Coronavirus Australia: Renovation rescue for tradies’ jobs and arts sector
Home renovation grants could be handed out to Victorians as part of a major economic stimulus to help the struggling contruction industry, with details on the policy to be announced within days.
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Victorians could receive cash for major home renovations and construction projects as part of an economic stimulus package to be announced within days.
The hard-hit entertainment and arts sector has also been flagged to receive help, as the government moves from sweeping assistance to targeted injections for struggling industries.
The Herald Sun understands the money would be for larger renovation projects that require tradespeople.
DIY projects were not the aim of the scheme that Prime Minister Scott Morrison hoped would keep builders employed.
“We are more interested in larger projects and new home builds and things like that, because you get towards the end of this year, post about September, where the economists are telling us, the states telling us also, that we are looking at a bit of a drop off in that current home building that’s going on,” Mr Morrison said.
“That’s not good for tradies, not good for jobs.”
The package — due to be ticked off by the cabinet expenditure committee later this week — will be the fourth major COVID-19 stimulus announcement since the start of the pandemic.
Just how well the economy has fared over the past few months will be revealed on Wednesday when a critical economic report card shows whether Australia is spiralling into its first recession in almost 30 years.
The official reading on economic growth in the first quarter will be published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Many analysts predicted the economy will have shrunk slightly in the three months to March because of pandemic control measures.
If the economy has contracted, it would be the first time for any quarter since 2011 and would put the nation on track for its first technical recession since 1991.
Amid economic downturn, Victorian construction industry bodies have called on the federal and state governments to help.
Urban Development Institute of Australia has asked the government to implement a range of measures including scrapping stamp duty and offering cash payments for new homes.
“Every day that government delays action to stimulate home buying activity, is a day that weakens the future project pipeline for our industry,” Chief executive Danni Hunter said.
Master Builders Victoria chief executive Rebecca Casson has been pushing for $40,000 grants for new home builds and cash for renovations.
She said they would create almost 22,000 jobs in Victoria.
Social housing groups hoped to be included in the scheme, calling on the government to consider the potential benefits of building social housing.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said keeping Australians in jobs was the priority for the scheme.
“What we are seeking to do is to get people to undertake construction activities, whether it’s a new home or otherwise,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Mr Frydenberg and Mr Morrison have been in discussions with members of the entertainment sector to hammer out a help package for them as well.
“The Treasurer’s been doing some good work with some of the states as well who are interested in working on those issues,” Mr Morrison said.
“We’ve been looking closely at the entertainment industry.
“I was having some good discussions with people in the entertainment industry on the weekend about what we can be doing there more specifically.”
He said the next stage of the economic recovery efforts would focus funds more narrowly to “focus more on those sectors which need that longer-term support”.
It is understood that limits or conditions would be placed around the types of renovations that could be included, with the industry estimating that the inclusion of a $4bn home renovation grant scheme could double the economic return to about $7-8bn.
While the stimulus package is set to include extending the eligibility of the first-home buyer’s scheme to existing owners in a bid to stimulate the construction of new dwellings over the next year, the inclusion of home renovations in the stimulus would allow money out the door quickly, with many projects not requiring development applications or long approvals from local government.
But Builders Collective of Australia national president Phil Dwyer said he didn’t think the stimulus package was needed.
“We’re an essential service so we haven’t slowed down, we’ve kept working all the way through and it’s damn hard to get hold of a tradie at the moment,” he told the Herald Sun.
“Personally and the view of many of us is we’re handing out too much money, somebody’s got to pay that back at some stage. Whether it’s our sons and daughters, whether it’s their children, we’re going to be paying back for 30-40 years to come.
“To be handing out more money to an industry that doesn’t really need it, they’ll take it but they don’t need it, is just shameful, we’ve got to stop doing that.
“If we need to spend money, we need to spend money in the right areas and this is not the right area.”
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