Opposition leader Bill Shorten was grilled on Q&A about housing affordability

DAMIAN Damjanovski was the star of Q&A last night as he grilled Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on housing affordability.

HE painted himself as an average Aussie.

A man who did all the right things, got a job when he was 14-and-9-months old, he earned money, paid his taxes and never took a cent in government funding.

But like so many other Australians, he can’t afford to buy his first home and he’s 31-years-old.

Frustrated with rising house prices and past suggestions that young people should seek their parents’ help, Damian Damjanovski asked Opposition leader Bill Shorten what he was going to do to help young hardworking people who wanted to break into the housing market.

Mr Damjanovski told Mr Shorten on Q&A he felt as if both the Labor and Liberal parties weren’t addressing housing affordability coming up to the election — one of the biggest concerns among young people.

“It has become impossible for people of my age to afford a house in the city we live in and what are you going to do about it?” Mr Damjanovski said.

.@billshortenmp Why is it that neither party is helping affordability to buy a home in the city? #QandA #ausvotes https://t.co/rCMwnCFONF

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 13, 2016

Mr Shorten believes Labor can tackle the issue of housing affordability, simply by slowing down rising prices, creating more equal opportunity between investors and first-home buyers.

Labor’s plan is to limit negative gearing — a form of financial leverage where the gross income you earn from an investment property is less than the cost of owning and managing the property.

Those losses are then tax-deductible against other taxable personal income.

Mr Shorten wants to offer that tax subsidy only to people who are investing in newly-built homes.

“My party is giving first-home buyers a chance to compete on a more level playing field so you can get your home,” Mr Shorten said on Q&A.

“The dream of Australians is not the right to claim a tax deduction, the dream of Australia is making sure your kids can grow up and buy their own home.”

Mr Shorten believes his negative gearing plan will create less competition in the housing market, therefore slowing down rising house prices.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was alone on the Q&A panel. Picture: Q&A

“But I’m asking about the fact that at the moment the average household in Sydney costs 12 to 14 times the annual income for people. It’s never been that high,” Mr Damjanovski said.

“I don’t think when you bought your house it was a factor of 12 to 14 times your annual income but for my generation that’s what it costs.

“We’re not thinking about investment, we can’t afford to buy our first home.”

Mr Shorten said Mr Damjanovski had done everything expected of him.

“Prices, if they grow more slowly, it gives you a better chance,” the Opposition Leader said.

Foreign investment, negative gearing, public transport and job locations: all factors to housing prices. #QandA

— Steve Lopez (@slopezAU) June 13, 2016

Currently, house prices across Australia’s capital cities are expected to grow 3.09 per cent every year for the next decade.

Labor plans to slow it down to 2.60 per cent every year.

The party announced earlier this year that from July 2017 under a Labor government, people who invested in houses that were already built would not be able to get the negative gearing tax subsidy.

“What I don’t believe is right is this nation — when you look at what we give in the form of tax concession, tax subsidy on negative gearing and capital gains tax discount — is spending more at the Commonwealth level on negative gearing and CGT discount than on childcare or higher education. What priority is that?” Mr Shorten said.

#qanda Housing affordability - Like Turnbull said, you need rich parents to buy a house if you live in a capital city

— Nick Brown (@RedHand_Band) June 13, 2016

There were a range of issues the Opposition Leader was grilled about during Monday night’s episode of Q&A, and his NBN plan was also a hot topic.

Mr Shorten promised to increase the scope and quality of what’s already been installed by the Turnbull Government.

He was asked where he was going to source the funding to support his new plan to put fibre into broadband networks.

“From the same place that Malcolm Turnbull is and the fact of the matter is that I believe when it comes to NBN the current government has chosen the wrong technology,” he said.

“Their over-reliance upon copper will mean the operational expenditure of this item, this technology over forthcoming years, will be more expensive than if we had a greater proportion of fibre in our NBN.

“We believe do it once, do it properly, do it right.”

Where do you expect to source the funding to support your new NBN plan @billshortenmp? #QandA #ausvotes https://t.co/RxKK7fbtvw

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 13, 2016

Mr Shorten said they couldn’t go back to what Labor promised in the past.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in 2009 the NBN would be complete by 2017.

Mr Shorten isn’t suggesting ripping up everything the Liberals have done.

“That really annoys people when one side of politics pretends the other side of politics was all wrong and bad and everything they’ve done should be put in the bin,” Mr Shorten said.

While Mr Shorten recognises his NBN plan to put fibre into broadband networks will be expensive, he said it would be cheaper to maintain and generate a better return for the NBN Co over the coming years.

OL @billshortenmp acknowledges his #NBN would cost more to build but says that will be offset by less maintenance and bigger takeup #qanda

— Anna Henderson (@annajhenderson) June 13, 2016

From the first question posed to Mr Shorten in Q&A, he was encouraged to talk off script.

It was something he attempted to do when asked whether he would call the British coming to Australia an invasion.

“If I was an Aboriginal or indigenous person, yes, I would,’’ he said.

“Aboriginals were dispossessed off their land. This was Aboriginal land.”

Mr Shorten went on to say he wanted more Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders in parliament.

“No more people making decisions for Aboriginal people,” he said.

“The more empowerment we give to Aboriginal leaders to control their own destiny, the better this country will be and the more equal it will become.”