Ignore housing at your own peril, industry warns politicians
The housing industry has issued a strong warning to both sides of politics ahead of the Federal Election.
The housing industry has issued a strong warning to both sides of politics ahead of the Federal Election.The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has warned Australia’s politicians to “ignore housing at [their] own peril” in a strongly worded release. HIA chief executive of industry policy and media Graham Wolfe said any failure to support the housing industry would represent “an unnecessarily high risk consequence” for the country.
"The residential building industry provides a job for over one million Australians, supports over 350,000 businesses, contributes over $160 billion to the Australian economy and builds new homes for more than 350,000 people, every year, to house Australia's growing population," Wolfe said.
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Wolfe said the industry also injects more than $77 billion in tax revenue into the budget.
"Governments at all levels receive a substantial proportion of their revenue from the industry, and if activity drops, so too does government revenue."
Wolfe called on political leaders to acknowledge the importance of the housing industry, and voice their support through policies tailored to increase housing supply and activity.
"It time our political leaders contesting the 2016 Federal election acknowledged the linkages between strong housing activity and the benefits that flow through to our national economy, government revenue, housing affordability, jobs, and the community more broadly. It's time they committed their support for this industry and for the policies needed to deliver sustained new housing activity for the benefit of Australia and Australians,” Wolfe said.
