6 September 2023
Subjects: Maiden Speech, negative gearing, housing, quotas
Greg Jennett: Now, when the current parliament opened last year, we did our best on afternoon briefing to cover as many new entrants to it as we possibly could. Well, there's been another in the Senate where the Liberal Party's replacement for the late Jim Molan has given her first speech. So Maria Kovacic joined us earlier today to explore some of the directions that she's charted for herself in the Senate. Maria Kovacic I can say welcome to Afternoon Briefing, but officially welcome and congratulations. You are a fully fledged senator. By virtue of your first speech, you've given insights to those who heard it about your background. A daughter of Croatian migrants. You actually grew up in the shadows of Parliament House here in Canberra. When did you decide, though, that your work would be best directed here in professional politics?
Senator Kovacic: I don't think there was a need. Thank you. Thank you for having me and it's a pleasure to be here. I don't think there was a particular point in time. It was progressive. So the work that I've been doing over the past 20 years as a volunteer across western Sydney in particular in terms of advocacy for for women, for migrants and for small business, has just sort of built and progressed. And I guess it was over the last few years that I went, Well, if there's more I want to do, I need to find a different platform and perhaps supercharge that. And and that's how I've found myself here.
Greg Jennett: All right. Well, let's break that down a little, because like all four first speeches, yours was very heavy on the values that will drive you over the next five years. A big theme, though, was home ownership, I think driven by a low ebb in your own life when you were evicted from a property in Sydney. Just explain that linkage between that experience and your current views on housing unaffordability.
Senator Kovacic: Yeah, absolutely. And for clarity. I received an eviction notice but was able to manage that through right. But the thing is not everybody is able to do that. Right. And not everybody has the ability to find a way when they're challenged in this situation. We currently have a problem that's not just a rental crisis, but a housing crisis. And I think what we need to consider is how we've come to this place and why it's become a problem that is just so huge at the moment. And one of those issues is around supply. We have a fundamental lack of supply, but also the ability to enter into the market is very, very difficult. And the two barriers, most significantly are the deposit to purchase the first home or a home, if you've had a change of circumstances, and then also the stamp duty component, which then adds another barrier to entry.
Greg Jennett: I think we can take it as a given that you endorse because you addressed this in your speech, the Liberal Party policy on access to superannuation. But I'm slightly more interested in other concrete proposals you've made there. You do have ideas for tax changes in this area around property. Which ones?
Senator Kovacic: So, it's my view that we need to look at the whole suite of impacts around the supply of property, but also in terms of broader tax reform. So we need to look at stamp duty, as I discussed and whether or not, you know, people should have the choice to opt for land tax, which was the case for a short period of time in New South Wales. It's not implementing an ongoing tax. It's saying here is the choice between an upfront cost that can be many, many tens of thousands of dollars versus an ongoing smaller tax that enables you to enter the market. We also need to address the fact that the purpose of negative gearing is to assist mum and dad style investors and to help grow wealth and financial security, particularly into retirement.
Greg Jennett: And what that's lots lost its way, has it as policy?
Senator Kovacic: Well, I think what's happened is that we have a situation now where there are groups of individuals or groups of investors that are leveraging that, and that's probably not its intended purpose. So we need to look at, well, is there a sensible point at which we go that's reasonable for an individual and perhaps that's not. I don't think…
Greg Jennett: What do you think that point is? So we're talking here just to be really clear about capping the number of properties that can be negatively geared. Yeah, that's actually come from your speech. So what is the number?
Senator Kovacic: I don't have a number, but I would say this to you is that I don't think it's okay for one person to have 30 investment properties that they're gearing and for young Australians to not be able to enter the market. I think that's not okay. I think we need to look more broadly and I'm not here to make up numbers, but I'm here to actually say this is an issue, this is a problem in terms of housing supply and accessibility to housing, and we need to look at it in the same way that we also need to look at things like bracket creep.
Greg Jennett: Okay, But this would be anathema to Liberal Party taxation policy. I mean, let's face it, an entire election campaign was waged around this issue in 2019. You'd have quite a struggle on your hands trying to advance this, but you're up for it, are you?
Senator Kovacic: Well, this is a conversation, right? And I think it's important to discuss things. And as we evolve and as things change, and I think if you consider back to that campaign, it was a discussion around the removal of negative gearing. I do not agree with that whatsoever. I think it's an important component of building wealth. Everybody agrees that the greatest and most important factor in ensuring financial security into retirement is your own home. It's not actually your super right, and that's why a lot of people, mum and dad investors have attempted to buy investment properties or to have that additional nest egg to provide additional financial security and we need to protect that.
Greg Jennett: Yeah. All right. Well, that's an argument you can advance in the years ahead. I think you've already mentioned here today as well as last night, Maria, women, the sense that politics is not working for them or talking directly to them. This is an acute problem. I think you would acknowledge in your own party at many levels, including pre-selection, two winnable seats, quotas. Are they the answer?
Senator Kovacic: I think each individual party in division needs to look at that based on whatever it is that the immediate issues are. So you might have like a division or a party that actually already has a, you know, a 50/50 split or a 45/55 split or whatever it is. So taking a broad brush approach doesn't work. I also believe that diversity isn't just connected to gender. Diversity needs to look at age, and that is young and older Australians. We have some really, really deep resources within older Australians that aren't being tapped. We need to address that as well.
Greg Jennett: Even federal politics in formal politics, Do you think? I mean, I mean, what's your own party room?
Senator Kovacic: I'm talking about across leadership and across the workforce and participation. We have people who are semi-retired and retired who would actually like to re-enter the workforce and would like to participate. But there's an element of ageism there. I think diversity also has to look at culture, has to look at background. It has to look at your pathway. So we have to look at individuals who have different lived experiences and what they bring. Because when we're here representing Australians, we need to represent the breadth of Australia, not a narrow focus or a narrow group of people.
Greg Jennett: Yeah, I'm sure that's a goal that many would endorse no matter which party they're from. Senator Maria Kovacic, thanks so much for joining us.
Senator Kovacic: Thank you. I appreciate it.
[ENDS]
