Gina Rinehart reveals how Australia should tackle the housing crisis – and offers some advice for Anthony Albanese

Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart has highlighted how the government should support Australians struggling with the cost of living and tackle the housing crisis.

Ms Rinehart has previously focused on the Labor government’s $300 electricity rebate announced in the Budget, which will not be means-tested and will be given to every household regardless of their wealth.

She said instead of taxing Australians and then handing it back to them, some taxes should be cut in the first place.

“I have strongly advocated for the Government to directly reduce the cost of living for Australians by reducing their fuel taxes, which would spread not just to car users, but to all products that require transport,” she told news.com. ouch.

“I have also advocated reducing other taxes, payroll tax, stamp duty and licensing fees, which would not only reduce the cost of living but would have been reduced when GST was introduced decades ago.”

Ms Rinehart said cutting fuel duty would be better than collecting and redistributing the extra tax, such as Anthony Albanese’s (pictured with Jodie Haydon) $300 electricity rebate.

Ms Rinehart said cutting taxes would be more efficient – ​​and better distributed to those who need it most – than ‘recycling’ taxes by collecting them and redistributing them to use for a specific purpose, such as electricity discounts.

The mining magnate said some vulnerable groups, such as retirees, veterans and students, face very high tax levels if they work above a government-set hour limit.

She said allowing Australians “who want to work” to work would be a much better option than increasing immigration to increase the number of workers.

Ms Rinehart backed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan to tackle the housing crisis.

‘Such massively increased immigration not only increases housing and rental costs, increases hospital costs and treatment delays, and increases traffic on the roads, but has also led to an increase of just 40,000 workers, according to the IPA compared to just one million immigrants. an increased burden and cost on social spending,” she said.

Mr Dutton wants Australia to reduce its permanent migration inflows by 25 percent if the Coalition wins the next election, arguing the cut would improve housing affordability and market supply.

Under the plan, migration inflows would be reduced to around 140,000 in the first two years of the government, before being increased to 150,000 and then to 160,000 in the following two years.

Mr Dutton said a cut in migration numbers was needed to ease pressure on the housing market.

“We can’t avoid a situation where you bring in a population larger than Adelaide within a five-year period and you don’t have homes for them,” he told reporters on Monday.

“We are a great country for migration, we have been… one of the biggest success stories in the world when it comes to our migration programs, but it has to be balanced and well calibrated.”

Peter Dutton has said that if the Liberals won the next election they would further reduce migration, but some housing experts doubt that would have much effect on the housing market.

Mr Dutton also took aim at the number of international students, arguing this was worsening the housing situation.

“I have no problem with international students, but I want homes in our country to be occupied first by Australian citizens and by Australian students and older Australians,” he said.

“I want to make sure Australians can get into those homes.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected the coalition proposal, saying the opposition had not fully realized the consequences of such a move.

“If you look, the details are just not there, no costs, no understanding of the impact on the economy,” he told ABC Radio.

“It’s a group that is just appealing to their own base, saying things their own base wants to hear, without putting forward a clear, fully budgeted policy.”

Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said a new migration cap would take into account positions in high-demand sectors.

“It will depend on the skill list at the time. It will depend on the skills you need at any given time,” he told Sky News.

‘Our view is that you must reduce migration to remove the pressure on the housing market.’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Labor Member for Parramatta Andrew Charlton (right) during a visit to a housing project in the Sydney suburb of Westmead on Tuesday

Albanese announced in January that his government would adjust the third phase of the former coalition government’s tax cuts, so that more relief would flow to low- and middle-income earners on July 1, 2024.

Under Labour’s plan, the 37 per cent tax band will remain in place for those earning between $135,000 and $190,000. Meanwhile, the 45 percent tax bracket starts at $190,000 instead of $200,000.

Labor dumped former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s legal plan to apply a 30 percent tax bracket to those earning between $45,000 and $200,000, despite the opposition backing that law in 2019.

A full-time minimum wage earner with an income of $45,906 will get $805 back under Labour, compared to nothing under the Coalition plan.

The average full-time worker with an income of $98,218 is also $804 a year better off, as is a middle-income earner with an income of $67,600, who gets back $1,679 instead of $875.

But those who perform well on a salary of $180,000 will be $2,346 a year worse off, with their tax liability falling by $3,729 from $6,075.