Election 2022 LIVE updates: Labor, Coalition debate housing and superannuation as the campaign enters its final week

Scott Morrison’s Channel Seven interview is now over, but one of the key takeaways was the prime minister’s concession that he would change how he governed if successful at the polls this Saturday.

“Well, I’m just being honest with people,” the PM said when asked about that concession (which was made over the weekend).

“I mean, over the last three years it has required a lot of strength to take Australia through [the pandemic] and we’re going to continue to need that strength.

“But what’s going to change in the next few years is the opportunities will increase. There’s still going to be those challenges and those threats, which people know I know how to handle. But to realise those opportunities is going to require that strong economy.”

Not so fast, prime minister, Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr said. She asked: haven’t you just looked at the polls, which say you’re unpopular, and changed your pitch?

“No, I don’t agree with that at all,” the PM replied. “What I’m saying is, as we go into this next phase, we’re going to find that extra gear. You know, we have that extra gear, we know how to hit it and we’ve been preparing for it. We’re coming out of a pandemic. We’re putting it behind us.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has begun a morning media blitz in Brisbane with an appearance on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise.

The Coalition’s policy to allow first home buyers to withdraw up to $50,000 from their superannuation to get into the property market, announced yesterday, was the first topic he was asked about.

The PM said people will “absolutely not” not end up with less super if they use the scheme to get into their first home.

“In fact, they will have more because what this is is people’s own money, their own super investing in their own house.

“And so what they make in their own house, it goes back into their super. What we found is when people get to retirement, one of the most significant challenges they have is if they don’t own their own house, their retirement is even harder. So this helps people get in their own home now.”

The policy is one that some in the Liberal Party have been championing for years, but some economists are concerned it could further over-heat Australia’s property market.

Morrison dismissed those concerns and criticises Labor “because they don’t treat super like it’s your money”.

“I don’t believe we’ll see [house prices rise because of the policy], because this is a balanced policy which is dealing at both ends. It’s dealing with increasing supply by supporting downsizing, getting more [people into] the market and helping young Australians in particular,” the PM said.

Michael Sukkar isn’t the only senior Liberal MP out and about this morning selling the Coalition’s new policy for first home buyers.

Minister for Superannuation Jane Hume has appeared on ABC TV to declare that allowing people to dip into their super to buy their first home is a “win-win at both ends, today and tomorrow”.

Here’s what the Victorian senator told ABC News Breakfast:

We would expect the super funds to push back on a policy like this.

In fact, the super funds have pushed back on almost every Coalition policy that we’ve had in superannuation over the last three years – whether it’s been to introduce choice, whether it’s been to introduce transparency, to lower fees, to remove insurance premiums from people that are under 25.

They’ve pushed back on every single one of them and it’s a pretty obvious reason – the super funds make $30 billion a year from your superannuation savings. Anything that removes money from super will reduce those fees for the super funds.

But we have to keep remembering this is your money, it’s not their money. It’s not the government’s money, it’s individuals’ accounts and they should be able to do what they need to do in order to create economic security in retirement, but also throughout their working lives.

Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar has defended the Coalition’s new superannuation policy, claiming critics just want “control” over people’s super.

The super-for-housing policy would allow first home buyers to use up to 40 per cent of their superannuation (no more than $50,000) for a deposit to get into the property market if the Coalition wins the election and passes laws to start the scheme from July next year.

“I think we’ve received overwhelming support from first home buyers and people in the industry,” Sukkar told Sydney-based radio station 2GB.

“I think the usual suspects with vested interests in the system who see superannuation money as their money and not your money are criticising the scheme.

“But we fundamentally believe super belongs to the people, it belongs to them, it’s their money and they should be able to use it however they want.”

Sukkar said the scheme was designed to combat the most difficult element of buying a home – saving up a deposit – and called it a “well-calibrated policy” as it requires first home buyers return the money they’ve drawn back into their superannuation if they sell their home.

“This policy really allows the best of both worlds. It lets you use a portion of your super while you need it … and then when you eventually sell that property, you re-contribute it and a proportion of any gain back into super, so it maintains the balance,” he said.

“We know that first home buyers on average will hold their first home for eight years, so in that time they should and historically will have built up capital appreciation in their home.”

Yesterday, the Financial Services Council – which represents superannuation funds, financial advisers and life insurers – warned that house prices might increase under the scheme without supply ramping up, given the potential flood of new buyers.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has laid out an ambitious two-term strategy to roll out universal childcare, add superannuation to paid parental leave, expand the scheme and potentially hold a royal commission into the management of the pandemic.

The Labor leader said if he won government on Saturday he wanted to “change the way that politics operates in this country” by avoiding soundbites and “actually answering questions”.

“If you’re serious about rebuilding respect for politics in this country – and I believe it is an honourable profession – then you need to do that,” he said after a week in which support shifted towards Labor and Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted to being “a bit of a bulldozer” and promised to change.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on the eve of the final week of the election campaign, Albanese would not answer questions about whether he would live in the Lodge in Canberra nor about what role partner Jodie Haydon – who has joined him on the campaign trail – would play in public life if Labor won.

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves,” he said.

But the opposition leader has a quiet confidence, marking a shift from the early weeks of the campaign when he made gaffes on the Reserve Bank’s cash rate and the unemployment rate, had to isolate with COVID-19, and faced questions about his support for workers receiving a 5.1 per cent wage rise.

More on Labor’s strategy here.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has picked a policy brawl with Labor to shape the final week of the election campaign by unveiling plans to allow first home buyers to withdraw up to $50,000 from their superannuation to get into the property market.

Morrison has told voters they should have the right to use their super funds to buy their first homes and made the policy the centrepiece of a campaign speech that held out the promise of a “better future” if Australians back him at Saturday’s election.

But the policy sparked a swift rejection from Labor leader Anthony Albanese on the grounds it would weaken retirement incomes, as well as a blunt condemnation from former prime minister Paul Keating, a key architect of the modern super system.

Days after admitting he could be “a bit of a bulldozer” and would change after the election, Morrison used a campaign speech to tell voters he had made tough decisions during the pandemic but now offered a path to recovery and a brighter future.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Monday, May 16. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison has entered the last week of the election campaign with a controversial plan to allow first home buyers to dip into their superannuation. The PM wants people to be able to withdraw up to $50,000. The announcement was made yesterday at the Liberal Party’s official campaign launch in Brisbane.
• However, Labor says it doesn’t support first home buyers dipping into their super. Former prime minister Paul Keating, whose reforms established the modern superannuation scheme, has accused the Liberals of trying to undermine the system. Some industry groups are also worried the plan might drive up house prices due to a flood of new buyers entering the market and little in the way of new supply.
• And in other news, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has laid out a two-term strategy should he win government on Saturday. The Labor leader wants to roll out universal childcare, add superannuation to paid parental leave and potentially hold a royal commission into the management of the pandemic.
• Housing and superannuation are due to dominate headlines this morning. The PM will front Seven’s Sunrise, Nine’s Today show and ABC radio later this morning. Meanwhile, Housing Minister Michael Sukkar has appeared on Sydney talkback radio. Superannuation Minister Jane Hume and Labor’s health and ageing spokesman Mark Butler will appear on the ABC’s RN Breakfast a little later.