Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, you are struggling with supply. Price goes up. So, when we are thinking about future legislation and looking at measures we can take to address the housing affordability crisis that has been created by state Labor governments, we ought to look at supply-side measures that will deliver real downward pressure on price. An increase in supply will mean a matching with demand, which means the price will even out. Let us think about those sorts of things.

As I said, my electorate of Mitchell has one of the highest proportions of couples with dependent children, one of the highest proportions of mortgages in Australia and one of the highest proportions of what are termed McMansions. Housing affordability is a real concern to those people in my electorate. The rental crisis is striking fear into the hearts of many people across Sydney, especially Western Sydney, and we need to take measures in this parliament to address those problems and really take over the jobs of the states, which have failed badly in ensuring that there is sufficient supply in Australian housing markets to ensure we do not have a crisis. I will be supporting these bills because they take a very small step towards dealing with this problem. It will be four years down the track, but anything that encourages greater savings and encourages people to think about their future housing requirements and to understand that with a lack of supply they are going to have to take their saving responsibilities very seriously is something that I support as the member for Mitchell and that I know the opposition supports.

So I would strongly say in conclusion that without a complex response to this problem, without thinking about all of the supply-side legislative issues, we may not make a big dent on the housing affordability crisis quickly enough for the likes of many people in the outer suburbs of our metropolitan areas and those families that are doing it tough. But that ought not to stop us from supporting these bills and trying those very small measures that this government has been able to come up with. But I would recommend a handbook on market economics to those opposite for future measures.

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