Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an important discussion that we are having today around housing. There is no doubt it is one of the challenges, if not the biggest challenge, many people in our communities are facing. It's so important that people can own a home if they so choose, because it builds those connections to their community and it gives them that security that is vital for them to be engaged in their community. We all, on all sides of this House, support getting as many people as possible into housing.

However, the reality is this is a bad bill that will not deliver housing for Australians. It's all about politics and spin. It's all about the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and those opposite being able to stand here in this House or in front of the media and say, 'We are investing $10 billion in housing.' But they're not. It's a mirage. Its political spin. There is not a dollar of that $10 billion being invested in housing. It is being invested in a future fund, which is completely different. It is bad policy. It is off-budget spending. That means it doesn't count in the budget. So the Treasurer can stand there and talk about his surplus, the Prime Minister can talk about a surplus and have this facade of economic management, but there is $45 billion at least of off-budget spending that this government continues to hide.

But it gets worse. This $10 billion is being funded by debt. I will give the government a pass on this. This policy was announced in 2021 and interest rates were at zero. So at that point I could understand it. But, as many say, when the facts change, your opinion should change. Interest rates are now at four per cent at least, which many Australians know. That means that on that $10 billion of debt this fund has to spend $400 million to service that repayment. That's $400 million before a house has been built. That's before we even look at the fees that the future fund will charge to manage that money. We're looking at maybe $500 million.

But it gets worse. In their need to capitulate to the Greens, this government has committed to a minimum spend of $500 million a year, which means there is $1 billion each year that this fund has to spend. So the future fund has to generate, from the $10 billion, $1 billion to stop it eating into the capital that is being invested. That's before we even factor in the chance of the future fund losing money, which it did two years ago, over $300 million. So if this fund was put in previously we would be paying $400 million in interest repayments, we would have lost $300 million on the $10 billion and the fund still would have had to invest $500 million in housing.

It is bad policy. It is designed purely for this government to pretend that it is solving this problem. The reality is that it is a complex challenge, involving local governments, state governments and the federal government. But this government when in opposition promised Australians it would fix this problem. They campaigned on this issue knowing the challenges. We will hold them to account for that in this House every day, because it is not an easy solution. This $10 billion is a mirage.

Supply is crucial. Working with local councils and working with state governments is crucial. Being able to get more into the market will bring prices down. As the member for Riverina so rightly said, the cost of construction is also increasing significantly and we are seeing less timber being used, which is going to drive prices up. This is a government that has no solutions to the problems Australians are facing in housing and with the cost of living, with energy prices going up. We see a consistent theme 16 months into this government. It is all spin. It is all politics. There are no answers to housing. There are no answers to the energy crisis we face. There are no answers to the cost-of-living crisis we face. In fact, we know this government is not even focused on these issues. Once this bill passes and they've got their headline, there will be no more answers from the government. At best, we might get another summit, roundtable or talkfest from this government on housing, but we won't get solutions. (Time expired)

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