMES PATERSON:
So the government is proposing to bring it down by 50,000 a year, and we're proposing to bring it down by a further 30,000 a year. So that's 80,000 a year from 2023 levels, which is the last year of available data, and it's just been too out of control in the last couple of years.
JUSTIN SMITH:
That's what you've got for renters?
JAMES PATERSON:
Yes, that's one of the policies for renters, but also, our housing supply policies help renters too. If you expand the availability of housing, then you reduce the pressure on rents as well.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Alright, and the Coalition has also announced their tax policy over the weekend. That's what, $10 billion? That's going to cost? You've got the money for that?
JAMES PATERSON:
That's right. So 85% of taxpayers will get up to $1,200. That's most taxpayers earning up to a $144,000 a year in a once-off, timely, targeted, relief package because the cost of living has smashed household budgets over the last three years, about 8% worse off now than when they were three years ago, which is the worst in the OECD and the worst in Australian history. Now, that's not ongoing assistance. It wouldn't be responsible to bake that into the budget on an ongoing basis. That would make it unaffordable. But a one-year targeted measure will make a real difference.
JUSTIN SMITH:
As a Victorian Senator, it has been one of your key jobs, I would imagine, to sell Peter Dutton to Victorians. How are you going with that?
JAMES PATERSON:
Look, I'm finding Victorians increasingly receptive to Peter, particularly when they hear that he's going to cut their petrol and diesel tax by $14 every time they fill up, that he is going to provide this cost of living relief, that he has got a long-term plan to get energy under control. We're a very heavy gas-using state, to heat our homes and to provide hot water, and we're going to divert more gas into the east coast domestic market to bring those prices down. So I think Victorians are increasingly receptive, particularly when they contemplate the impact of two very bad Labor governments at the state and federal level.
JUSTIN SMITH:
You've been around in politics for a long time, Senator, as people walk into that polling booth, and they've got to warm to the idea of Peter Dutton as the next Prime Minister. Do you think Victorians are coming around to that concept, beyond the policies you just mentioned? Do you think they're warming to the concept of him as a Prime Minister?
JAMES PATERSON:
I think they are because I think they recognise that he'll be a strong leader to navigate through the very uncertain times that we're in. We've both got an uncertain economic environment with tariffs and potential global recession, and share markets crashing, and an uncertain strategic environment with the Chinese Navy circumnavigating our country and conducting live firing exercises off our coast. And what you need to navigate those times is strong leadership, not weak leadership. And one thing people know about Peter Dutton is that he is strong. He will stand up for our country, and he will always put our interests first.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Well, Senator, we thank you for your time. We're sorry about what happened on the weekend. All the best to your staff and to you. But before you go, we do need to ask you this very important question. Did you have anything to do with this? [PLAYS "LEAVING LABOR" RAP DISS TRACK] Now, the word is, James, that the Liberal Party released this rap targeting the government. I guess all's fair and love in elections, but please tell me you had nothing to do with that?
JAMES PATERSON:
I can take no credit for that. I'm not really a rap guy. I am more of an electronic dance music kind of guy, so it's not my bag.
JUSTIN SMITH:
You're more of an OMD type?
JAMES PATERSON:
That's right.
JUSTIN SMITH:
Yeah, gotcha. Thank you very much for your time, Senator.
JAMES PATERSON:
Thanks, Justin.
ENDS