Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. This is a government which has one rule for itself and another rule for everybody else, and the Deputy Prime Minister is the best example of that. Honourable members, as the honourable member for Isaacs pointed out, would know that the declaration of interests is a very important document. It's designed so that the public can see what potential conflicts those of us who are honoured to be elected may have. If you go to the declarations of interests of the Deputy Prime Minister, there's an entry which says 'post-election residual of six months tenancy on Armidale premises'. You can just see around the country people looking at that and saying, 'Oh, the Deputy Prime Minister's living rent-free in Armidale, is he?' just based on that declaration, because it's as clear as mud! It is as clear as mud what 'post-election residual of six months tenancy on Armidale premises' means in anybody's book. It means nothing. It says nothing. It tells us nothing.

Why would the Deputy Prime Minister not want the House and people to know he's living rent-free in Armidale? Maybe it's because it would be slightly embarrassing given the lectures he's given the Australian people about working hard and moving to Armidale, where it's more affordable. It is more affordable for some! It's more affordable if you've got a rich mate. It's more affordable if you can ring up someone and say, 'Have you got anywhere for me to stay tonight?' There's a thing called Airbnb, Deputy Prime Minister—you could have tried that. There's a thing called stayz.com. That works as well. You didn't have to phone a friend. The Deputy Prime Minister chose the phone-a-friend option. He's entitled to do that, but he has to be honest about it. He has to tell this parliament about it. He has to tell the Australian people about it.

He was more than happy to tell the Australian people what they should do when it comes to housing affordability. He was more than happy to tell them that they should not seek an Opera House view. Last time I checked, the people in Lindsay, McMahon, Greenway and Chifley didn't have an Opera House view, but they were still struggling with housing affordability and they were still working hard to try to get into the housing market. They didn't actually have an Opera House view. But that's the sort of arrogance we get from this Deputy Prime Minister, saying: 'You're trying to get too much. Your aspirations are too great. How dare you? How dare you want to live in a big city where there's actually work for you to do. Move to Armidale. It's great up here. It's fantastic up here. It's so much more affordable up here.' Well, he was right about that for himself, but he was not right about that for others. That is why this Deputy Prime Minister has been found out. This Deputy Prime Minister has been shown up. He has been shown up as somebody who is not willing to be up-front about his circumstances. He is arrogant in his lecturing of others but is prepared not to be fully transparent about himself.

We are all entitled to our views about housing affordability. We are all entitled to our arguments. This side of the House has made the case for action on housing affordability. That side of the House has made the case for inaction. But they have made the case saying that young people want too much and young people shouldn't dare aspire to live in our big cities. Well, that makes this a matter of public interest. This is a Deputy Prime Minister who has been slipping and sliding all week through. He's about to tell us there's nothing to see here because the individual was a close personal friend, so therefore it's none of our business. Maybe he was going to argue that Gina Rinehart is a close personal friend too. Maybe, if there wasn't a TV camera there, we wouldn't have found out about the $40,000, which he then said he was going to spend on his farm. Maybe he was going to spend it on the rent-free accommodation as well—until he was found out. He was found out because there was a TV camera there, but there was no TV camera for the rent-free accommodation. He thought he could get away with it. He thought he wouldn't be found out. He thought he could sneak in a misleading declaration and that nobody would be the wiser.

Well, we all make judgements in life. We all make our decisions. We all have to live with the consequences. This Deputy Prime Minister chose not to make a full declaration to the Australian people. He's entitled to make arrangements for his accommodation. That, in many senses, is entirely a matter for him. But, if it's rent free, if he's receiving a benefit, then the ministerial guidelines are crystal clear, as the member for Isaacs made plain to the House. It is crystal clear. This is not a grey area; this is not a matter of nuance; this is a matter of black and white. This is an open-and-shut case, and that case says that this Deputy Prime Minister should resign. (Time expired)

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