V1 - AUSE01Z01MA
ELECTION 19 • MIRACLE VICTORY ELECTION 19 • MIRACLE VICTORY THE AUSTRALIAN THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2019
theaustralian.com.au 5
MICHAEL RODDANJOYCE MOULLAKIS
Home buyers and sellers arecoming “out of the woodwork”after Scott Morrison’s electionvictory, which is tipped to spark adramatic rise in auction listingsand arrest the slide in house prices.
Principal buyers agent at OHProperty Group in Sydney HennyStier said the market had beenreinvigorated by the Coalition’selection win.
“What is interesting is that Iwas speaking to some agents who
MICHAEL RODDAN
Josh Frydenberg has declared theeconomy needs a “pro-growthstrategy” as construction work andhome building continue to fallacross the country and leadingindicators of employment growthhit record lows.
The Treasurer, who yesterdaymet the nation’s top financial reg-ulators in Sydney, said the econ-omy still faced headwinds,international trade tensions be-tween the US and China wereweighing on growth and droughtand floods in recent months hadhad a “significant impact” oneconomic activity.
Mr Frydenberg met ReserveBank governor Philip Lowe andthe deputy chairs of the banking
regulator after the central bankthis week signalled two imminentcuts to official interest rates thatwould put the cash rate at a newlow and after the Australian Pru-dential Regulation Authoritylaunched a shake-up of rules thathad kept lower-income borrowersout of the housing market.
“The Australian economy facesheadwinds both internationallyand domestically,” Mr Frydenbergtold a conference in Sydney.
“The housing market hasslowed. We’ve seen the budgetforecast for dwelling investment,which had been growing at about5.5 per cent per annum on averageover the last five years, forecast tobe down 7 per cent in 2019-20, thenanother 4 per cent the year after.”
His comments came as theAustralian Bureau of Statisticssaid construction work done overthe March quarter fell 1.9 per cent— a slide that was led by fallingrates of home building and engin-eering work.
“There was confirmation thatthe home building sector is in asharp downturn, after workpeaked in mid-2018,” Westpac
‘It’s not the time for higher taxes; it’s the time for a pro-growth strategy
JOSH FRYDENBERGTREASURER
One Senate seat marks gloomy Labor outlook in battleground state
Labor is on track to secure a soleSenate seat in Queensland, deliv-ering a major blow to the party andits worst upper-house result in thekey battleground state since 1949.
A failure to win two upper-house seats in the Sunshine Statewould reflect Labor’s poor show-ing in the House of Representa-tives, where the party is predictedto win just six of 30 Queenslandelectorates — a net loss of two.
Labor MPs said the same issuesin lower-house seats in the state —equivocation over the Adani coal-mine and an ambitious policyagenda that included contentiouschanges to negative gearing anddividend imputation credits —were at play in the Senate.
The Coalition meanwhile is ontrack to pick up three Senate seatsin every state and in a best-casescenario could control 35 votes inthe upper house, meaning it wouldneed the support of just four cross-benchers to pass legislation. Thiswould significantly bolster ScottMorrison’s power in the Senate.
Labor has won two seats inevery half-Senate election inQueensland since Australiaadopted proportional represent-ation in 1949.
Centre Alliance senators StirlingGriff and Rex Patrick, formerTasmanian senator Jacqui Lambieand the Australian Conservatives’Cory Bernardi. The Turnbull gov-ernment introduced controversialSenate voting reforms before the2016 double-dissolution electionthat abolished group votingtickets, making it harder for inde-pendent candidates to get electedon the back of preferences.
All seats are due to be declaredon or before June 28, with Senateseats to be finalised after those inthe House of Representatives.
Labor traditionally wins at leasttwo Senate seats in each state butin 2013 it picked up only one inSouth Australia and in WesternAustralia because of competitionfrom the Nick Xenophon Teamand Palmer United Party.
ROSIE LEWIS
THE SENATE
Coalition
Labor
Greens
Centre Alliance
One Nation
Aust Conservatives
Lambie
TOTAL
35
26
9
2
2
1
1
76
Likely outcomeCoalition on course to buffer its electoral clout
As of late yesterday, the LiberalNational Party was expected topick up three seats, while Labor,the Greens and One Nation wereon track to win one each.
Nita Green is No 1 on Labor’sQueensland Senate ticket whileincumbent senator Chris Ketter,
first elected in 2013, is No 2 andwould miss out.
“We’re definitely concerned.The new voting system makes it abit harder to predict. (Mr Ketter)may fall short,” Labor sources said.“It’ll be a couple of weeks until weknow (the final Senate results).”
In the 45th parliament theCoalition had 30 senators and hadto wrangle a crossbench that atone stage grew to 12 independents.
If Nationals candidate PerinDavey, No 3 on the Coalition’sNSW Senate ticket, is elected, itwould be the first time the party
had six female MPs in federalparliament. Nationals sourceswere “feeling good but not certain”about Ms Davey’s chances.
The new crossbench is likely toinclude One Nation leader Paul-ine Hanson and fellow Queens-land colleague Malcolm Roberts,
The Liberal Party has high hopes of sneaking over the line in the western Sydney seat of Macquarie, which would take its tally in the House of Representatives to 78, after it had a 196-vote lead last night following postal and absentee vote counting.
One senior Liberal source said that, barring “1000 votes being found in the wrong pile” in a recount, the party looked like snaring the seat by anything up to 400 votes, given the trend being shown in postal and absentee votes.
So far, postal votes have goneLiberal candidate Susan Richards’s way, splitting roughly57 per cent to 43 per cent,
according to Liberal scrutineers.Absentee votes have gone the
Liberals’ way, 52 to 48 per cent, and with about 2000 more absentee votes to be counted, they would have to be trending the other way for Labor’s Susan
Templeman to keep the seat. The Liberal Party led the seat last night with 50.11 per cent of the vote to 49.89 and a recount appeared certain.
Since neighbouring Lindsaywas created in 1984, Labor has held Macquarie only when it also held Lindsay, which it lost this election.
Although the Blue Mountains part of the electorate tends to go Labor’s way, the Hawkesbury area is more conservative.
If Labor lost Macquarie, twoof the three western Sydney seats won thanks to the “Mediscare” campaign run by the Labor Party against Malcolm Turnbull in 2016 would return to the government.
A third seat, Macarthur, remains in Labor hands.
Scott Morrison was seen as abetter bet in western Sydney for the “Howard battlers” than Malcolm Turnbull, and this proved the case on Saturday.
As counting continued yesterday in other seats in doubt, it appeared that Labor’s Anika Wells had won Wayne Swan’s former seat of Lilley, leading by 0.6 per cent or 1002 votes.
The Liberals looked likely tonarrowly win Bass in northern Tasmania, with candidate Bridget Archer ahead by 0.38 per cent or 504 votes.
Cowan in Perth has become atighter contest but Labor incumbent Anne Aly is ahead by 0.5 per cent of the vote, or 757 votes.
Concerns that One Nation could finish ahead of the Nationals and cause Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon some problems in the seat of Hunter appeared to have dissipated last night, with Mr Fitzgibbon ahead by 2.65 per cent.
The national two-party-preferred vote for the Coalition last night was at 51.2 per cent to Labor’s 48.8 per cent.
ANDREW CLENNELL
HOUSE OF REPS
CoalitionLaborGreensKAPCentre AllianceIndependentsTOTAL
78671113151
Likely outcome
SEATS IN DOUBTMACQUARIE, NSWLiberal 196 ahead with87.55% countedBASS, Tasmania Liberal 504 ahead with 89.1% counted
UPPER HOUSE
LOWER HOUSE
economist Andrew Hanlan said.“This follows a strong and ex-
tended upswing over recent yearswhich saw supply largely catch upwith demand.”
Westpac’s leading index, whichindicates the likely pace of econ-omic growth into the near term,also fell further over the pastmonth, driven by further declinesin approvals for dwelling construc-tion. The result was “a clear signalthat economic growth through thethree quarters of 2019 is likely to bebelow trend”, Westpac chief econ-omist Bill Evans said.
Meanwhile, official data re-vealed the weakest rate of growthin skilled jobs vacancies in fiveyears as the Department of Jobsand Small Business figures fell totheir lowest point in two years.
Mr Frydenberg said the “im-pact of a slowdown in the housingmarket is also being felt, so it’s notthe time for higher taxes; it’s thetime for a pro-growth strategy”.
Dr Lowe this week urgedCanberra to drive reforms to taxpolicy, infrastructure spendingand the education sectors to helpsupport longer term economicgrowth.
Mr Frydenberg cited his plan-ned tax cuts for lower and middleincome earners, which is due toprovide relief for households overcoming months, the Coalition’s$100 billion infrastructure spend-ing plans and its support forapprenticeships as key reforms tobe launched by the government.
“Tax is really important, so wehave not just immediate relief butwe also have a long-term struc-tural change,” he said.
He noted the Coalition govern-ment’s plan to remove some in-come tax brackets and addressbracket creep.
Citi economist Josh Williamssaid the disappointing construc-tion figures meant annual GDPgrowth would likely slow even fur-ther to 1.7 per cent, down from analready sub-par 2.3 per cent.
“The leading indicators of em-ployment growth such as job ad-vertisements and vacancies areweakening,” CommSec chiefeconomist Craig James said.
“With … unemployment rates‘stuck’ at around 6 per cent in Tas-mania, Queensland, WesternAustralia and South Australia, theReserve Bank appears likely topull the interest rate lever at itsJune 4 meeting,” Mr James said.
BUSINESS P17
‘It’s time to fuel our engines of growth’
JOHN FEDER
OH Property Group principal buyers agent Henny Stier, at a house she sold in Sydney’s Roseville, is confident of a housing market resurgence
Agents’ phones now ‘ringing like crazy’are saying their phones have beenringing like crazy since Monday,”Ms Stier said.
“Most inner-city housing mar-kets seem to be holding up. We’rehearing people saying: ‘Now we’regoing to start to list our properties.’We can start to see the level ofsupply increase again. That bringsthe buyers out of the woodwork.”
Analysts are expecting thenation’s housing markets to bereignited after Reserve Bankgovernor Philip Lowe indicatedthis week that two rate cuts wouldbe needed to stop unemploymentrising and get inflation back up toits target band, hinting the cash
rate would be dropped to a newrecord low on June 4.
Property enthusiasts are alsobuoyed after the unexpectedCoalition re-election, which endedthe threat of Labor’s negativegearing and capital gains taxreforms, and after the bankingregulator eased onerous restric-tions on borrowers securing loansin a bid to reduce the squeeze onhome buyers. This will allowborrowers to add about $60,000more to a home loan of $1 millionwithout any change in income.
Daniel Yu, a senior analyst atglobal ratings agency Moody’s,said yesterday the Australian
Prudential Regulation Authority’smove would “help support creditgrowth and could stem fallinghouse prices”.
“Improving access to credit willsupport credit growth for thebanks, which has declined signifi-cantly from its peak in 2014, and inturn stem the fall in house prices.Falling house prices are dampen-ing household consumption andcontributing to a weaker growthoutlook for Australia,” Mr Yu said.
Listed residential developerStockland emerged yesterday asone of the biggest winners fromthe re-election of the Morrisongovernment and a relaxation of
prudential lending rules. Thegroup’s stock price has jumped inthe last two trading days.
Ms Stier said the propertymarket had been hit by a slow-down in listings because sellerswere wary of dumping their houseinto a soft property market.
“Some markets have heldbetter than others, such as suburbsclose to the city or within 20km ofthe CBD. Prices there have held upfairly well,” Ms Stier said.
“The problem has been a lack ofsupply. Since Easter I’ve noticed ahuge surge in inspection numbersat what we call the entry pricepoint of about $1m.”
ECONOMY
PROPERTY
Australia’s first indigenous minis-ter Ken Wyatt is likely to makehistory a second time if his requestto become indigenous affairs min-ister is granted by Scott Morrison.
Mr Wyatt confirmed to TheAustralian he had told the PrimeMinister before the federal elec-tion that, if the Coalition won, hewould like to take on the portfoliovacated by retiring indigenousaffairs minister Nigel Scullion.
It would mean that Mr Wyatt, aNyoongar man born in a formermission for Stolen Generationschildren, would become thenation’s first Aboriginal ministerto hold the portfolio of his people
and the first to take a seat in theCoalition’s inner cabinet.
It is not the first time Mr Wyatthas expressed interest in the port-folio. In an interview in 2016 afterhe became the first indigenousfederal frontbencher and assistantminister for health, he told TheAustralian: “If down the track thatopportunity were offered to me, I’dtake it.”
Last week, Mr Wyatt was givenstrong endorsement for his minis-terial skills by his friend JohnHoward, who campaigned withhim in Mr Wyatt’s outer-Perthelectorate of Hasluck. Mr Howardurged shoppers to vote Mr Wyattback for a fourth time since hetook Hasluck from Labor in 2010.
“Look out for him, he’s a goodman,” the elder statesman said.
Mr Wyatt, who is currently
communities was a major concern,but he had also been told by a com-munity-controlled health organis-ation in Hasluck that it had dealtwith seven suicides.
Since winning Hasluck with analmost 3.5 per cent swing, MrWyatt’s first public commentshave been to endorse the “twin-ning” of European names of citiesand locations with traditionalAboriginal names.
He was responding to a pro-posal by Fremantle Mayor BradPettitt to add the Nyoongar name“Walyalup” to the port city’s nameas part of its reconciliation plan.
“I would welcome any localgovernment across this nationdoing what Fremantle is propos-ing,” Mr Wyatt said.
“The dual naming and the rec-ognition of traditional Aboriginal
names that prevailed before settle-ment is a great way for our wholestate to move.”
He said New Zealand was agood model to follow in the way itincorporated Maori language intoeveryday life.
But he said he also observed inAustralia “a growing pride in hav-ing the duality and the recognitionof one of the oldest living culturesand the retention of their languagenames to locations”.
A former parliamentary chairof the committee on constitutionalrecognition, Mr Wyatt has sup-ported some form of recognition ofAboriginal and Torres Strait peo-ples within the Constitution andlast week praised the late formerLabor prime minister Bob Hawkefor his outstanding support of indi-genous people.
VICTORIA LAURIE
MARIE NIRME
Hasluck MP Ken Wyatt is gunning for indigenous affairs
Portfolio pitch sees Wyatt eager to reach another first nations milestone
Aged Care and Indigenous HealthMinister, has declined to elaboratefurther on his portfolio preference,saying it was up to the Prime Min-ister. It is understood he has sup-port from several senior ministersfor the indigenous affairs portfolio,but faces a possible rival in AlanTudge, the Minister for Cities andUrban Infrastructure.
He said indigenous suicide inWestern Australia’s Kimberley
‘The recognition oftraditional Aboriginal names is a great way to move’
KEN WYATTAGED CARE MINISTER
INDIGENOUS
Nationals MPs will thrash-outtheir demands for a new Coalitionagreement at a partyroom meet-ing in Canberra today, with someurging the government tostrengthen its efforts to under-write a new coal-fired power plantin Queensland.
There will be no push to throwopen the leadership, with MichaelMcCormack set to remain asNationals leader after the partyperformed strongly at the electionand received large swings inQueensland marginals.
The surprise victory for theCoalition, which was on track lastnight to win up to 78 seats, has de-fused any early push by BarnabyJoyce to regain the leadership.
The former leader will notattend today’s meeting.
Some Nationals MPs privatelyargue that Mr McCormack willneed to show he can muscle-up tothe Liberal Party, with Saturday’svictory seen as a major endorse-ment of Scott Morrison and hispresidential-style campaign.
Victorian Nationals senatorBridget McKenzie is also expectedto stay on as deputy, despite con-cerns about her engagement withthe backbench.
An early test for Mr McCor-mack will be whether the Nation-als negotiate five or four seats atthe cabinet table and if the minorCoalition partner can secure othersenior portfolios amid speculationMPs will push to regain the tradeministry from the Liberals.
On current figures, there will be21 Nationals in the new parlia-ment. This means the Nationalswill comprise about 19 per cent ofthe joint partyroom if 35 Coalitionsenators are elected and the gov-ernment wins a majority of 78 inthe House of Representatives.
Nationals strategists suggestedthis would see the party holdingonly four seats in cabinet, arguingthere was no reason for the PrimeMinister to agree to a fifth.
Mr Morrison has not run as aconservative on energy policy, re-jecting arguments to pull Australiaout of the Paris climate accord. Healso unveiled a shortlist of a dozenenergy projects that the govern-ment would consider underwrit-ing. These were focused on gas andhydro projects in Victoria, NSWand South Australia, and only one“very small” coal upgrade in NSW.
But some Nationals MPs toldThe Australian the large swingsagainst Labor in central Queens-land represented an endorsementof the Coalition’s commitment to afeasibility study into a new high-efficiency low-emission (HELE)coal-fired power plant proposedfor Collinsville.
Michelle Landry, who receivedan 11 per cent swing in the seat ofCapricornia, argued for the gov-ernment to “move” on advancingthe development of cheaper poweroptions.
“I think the swing in Queens-land was certainly about support-ing the coal sector,” she said.“People want something doneabout power prices. Cost of living isstill one of the biggest issues. Ithink we’ve got to move on it.”
Her LNP colleague Keith Pitt,who received a swing of 6 per centin Hinkler, said the election was a“victory for common sense”.
“The Australian people veryclearly endorsed our policies,which were sensible and balancedpositions on climate change andon electricity generation and notforcing people to buy electric cars,”he said.
“It was about jobs. There’s alesson there for the Labor Party,who no longer represent workingpeople.”
JOE KELLY
Backers of coal in call for actionNATIONALS
ROSIE LEWIS
Failed independent candidate andLiberal defector Julia Banks hastaken a parting shot at her formerparty, lashing out at alleged“tribalism and toxic culture” as herpolitical career comes to an end.
A staunch Turnbull loyalist, MsBanks also praised the “authenticand inspiring leadership” of Mal-colm Turnbull and his deputy,Julie Bishop, saying serving underthem was her “greatest honour”.
While congratulating the Lib-eral Party in a statement yester-day, which effectively concededdefeat in the seat of Flinders, shehit out at the “right-wing con-servative faction”. Ms Banks, elec-ted to Chisholm in 2016, quit theLiberals and sat on the crossbenchafter Mr Turnbull lost the primeministership, blaming bullying, in-timidation and leadership turmoil.
“My hope is that the right-wingconservative faction don’t con-tinue to drown out addressing cli-mate change emergency nor theAustralian ethos of equality for alland humanitarian spirit,” she said.
“Sadly, the tribalism and toxicculture (in the Liberal Party) con-tinued. The reprisals and retri-bution, whispering campaigns,personal attacks and name-calling, social media rants, mess-ages and emails from the puerile tothe offensive, and defamatory alle-gations and lies were unrelenting.
“To those in the Liberal Partyincluding some current and for-mer members of parliament whoengaged in this behaviour, I saythis: You don’t own me — younever did. And I don’t ‘owe a debtto you’. It’s a free country for peo-ple to run for office and advocatefor what they believe in. To thehaters generally whose disturbingbehaviour adds to the toxic politi-cal culture, I say this: Stop.”
At noon yesterday, Ms Bankshad 14.43 per cent of the primaryvote (11,920 votes) compared with46.63 per cent (38,518 votes) forLiberal Greg Hunt.
Defeated Banks fires last angry shot at LibsDEFECTOR