Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

So what did this government do? What did every member who is now interjecting do? They voted to abolish the ABCC. That did this. It reduced worker productivity by 9.3 per cent, a total economic loss of $47.5 billion. It cost 4,000 jobs and contributed to that CFMEU Labor tax on first home buyers that I've just referred to.

It's quite shameful that this government would continue to run protection. It's even worse that it's a new minister. It's a minister who, quite frankly, failed so badly in the Home Affairs portfolio that she was moved. As I've said repeatedly, housing is far too important to Australians to treat the portfolio as a dumping ground for a failed minister. It only took us one day of question time to see why the issues with housing are likely to get worse, not better, under her stewardship. She couldn't even level with the Australian people that the CFMEU has increased construction costs. To debase yourself so badly by claiming that the CFMEU has not impacted on residential house prices and construction costs is something that, quite frankly, I know, shocks many people on the other side of the House. Even the Daily Mail reported colleagues of the housing minister asking the question, 'Is it too soon to have another reshuffle?' The truth is that, if the minister cannot even agree that the CFMEU imposes a tax on first home buyers, what hope does this government have of addressing the housing crisis that their big Australia migration policy has created?

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