Morrison poised to unveil cash grants for home renovations in new stimulus package
Home renovation cash grants will be part of a stimulus package for the construction sector to save thousands of jobs, which Scott Morrison is set to unveil this week.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Home renovation cash grants will be part of a multibillion-dollar construction stimulus package designed to save tens of thousands of tradie jobs.
It will be the first in a series of “JobMaker” stimulus packages for different sectors, and is aimed at ramping up economic activity before September to prevent a “cliff”, when the $1500-a-fortnight JobKeeper payment ends.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is poised to unveil the plan as early as this week. It is understood the cash grants will be for big home renovations only, not DIY.
Grants are also expected to be made available to people who want to build a new home in the next 12 months.
The Master Builders Association have recommended the grants be targeted at renovations to make homes more resilient to natural disasters like bushfires or floods as part of their pitch for a $13 billion construction sector stimulus package.
The plan would create up to 1540 South Australian jobs, modelling by Ernst & Young shows.
New home grants worth $40,000 would generate up to 3736 SA construction sector jobs, the analysis found.
At least $9 billion worth of stimulus measures, funded 50-50 by the federal and state governments, was needed to drive new construction demand to prevent a “cliff’ in September, Master Builders chief executive Denita Wawn said.
“We’re not looking for the full $9 billion just from the Federal Government, but at least $4-$5 billion and for that to be matched by the state governments,” she said.
The investment could generate $24 billion worth of economic activity, 14,000 extra new homes and about 82,300 jobs across the country, EY’s analysis shows.
Premier Steven Marshall said the stimulus “would be a welcome boost to the construction sector which employs thousands of South Australians.”
A Government spokeswoman would not be drawn on whether SA would commit funding but said the State Government would wait to see details of the package.
Property Council SA boss Daniel Gannon said states had “an important role to play as part of this discussion”.
“There’s an important jobs multiplier associated with construction work, and it’s the type of stimulus that would keep work sites open, high-vis vests aplenty and new homes coming out of the ground for South Australians,” he said.
SA Council of Social Services chief executive Ross Womersley said the money should be targeted at building new social housing.
Larger projects and new home builds were the priority, Mr Morrison said. “We want to make sure that jobs get created locally,” he told Sydney radio.