Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Obviously housing affordability and rental affordability is an issue we deal with very often in the portfolio of social services. Indeed, it is a very pleasing thing to be able to provide an answer on this issue, particularly with respect to a government under whose watch—between 2007 and 2008, and between 2013 and 2014—the proportion of low-income households in rental stress increased from 35.4 per cent to 42.5 per cent. And yet they pretend in this place that they have some magic silver bullet to both rental stress and housing affordability. What is the magic silver bullet? A new tax.

Look, having been referred this question by the Prime Minister, I might quote a previous Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who said, 'Those of you who have spent time in Australia know that we are not given to overstatement'. That is something that is true, I think, for the majority of Australians but stops short of the Labor caucus, because when they came up with this policy they described it as—

Ms O'Dwyer interjecting—

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting—

Mrs Sudmalis interjecting—

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