Boothby candidates clash over Super Home Buyer scheme at Scotch College Q&A

Young people “shouldn’t have to choose” between a house or comfortable retirement. That’s the view of one Boothby candidate, as debate raged over a Coalition housing policy.

Boothby candidates have clashed over a Coalition policy that would allow first home buyers to use their superannuation to purchase a home, with one declaring young people “shouldn’t have to choose” between a house or a comfortable retirement.

In a Q&A hosted by Scotch College, a student told candidates the unaffordability of Australian houses means “many young Australians can never really aspire to be a homeowner” and asked what they would do to address the housing crisis.

Liberal candidate Rachel Swift spruiked the Super Home Buyer scheme, which would allow first home buyers to withdraw up to 40 per cent of their superannuation, up to a cap of $50,000.

Liberal candidate for Boothby, Dr Rachel Swift. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Mariuz

Boothby candidates Jo Dyer, Jeremy Carter and Rachel Swift during a questions and answers forum at Scotch College. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Mariuz

“If you look at the actual economics of it, whether you have your money in your super or your money in your home it appreciates effectively at the same value, if you discount making any improvements to your property,” she said on Tuesday morning.

“So I firmly believe that allowing people to have access to up to $50,000 from their super is helpful.”

She said grants for first home buyers artificially inflate the market, but transfer of superannuation would not have the same effect because “you have to have the asset already and make a choice as to the timing of when you do it”.

But the policy drew criticism from other candidates, including Frankie Bray for the Animal Justice Party, who argued “having property is not the same as having money to retire on”.

“Yes, it’s still an asset, but it’s a different kind of asset and you shouldn’t have to choose between owning a home and having money with which to retire,” she said.

She added that, for every $1 withdrawn from a superannuation fund, a worker must put $2.50 back into the fund to reach the same amount at retirement.

“So that’s putting an extreme amount of pressure on young people to put money away for their retirement when that shouldn’t be the case,” she said.

Boothby candidates Frankie Bray, Mark Aldridge and Louise Miller-Frost at the debate. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Independent Jo Dyer said the policy was “no solution at all” and “sets up another time bomb”, while Greens candidate Jeremy Carter said the two major parties have focused on helping with a home deposit which will ultimately worsen the housing crisis.

Labor candidate Louise Miller-Frost said increasing housing supply was key to the solution, and criticised a Coalition policy that would offer pensioners, self-funded retirees and older workers financial incentives to downsize earlier.

“They’re selling out of one house they’re buying into another and they’re buying at the bottom of the market where they're in competition with first home buyers,” she said.

Originally published as Boothby candidates clash over Super Home Buyer scheme at Scotch College Q&A