Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left!

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

The member for Isaacs will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Isaacs then left the chamber.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. I refer the minister to the ANAO report into the management of the Building Better Regional Cities Program—

Honourable members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume her seat. There is a general warning, and we will have silence while the member asks her question.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. I refer the minister to the ANAO report into the management of the Building Better Regional Cities Program by the previous government. How is the minister ensuring value for money in this program?

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Isn't it great to have a decent member at last representing the people of Wyong and The Entrance and surrounding areas in the Central Coast of New South Wales. I can say to the member for Dobell that, yes, I am aware of the Audit Office report into the Building Better Regional Cities Program. This report is a savage indictment of the incompetence and the partisan pork-barrelling of the previous government. This is a program that had as its target some 8,000 new affordable homes and yet it is expected to deliver no more than 3,200. Indeed, by mid-2016 it will be even less than that—2,969 homes out of 8,000 that were expected to be delivered under this program. But it is actually worse than that. Do you know how many houses have actually been built of the target of 8,000? Not 3,000, not 2,000, not 1,000; just 247 homes of the target of 8,000.

This was a $100 million program. I said that this was partisan pork-barrelling. Four out of the five grants went to Labor or Labor aligned electorates under the previous government. So where do you think it went? It went to prop up Craig Thomson in Dobell. It went to prop up the previous member for New England, Tony Windsor, in that seat. As the Audit Office has said today, the minister used—these are the words of the auditor—'unpublished eligibility criteria', 'implemented in a way that gave insufficient attention to the program's objectives'. That is code from the auditor for this partisan pork-barrelling of this particular program—it gave 'insufficient attention to the program's objectives'. Indeed, the Labor minister at the time, according to the advice of the auditor, ignored the department's advice, and that department's advice was that these program grants were lacking in 'merit' and were not 'value for money'. I wondered which of the six hapless housing ministers under the Labor government might have been responsible for this.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Six?

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, one every year—it was a game of housie for the Labor Party. Which of the six hapless housing ministers was responsible for this program? Let's be fair, on this occasion it was not the member for Sydney. She had done enough damage. No, this was the member for Gorton who ignored his department's advice, who made partisan pork-barrelling grants to Labor electorates.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker—

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had your attention first, Madam Speaker.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the honourable the Prime Minister.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You did see me first, Madam Speaker.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But I didn't call you, I called the Prime Minister.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.