Labor MP claims government has ‘won the debate’ on housing tax changes
Luca Ittimani
A Labor MP has declared victory in the debate over the government’s tax reforms, engaging in a bit of meta-commentary at the end of parliament’s sitting fortnight.
Julian Hill made the comments on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Thursday.
Hill said:
double quotation markI believe the government’s won the debate on negative gearing. I believe we’ve won the debate on capital gains tax on property.
And we’re winning the debate, we got a way to go, on removing the distortion that would otherwise be there. … I think we’re winning the debate … Start ups and so on, we are still engaging on.
But I absolutely believe we’ve won the argument about property and giving young Australians a fair crack at the housing market.
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Labor’s help to buy shared equity scheme approves 2,589 applicants in five months
Luca Ittimani
Housing Australia officials have revealed 2,589 applications had been approved under Labor’s Help to Buy scheme.
Alia Ayoub, executive leader of the Help to Buy scheme, told Senate estimates it had received 5,323 applications from 5 December 2025 to 30 April 2026, of which 2,589 applications had “found a home”.
Senator Andrew Bragg asked why the scheme was marked a “risk” in its portfolio budget statement, to which Ayoub said:
double quotation markWe had a forecast that we would do 10,000 applications in a year. However, the scheme started on the 5th of December. Had it been running for the full year, it would receive the 10,000.
Ben Rimmer, director general of Treasury’s housing group, said the operating cost of the scheme was $21m over the forward estimates, while the money spent on buying stakes in homes was nearly $1.6bn this year and $6.9bn over the forward estimates. Rimmer said of the latter figure:
double quotation markWe don’t know whether that will be a cost or a benefit to the balance sheet of the commonwealth at this point. If house prices continue to grow gradually over time, it will actually benefit the commonwealth.
We reported earlier that more than 312,000 people have benefited from the government’s 5% first home buyer guarantee scheme, including 251,000 under Labor since 2022. About 51,000 of those who accessed it were permanent residents.
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Updated at 23.29 CEST
Some NSW pharmacists can now prescribe contraceptive pill
Women waiting weeks and months in regional areas to get a doctor’s appointment for a prescription for the pill can now head to their local pharmacy, AAP reports.
NSW is the latest state to expand access to contraception beyond the GP’s office after Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania enacted similar changes.
Karen Carter, who has almost 35 years’ experience, is one of 30 pharmacists who, from Friday, can prescribe and supply the oral contraceptive pill to low-risk women between the ages of 18 and 39.
“It’s going to be great for those women who want to talk about contraception, but sometimes their shifts may not allow all of them to be able to attend a doctor’s surgery,” she told AAP.
“This just gives women an option.”
Carter completed a 12-month course offered through NSW Health to allow for first-time prescriptions.
It is part of a state initiative to expand the treatment services available in pharmacies, including for uncomplicated urinary tract infections and common skin conditions.
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Good morning, Nick Visser here to take over from Martin Farrer. Let’s see what Friday holds.
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Homelessness up 75% in NSW in past six years, report shows
Homelessness is soaring in regional areas as advocates plead for more funding to stop simply shifting the problem and start solving it, Australian Associated Press reports.
The number of people sleeping rough in New South Wales has increased 75% in six years, according to a Homelessness NSW report that relies on the state’s street count data.
While the count in metropolitan Sydney is virtually unchanged between 2020 and 2026, it has surged 689% in the Illawarra Shoalhaven and southern NSW district, from 27 people to 213.
The district encompassing NSW’s northern region and mid-north coast has also sky-rocketed from 407 people in 2020 to 1024 in 2026, leading it to become the state’s leading area for homelessness.
Homelessness CEO Dominique Rowe said state government funding for support services needed a 50% boost, along with a commitment to build 10,000 social homes a year until they constitute 10% of all housing.
“Homelessness services have a situation where 92% of people coming through their doors are not getting the assistance they need,” she told AAP.
Shelters and tents under a bridge at Wentworth Park in Glebe, Sydney, in May. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The GuardianShare
Updated at 23.06 CEST
Labor MP claims government has ‘won the debate’ on housing tax changes
Luca Ittimani
A Labor MP has declared victory in the debate over the government’s tax reforms, engaging in a bit of meta-commentary at the end of parliament’s sitting fortnight.
Julian Hill made the comments on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Thursday.
Hill said:
double quotation markI believe the government’s won the debate on negative gearing. I believe we’ve won the debate on capital gains tax on property.
And we’re winning the debate, we got a way to go, on removing the distortion that would otherwise be there. … I think we’re winning the debate … Start ups and so on, we are still engaging on.
But I absolutely believe we’ve won the argument about property and giving young Australians a fair crack at the housing market.
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Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
After a week in which Labor’s tax reforms came under a lot of scrutiny, the MP Julian Hill told the ABC that he thinks the government is winning the argument for giving young people a chance at the housing market.
And the number of people sleeping rough in New South Wales has increased 75% in six years, according to a Homelessness NSW report that relies on the state’s street count data.
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