Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

In New South Wales alone, 50,000 new houses were built last year. If you are going to borrow money from the bank, the bank insists that you have a steady income and I think we all know that. It is a perfectly reasonable assumption from the banks. We would hope that the banks do not lend to people who are unable to repay that money. That is perfectly reasonable as well. So the best thing we can do to help with housing affordability is to create more jobs—exactly what was reflected in the unemployment numbers that came out last week where the unemployment rate fell to six per cent, which is something that the Labor Party never saw. They actually never saw the unemployment rate fall, because when they came to government the unemployment rate had a four in front of it. When they left government it had a six in front of it and hundreds of thousands of Australians lost their jobs.

As a result of what we have been doing—repairing the economy, repairing the budget, creating confidence out there amongst small business people—you are seeing real job growth. You are seeing real jobs being created and better jobs being created, so people have an opportunity to buy their first home. It is tough in Sydney. It is expensive. It is hard for people to get into their first home in Sydney—as I have said on many occasions—as it is in Melbourne and as it is particularly in some parts of Brisbane. In other parts of the country, in some cases, house prices have even come down. So the best thing we can do for all Australians is to strengthen the Australian economy and give all Australians the chance to get a good job.

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