THE SUPPLY of new homes is set to continue to decline under the weight of rising interest rates, according to Housing Industry Association (HIA) senior economist, Tom Devitt.

The ABS released the Lending to Households and Businesses data for April 2023 on Friday of last week.

“The number of loans issued for the purchase or construction of a new home has fallen to a new low,” Mr Devitt said.

“The last time so few loans were issued for the purchase or construction of a new home was in September 2008, when the GFC caused a contraction in building.

“Lending for the purchase and construction of new homes in the three months to April 2023 was 31.5 percent lower than at the same time last year.

“There are very long lags in this cycle and the full impact of the RBA’s rate increases are still to fully hit the housing market, let alone the broader economy," he said.

“These low lending numbers reflect a lack of new work entering the pipeline at the same time that population growth is surging.

“There needs to be a structural increase in the number of homes being built across Australia, a fact recently acknowledged by the RBA.” Mr Devitt said.

In original terms, the total number of loans for the purchase of construction of new homes in the three months to April 2023 declined in all jurisdictions compared with the same quarter a year earlier, led by the Australian Capital Territory (-67.5 percent), and followed by New South Wales (-34.9 percent), South Australia (-32.1 percent), Tasmania (-31.6 percent), Western Australia (-31.3 percent), Victoria (-29.5 percent), Queensland (-27.4 percent) and the Northern Territory (-5.1 percent).

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THE Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services will seek evidence from service providers and from peak bodies representing Australia’s multicultural, migrant, and refugee communities at a public hearing in Brisbane on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.

This follows site visits in Brisbane and far North Queensland, which will enable the committee to gain further insight into the design and delivery of the employment service system in regional Australia.

Committee Chair, Julian Hill MP, said, “Frankly, Australia can do much better in engaging multicultural communities to boost the country’s economic prosperity. I represent one of the most diverse electorates and am particularly concerned at evidence that employment services are not adequately supporting migrants in securing skilled work to harness their talents.

“The committee will also continue to listen carefully to the insights of employment service providers — including Sarina Russo, yourtown, and Workways Australia — to identify elements of the system which drive behaviours incompatible with high quality services and meaningful employment outcomes.”

Further information about the inquiry, including Terms of Reference, future public hearings, published submissions and hearing transcripts, is available on the inquiry website.

Public hearing details

Date                
6 June 2023

Time               
1pm – 3.30pm

Location         
Committee Room 3, Queensland Parliament
2A George Street, Brisbane City       

Witnesses     
Multicultural Australia
Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland
Sarina Russo Job Access
yourtown
Workways Australia

A live audio broadcast of the hearing will be available via the Parliament’s Watch, Read, Listen website.

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THE Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) will appear at a House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics public hearing on Thursday, June 2.

APRA will be discussing the Review of the APRA Annual Report 2022 as well as giving evidence to the Inquiry into promoting economic dynamism, competition and business formation.

Chair Daniel Mulino MP said with the committee investigating issues including competition, business formation and productivity, APRA’s perspective on how these issues play out in Australia’s financial system would be invaluable.

"APRA must balance the benefits of efficiency, competition, contestability and competitive neutrality with financial stability — something that can be challenging to do as new technologies are introduced at rapid pace and great scale," Dr Mulino said.

"Australia is a world leader in FinTech, and APRA plays a critical role in balancing risk with the opportunities, such as broader consumer choice, that these technologies provide."

The committee will also be discussing the wider activities of APRA as part of its review of the agency’s 2021-22 Annual Report.

"APRA is an essential pillar of our regulatory environment. Strong and proactive prudential supervision and the promotion of financial system stability is one of the reasons Australia’s financial system is one of the safest in the world," Dr Mulino said.

"Superannuation, insurance and banking are central elements of Australians’ lives — and understanding the challenges facing APRA in these areas is of continual interest."

More details about the inquiries and upcoming public hearings are available on the committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date : 2 June 2023
Time : 9am to 11.30am
Location : Committee Room 1R3, Parliament House, Canberra

The public hearing will also be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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REGIONAL Queenslanders are facing a double blow over the Queensland Government’s decision to impose the world’s highest royalty taxes on coal producers, accordingf to the Queensland Resources Council (QRC). 

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said regional Queenslanders would bear the full brunt of the loss of investment and jobs in the resources sector, and at the same time are still waiting on the promised spending boost to services and infrastructure from the extra billions the coal royalty tax is delivering to the State Government. 

Mr Macfarlane said the fact that mayors from resources regions have started speaking out about missing out on the benefits from the billions of dollars generated by the new royalty scheme should be a concern for every Queenslander. 

“If the Queensland Government is going to rip billions of dollars out of the resource sector, it should be making sure resources communities don't pay the price twice,” Mr Macfarlane said. 

“The regions have been poorly funded for government services and infrastructure for decades and are entitled to ask for their fair share. 

“While the government has publicly announced a long list of major regional projects, from hospitals to pipelines and community facilities, so far there’s been very little specific funding committed to these projects over the next four years. 

“Increasing Queensland’s coal royalty tax rate to five times that of New South Wales is already causing great uncertainty in many regional towns and resources communities that rely heavily on the ongoing prosperity of the resources sector for their jobs and livelihoods,” he said.

“The pipeline of future resources projects to secure local jobs and economies is now at risk from a government decision to substantially increase royalty taxes which has made our sector globally uncompetitive. 

“The latest conservative estimates indicate Queensland’s excessive new coal royalty rates will generate more than $5 billion extra for the Qld Government this financial year.  

“That’s more than six times the Qld Government’s original forecast of $800 million, which sounds great at first glance for Queensland, but as we all know if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. 

“The cost to long-term investment and jobs in Queensland’s resources sector over the next five to 10 years from this decision will be absolutely devastating.” 

Mr Macfarlane said the government’s sudden huge increase of the royalty regime without consultation has sent a shudder through the international investment community and damaged Queensland’s reputation as reliable place to invest in new and established resources projects.

“This very real threat extends beyond coal to projects involving rare earths, critical minerals and hydrogen,” he said. 

“The sugar hit from the royalty increase will be long gone in five to 10 years from now, when the full impact of the royalty tax increase will be evident.  

“As Queensland’s existing, large-scale resources projects reach their end of mine life, there will not be a strong pipeline of investment in new projects to replace them -- or the thousands of jobs that come with them.

“The QRC is once again calling on the Queensland Government to review its decision to introduce higher taxes on the coal sector, and to sit down and work with the resources industry and the communities who rely on us for jobs and business opportunities.” 

www.qrc.org.au

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