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

Down the tube—definitely down the tube. We know that the average family is now paying somewhere around about $1,250 dollars a year more on their electricity bill than what they were paying under the coalition government. But fear not! The very generous Treasurer, in the last budget, has provided Australians a $300 energy rebate. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have the gall to stand up in the House of Representatives and say, 'You're getting a $300 discount on energy bills,' totally disregarding the over $1,200 more that people are now paying. It's kind of like punching someone in the face and then stopping and expecting them to thank you. This government talks the big talk about cheap, renewable energy, but everyday Australians are not seeing it.

This government talks about the importance of the build-to-rent scheme and about providing homes to Australians, but we learnt only about a month ago, probably not even that, that this government has spent $30 million—that's three-zero—on their Housing Australia Future Fund. Do you know how many houses they've built? I'll give you a clue: it starts with 'Z' and ends with 'O'. Donuts. Thirty million dollars, for not one house to be built. Only a Labor federal government can deliver that. So when they come out and talk the big talk about this build-to-rent scheme, you will excuse an old chippie for being a little bit sceptical about this government's plan to resolve the housing crisis that we now find ourselves in. This government is all about providing mechanisms for institutional investors to own these build-to-rent schemes. The big super funds and foreign companies will own these build-to-rent schemes. They will be the ones that invest in these build-to-rent schemes.

At the same time, we know that there is a push within certain segments of the Labor Party to try and take away taxation benefits from mum-and-dad investors who have residential investment properties. So it's okay for a big super fund to own homes, and it's okay for a big super fund to rent homes to Australians, but it's not okay for you. It's not okay for a mum-and-dad investor to own or to have that aspiration. We saw this when Paul Keating tried to outlaw negative gearing. The floor fell out of the residential investment market, because residential investors—mums and dads—just said: 'We're out of here. We'll go put the money in the stock market.' We saw that, and we know that there are people on the government benches who would like to see negative gearing gone. Certainly, we know that the Greens do not believe in negative gearing.

We also know that, after the next election, it is entirely possible that we could be in minority government, where a Labor government is in some form of coalition or power-sharing arrangement with the Greens. And we know that the Greens have consistently said that they are absolutely, ideologically opposed to negative gearing. If this government is reliant upon the Greens for their ability to stay in power, God help this country. You can rest assured that, if that is the case, there will be very, very significant pressure brought to bear by the Greens on the Labor government to eliminate negative gearing. And then it will be history repeating itself—repeating what happened with Paul Keating. Residential investors will desert the market. And where will we be? Where will renters be? It is a real problem, not a fanciful problem, and this government needs to come out and support residential investors.

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