Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's my pleasure to rise to speak on today's matter of public importance:

The Government's failure to address Australia's deteriorating housing crisis.

Homeownership has always been the great Australian dream, and history, of course, tells us that the coalition has always been the party of homeownership, leading the way with policies that make it simple and affordable for all Australians who want to own a home to do so.

In contrast, history also records that homeownership and rent affordability are always worse under a Labor government. Regardless of the spin, the numbers and data don't lie. Under this Labor government, the number of loans provided for the purchase or construction of new homes is at the lowest level since the data started being recorded in 2002—even worse than the lowest previous year, when another Labor government was in power in 2008. The data also shows us that just 38,397 homes were started in the December quarter last year and just 163,836 were started in the entire 2023 year—both the lowest figures in over a decade. The future also looks even more bleak, with approvals on new dwellings in 2023 the weakest since 2012, another year when the Labor government was in power.

Why is this so? There are many factors that contribute to this. First is the crazy immigration policy that has seen immigration reach unprecedented levels. In February alone there were 100,000 immigrants, all of whom need a place to live. This, coupled with the last 25 years of telling our young people that, if they didn't have a university degree, they were stupid and a second-class citizen, has caused us to have massive trades shortages. Let's not forget the 12 interest rate rises that this Labor government has presided over. They have forced the Reserve Bank to use the only mechanism it has—interest rates—to mitigate the poor economic decisions and mismanagement of the Australian economy by this Labor government. Make no mistake: this crisis is due to no other reason than this government's poor handling of the Australian economy.

These interest rate rises, of course, flow on to those who rent. Most rental properties are owned by everyday Australian mums and dads as an investment to help them in retirement. Many of these homes have a mortgage that they pay with a combination of the rent they collect and a top-up from their own earnings. When the average mortgage increases by $400 a week, how else can these everyday Aussies meet their mortgage commitments apart from putting up the rents to some degree and then tipping in a few more dollars from their own earnings. I doubt they're going to get a $400-per-week pay rise to cover the increased mortgage payments, so mortgage holders and renters both miss out.

The law of supply and demand doesn't stop there. We know that, if there are 500 people looking for a home and there are 200 homes available, the price will be higher as demand outstrips supply. If there are a thousand homes available for those 500 people, the price will be lower as there'll be competition as supply is greater than demand. So we need to ensure we are building more homes faster than the population is growing. This means curbing immigration and ensuring we are doing all we can to get people to take up trades.

The budget was so disappointing. There was nothing for new home buyers but a rise in rental assistance, which in the main, of course, will go into the pockets of landlords. Even community housing providers, in the main, take the entire rental assistance payment of their tenants plus, in some cases, a top-up. So a rise in rent assistance will go straight to them and not to the tenant. Public housing is a joke as well. In the six-year period from 2015 to 2020, the federal government provided $1.7 billion to the Queensland state government for social housing. In that same period, we saw a net increase in public housing of just 241 dwellings. That's an average of over $7,300,000 per home, which is a complete joke and a waste of taxpayers' hard-earned money.

For solutions, what should we be doing as governments around the country? First, address the supply-and-demand issue. Reduce immigration until housing supply catches up to the demand. Second, incentivise and encourage young people to take up a trade so we have the workforce to build the homes to meet the demand. Third, stop giving state and territory governments money for housing, and instead give it to not-for-profits like Salvos, BlueCare, Lifeline or the like, and clearly state how many dwellings we expect for the taxpayer funds we provide. Fourth, stop foreign ownerships so only Australian citizens and permanent residents can purchase a home here. Fifth, state and local governments ensure that land is released in a faster manner to ensure we have supply. Sixth, get the economy back under control so the Reserve Bank can lower interest rates and make homeownership more affordable again. And, seventh, allow Australians to use their own super—their own money—to use as a deposit for their first home.

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