Maiy Azize from Everybody’s Home has spoken to ABC News Breakfast about the changes to the 5% deposit scheme (bringing it forward three months, lifting the house price threshold and changing some of the eligibility requirements to broaden it slightly) and said without actual government action on affordability, the scheme won’t make much difference:

The issue is, you know, there’s still limits on how much you can spend on the home, you know, depending on the city where you live, that could be quite a big deal. The issue is, though, that housing is extremely expensive. That’s why we’re seeing people are struggling to get together deposits. What we really need to see is action to make affordability better. Not just action to get people into mortgages.

…The big thing that we would make a big difference to people trying to buy their first home is actually tax reform. We’ve got a system at the moment where people who are investing in housing, people buying their third, fourth, or fist home, are getting a lot more support from the government than people buying their first home. If you’re going out to an auction or trying to bid for a home, there’s investors competing with you and they’re being subsidised by the government, by the taxpayer, and that’s pushing up the cost of housing. If we want to make housing more affordable, we would be winding back the tax breaks.

Anthony Albanese was in the Canberra suburb of Lawson this morning announcing the changes. Mike Bowers from The New Daily was there where Albanese was given every politician’s dream – the chance to hold a baby in front of the cameras:

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets 11 week old Charlotte Chi-Tan and her mum Yvette Wooff in the Canberra suburb of Lawson while visiting first home owners this morning. Monday 25th August 2025. Photograph by Mike Bowers.