Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection, because they think that superannuation is the plaything of the Labor Party, and it's not; it's people's hard-earned money. For great programs like this that enable people to get out of the rent race and buy their own first home, this is a good policy. This is what a coalition government will do. It's what we have done. We back aspirational Australians. We back Australians who want to ensure that their families have a better quality of life. This policy will help build the economy. It makes the Australian dream a reality for the many, not the privileged few.

After nine years of good government, record investment, reform and real outcomes for everyday Australians, the housing sector came through the challenges of COVID-19 and a global financial crisis, yet Labor appears intent on dismantling our good work. Let's take a look at the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023. This is a bill which will require $10 billion of Commonwealth government borrowing. It will cost the Commonwealth as much as $400 million a year in interest servicing costs—and that's at today's rate, and we all know what's happening with rates. That's $400 million per year on interest. Imagine where that money could be better spent.

Now is not the time to plunge our country into unnecessary debt to fund a social policy experiment. Increased borrowing at this rate will only increase inflationary pressures on mums and dads right now. The more this government spends, the more inflationary pressures it places upon the economy. That will see more interest rate rises. Some 800,000 fixed-rate mortgages are about to become variable-rate mortgages. When those fixed-rate loans expire, the average Australian will be paying $16,000 more in mortgage payments. That is a circumstance many Australians are in now. The cost of living is incredibly difficult on family budgets; putting aside mortgage repayments, there are increases in transport costs, energy costs and food costs. Everybody is feeling it. But how many average Australian families are going to be able to afford—in many cases overnight—to pay an additional $16,000 a year in interest payments? Labor is already out of its depth in attempting to address the cost-of-living crisis facing Australians and their businesses, and this bill will only make it worse.

There is a lack of detail in this bill. Once again, this government is attempting to implement a significant reform without providing Australians with the information that they need and deserve. This has become an ongoing trend. Crucial questions that go to the heart of the Australian economy and the Australian ethos cannot be left unanswered. There's no investment mandate that has been released by this government, meaning that scrutiny and information about the fund's capability are restricted. This means that the legislation is essentially just a shell. It is empty. It is vacuous, like this government's entire housing policy agenda. The bill promises to address social housing, affordable housing and acute housing, but it absolutely fails to define what those three terms mean. Despite the bill providing a five-year review time frame and limits of annual drawdowns, there are no performance criteria and no details about the review mechanism. Once again, we're being asked to vote on a bill without detail. It is Labor creating policy on the run. Once again they are building the aircraft as it's running down the runway.

On these two issues alone, the Australian people would expect the coalition to vote against this bill. But, when you put it into the context of the government's housing agenda, the false promises and failures would cast doubt even in the minds of those who lent Labor their vote at the last election. After nine months in office, I ask the government: Where are the 30,000 new social and affordable homes that you promised? Where is your Help to Buy program that you said would commence on 1 January 2023? What are you doing to address supply chain shortages for building materials? How are you supporting the interstate and international migration of skilled workforces for construction? What are you doing about increasing rents, which have grown by 10.2 per cent, setting a new record? (Time expired)

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