How will the major parties make housing more affordable? What is this government and Labor going to do to improve our relations with China? We answer readers’ questions on policy in this election.
We asked you what you wanted to know about the federal election and you let us know.
Our inbox has been flooded with responses to our callout, with queries on everything from China relations to climate policy, COVID-19 management and housing affordability – as well as private school funding and whether Labor leader Anthony Albanese has a plan for a vote on a republic.
Here, our reporters answer some of the more frequently asked questions.
Credit:Artwork Kathleen Adele
How will the major parties make housing more affordable?
Neither party has a policy to make housing more affordable. Both have programs to help first-home buyers get into the property market, although experts warn that increasing demand without increasing the supply of new housing could put upward pressure on housing prices.
The Coalition’s Home Guarantee Scheme lets 35,000 first-home buyers purchase a home with a low deposit. There are 10,000 places for regional buyers and 5000 for single parents.
Labor will match this and also offer Help to Buy, a shared-equity scheme for 10,000 households that have a low deposit. The government will contribute up to 40 per cent of the purchase price.
Only the Coalition will let first-home buyers withdraw cash from superannuation to put towards their deposit – up to 40 per cent of their super, up to a maximum of $50,000.
The major parties will not change tax concessions for property investors such as negative gearing tax breaks or the capital gains tax discount.
The major parties will not change tax concessions for property investors, such as negative gearing tax breaks or the capital gains tax discount. The Greens would limit negative gearing arrangements to one investment property.
Neither major party will increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
The Coalition has pledged an extra $2 billion of low-cost financing for social and affordable homes while Labor promises a $10-billion future fund for social and affordable housing. Experts say neither is enough.
– Elizabeth Redman
Scott Morrison repeatedly claims that Australia leads the world in managing the pandemic. How can he make that claim?
Comparing countries in such a fast-moving crisis that demands different responses at different moments is far from an exact science. But for the first year or so of the pandemic, Australia’s response was considered by experts to be near the top of the pack (although not number one, which research groups such as the Lowy Institute gave to countries such as New Zealand and Singapore).
As an island continent, Australia managed to keep cases low for a long time with less damage to the economy than many other OECD countries and, after some high-profile stumbles, our double-dose vaccination rate accelerated past many early success stories such as Britain and the United States, to become one of the highest in the world.
Experts stress that much of our early success was due to the states running their own shows and adjusting restrictions as needed (and stepping in to help speed up the Commonwealth’s vaccine rollout, which lagged months behind schedule in the aged care and disability sectors).
But in 2022, with the more infectious Omicron variant on the loose, the death toll rising and booster shot and children’s vaccine uptake still relatively low, Australia has tumbled in the rankings (and risen instead into the world’s top 20 caseload tallies). If we were close to world-leading, experts say, we are not any more.
– Sherryn Groch
What is this government and Labor going to do to improve our relations with China?
Neither the Coalition nor Labor will do anything drastically different to improve the relationship with China after May 21. This is because both sides believe “China has changed” and it is up to Beijing to deliver meaningful overtures to repair the relationship.
As long as China is still imposing more than $20 billion of trade strikes on Australia and refuses to engage in contact at the ministerial or leader level, we can’t expect much change from Canberra. And that will be the advice to a Labor or Coalition government from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
This is not to say nothing will change. Labor may benefit by virtue of the fact it is a new government. Like the Coalition, Labor’s senior ministers – particularly the trade minister, given the trade disputes – would be expected to reach out to their Chinese counterpart shortly after the election to see if they are prepared to engage in dialogue.
Beijing may be in the mood to talk to a new Labor government after more than two years of not returning the calls of Coalition ministers. This is because we are seeing throughout the world that Beijing has pulled back its “wolf warrior” approach to diplomacy in recent months in favour of a more subtle approach. The test for Labor would be how to handle the Chinese government if it returned the phone call.
– Anthony Galloway
Can we have a comparison of climate change policies?
Though neither major party has sought to make climate central to their pitch to voters, both have significant – and significantly different – climate policies. Both promise to reach net zero by 2050 – but Labor plans to get there faster, promising to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 compared with the Coalition’s promise of between 26 and 28 per cent.
In broad terms, Labor plans to get there by spending $20 billion to rebuild the electricity grid so it can take on more renewable energy, and to use a “safeguard mechanism” to cap the emissions of the nation’s 200 largest polluters, and pay for carbon credits on excess greenhouse gases.
The Coalition is advocating for a “technology not taxes” approach, which relies on funding the development of new technology, some of which are not yet invented, to reduce future emissions.
The Coalition’s plans, if adopted globally, would see the world warm by 3 degrees, Labor’s by 2 degrees and the Greens and teals by 1.5 degrees.
Its package includes support for the Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme and a gas peaking power plant in NSW.
The Greens and teal independents are more ambitious. The Greens are calling for a 75 per cent reduction by 2030 and net zero five years later, with a rapid phasing out of coal, oil and gas. The teal independents have various targets but are mostly calling for 2030 cuts of 60 per cent.
The Climate Action Tracker website released a report in May saying that the Coalition’s plans, if adopted globally, would see the world warm by 3 degrees, Labor’s by 2 degrees and the Greens and teals by 1.5 degrees.
– Nick O’Malley
Will the new government increase the amount a pensioner can earn before their pension is reduced?
Neither the Coalition nor Labor have committed to changing the status quo. Under current guidelines, single pensioners can earn up to $180 a fortnight before their pension is affected. They then lose 50¢ in every dollar they earn over $180 a fortnight.
However, if an aged pensioner is employed, they are eligible for the Work Bonus. This means a single aged pensioner with no other private income can earn up to $480 a fortnight from work and still receive the maximum rate of pension.
Seniors and the Australian Retailers Association are calling on the government to exempt employment income from the age pension income test.
The Work Bonus doesn’t apply to income from investments. Seniors and the Australian Retailers Association are calling on the government to exempt employment income from the age pension income test. This would mean pensioners with limited wealth could work without losing their pension, pay tax and help meet critical labour force shortages. On April 5, Anthony Albanese told 6PR it was a “practical suggestion, which is worthy of proper consideration”.
Meanwhile, Financial Services Minister Jane Hume told the Mansfield Courier on April 20 “we should keep an open mind” about increasing the amount an older person can work before it affects their pension.
The Coalition has also said it would freeze the deeming rate – the assumed level of income based on a person’s financial assets – for the next two years so aged pensioners can keep more of the money they earn from investments.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie has said that, if re-elected, she would introduce a private member’s bill to exempt work income from the age pension income test.
– Jewel Topsfield
How will our grandchildren pay for the debts incurred by the policies and promises of each party?
COVID, and the years leading up to it, have left the nation’s finances awash in red ink – cumulative deficits of $225 billion over the next four years, debt on its way to a record $1 trillion – while spending is forecast to outpace revenue for at least the rest of the decade. Neither side of politics is providing policies that would either dramatically cut expenditure or increase economic growth that could provide more revenue.
Economic growth is forecast to slow to below average within 18 months. That means the children of today will later end up spending more of their taxes paying the interest bill on the debts we have incurred today. They will have to make choices between what services they want, and the manner in which they are provided. They may have to endure higher levels of taxation. Policies that boost overall productivity will have to be considered.
Australia has used high levels of immigration to boost the economy over the past 20 years. That may be necessary again.
– Shane Wright
How far down on federal Labor’s to-do list is becoming a republic?
It’s certainly not a high priority. Leader Anthony Albanese has made it clear his priority in terms of referendums is to hold one on Indigenous recognition and the Voice to Parliament in his first term, should Labor win on Saturday. He’s said a number of times his government would be about “renewal not revolution”. That means, in part, that Labor would prioritise the Voice to Parliament in the next term of government.
“It is important that Australians have the opportunity to discuss and consider appointing an Australian head of state …”
But a spokesperson for the party says Labor believes we should be working toward a head of state who is an Australian and who lives with the Australian people. “While constitutional recognition and a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people remain Labor’s first priority for constitutional reform, it is important that Australians have the opportunity to discuss and consider appointing an Australian head of state in the future,” they said. “An Albanese Labor government will progress this discussion in a way that maximises the chance of success of a referendum on a First Nations Voice as well as future steps towards an Australian head of state.”
– Katina Curtis
I would like to know how both parties will support, revitalise and revamp manufacturing in our country.
For many years, the accepted wisdom has been to leave it to lower-cost foreign producers to make most of the things we consume, in return for our mining and agricultural commodities. It was an economic ethos that first emerged with a 25 per cent across-the-board tariff cut under the Whitlam government in 1973, and peaked with the demise of automotive manufacturing by late 2017.
As a consequence, manufacturing has been in long-term structural decline in Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, by February this year 854,700 people were employed in manufacturing; a record low.
Labor says it will transform Australia into “a country that makes things again”, promising up to $15 billion to help fund projects …
The pandemic has once again shone the spotlight on Australia’s declining manufacturing capacity, with many suggesting it has left the nation vulnerable to supply chain disruptions, geopolitical instability and the vicissitudes of global markets.
At this election, Labor says it will transform Australia into “a country that makes things again”, promising up to $15 billion to help fund projects through loans, equity and guarantees across various sectors, including resources, agriculture, transport, medical science, defence and renewable energy.
Similarly, the Coalition is promising to create a “strong and sovereign” manufacturing sector. It has announced a raft of measures, including various tax incentives and an extra $750 million for six priority areas including medical products, defence, food and beverages, resources technology, recycling and clean energy and space.
Whether these policies will actually deliver on the promise to restore Australian manufacturing after decades of decline is a different matter.
– Josh Gordon
What is happening with education policy? I would like to know what the major parties (and independents) are planning on doing about private school funding.
Not since then opposition leader Mark Latham put out a hit list of 67 wealthy private schools that would lose some government funding in 2004 has Labor dared to propose a redistribution of public funds away from non-government schools and into the government school system.
They are certainly not planning to poke that sleeping bear this time around.
Labor’s headline promises for schools in this campaign are limited to $440 million to help schools bounce back from COVID and a cash incentive scheme to attract more year 12 graduates with high ATARs into the teaching profession.
The Morrison government has not proposed any change to school funding arrangements either. It successfully passed legislation during this term to change the funding formula for non-government schools, bringing into law a new “direct measure of income” that will boost funding for many Catholic and low-fee independent schools but leave some independent schools worse off over time.
– Adam Carey
Why don’t we have a strong, independent integrity commission?
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has vowed to establish a national anti-corruption commission “with teeth” by the end of the year if his party wins government on May 21.
What we know about Labor’s model is limited to a seven-point plan spelled out in its policy documents. According to these “design principles”, Labor’s commission would have “broad jurisdiction to investigate Commonwealth ministers, public servants, statutory office holders, government agencies, parliamentarians, and personal staff of politicians” and would be empowered to launch inquiries of its own accord or in response to referrals. It would also be able to investigate allegations of corruption that “that occurred before or after its establishment”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison went to the 2019 election promising to deliver a federal integrity body, and last year released a draft bill for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. It proposed a commission with two divisions – one for public officials and one for politicians – with no public hearings for investigations into politicians and no ability for the commission to launch its own inquiries or act on anonymous tips from the public.
The bill attracted strong criticism from legal experts, anti-corruption campaigners, Labor, the Greens and independent MPs, and was never put before the Parliament for debate. During this election campaign, Morrison has said he would revive the issue in the next parliament only if Labor backed the government model without seeking amendments, prompting widespread criticism that he had abandoned his 2019 election commitment. He has also defended his criticism of NSW’s independent watchdog as a “kangaroo court” – a characterisation that other Liberals, including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, have distanced themselves from.
Meanwhile, independent Helen Haines, the federal MP for the Victorian seat of Indi, has put forward a detailed alternative model for a federal integrity commission to that proposed by the government.
She introduced legislation to the House of Representatives last year to establish a federal integrity commission that would be able to investigate past conduct, take public referrals, and hold public hearings. In November, Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to vote with Labor and the crossbench to bring on a debate on Haines’ bill, but the government was able to use a technicality to block the debate. Haines has said she would insist on that type of model should she be in a negotiating position in a hung Parliament after May 21. Haines’ model has been backed by Warringah MP Zali Steggall, as well as most teal independents.
The Greens also support an independent anti-corruption agency. The party’s bill to establish a National Integrity Commission bill passed the Senate in 2019, but was never debated in the lower house. It sought to establish an agency that could hold public hearings, act on anonymous tip-offs and have retrospective powers.
– Lisa Visentin
Other federal election explainers
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Why are some votes worth more than others? What’s pork-barrelling?
How do donations fund campaigns? Where does the money come from?
How are politicians using social media to campaign?
How do federal voting systems work in Australia?
Who holds the power in a hung parliament?
If you'd like some expert background on an issue or a news event, drop us a line at [email protected] or [email protected]. Read more explainers here.
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