Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Treasurer, I made 100 in the backyard at Mum's—treehouses, tyre swings and flashing footballs. Does the Australian dream still exist, or does the reality of crippling debt traumatise young couples? Your last three budgets acknowledged that regulatory burdens have driven house prices beyond affordability. Treasurer, why don't you become a federal government, cut the Gordian knot and wreak Cannae-like destruction upon power-drunk state and local government regulators?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There was a lot in that question and I'm looking forward to the answer.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It does have a certain appeal. Member for Kennedy, I appreciate the question about young people in particular and I take the opportunity to welcome, as the Speaker did, Olivia. We are pleased you could make it in the end. We hope your exams went well. We assume, if you won that competition then, you probably nailed the exams as well.

Now, when it comes the young people and the beautifully nostalgic Queensland childhood that the member for Kennedy describes in his question, which is a little bit familiar to me—from a couple of generations later—I wanted to say—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I'm hoping for a Christmas miracle. The member for Kennedy, on a point of order?

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I asked a question about affordability and we had a talk to someone in the gallery and then a reference to his childhood.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member may resume his seat. The point was on relevance. I thank the member. The Treasurer was just referring to the question he was asked about. You did mention that, so we will give him another go. He has the call.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the honourable member for the question. The reason I made that Queensland reference was because I wanted to begin by acknowledging in a very Queensland way that in our economy too often younger people and younger families get the rough end of the pineapple when it comes to the way that some of our policies are set up. That's really the motivation behind so much of what we are doing. Whether it's the way we rewrote the tax cuts, whether it is our Help to Buy scheme that passed the House today, whether it's all the other things we're doing in housing, whether it is our efforts to get wages moving again and strengthen Medicare, all of that, in one way or another, is in recognition and in response to the fact that we do think that young people have had a rough deal for too long. It is also the motivating force behind the changes we are making to student debt. So to acknowledge in the member for Kennedy's question something I agree with, we can always do more to make sure that younger people get a fairer in our economy and in our society, and housing affordability is a big part of that.

The member asked me about the role of the states and the role of the Commonwealth. We have acknowledged—more than acknowledged—and we have taken responsibility for a huge amount of Commonwealth investment in housing. I pay tribute to the housing minister and her predecessor for that $32 billion. That's because we know if we are going to build the homes that we need to make our economy fairer for young people then we need everyone to do their bit and we are doing our bit.

The member for Kennedy asked me about the role of the states. There is a substantial role for the states here, whether it is in regulation or investment or in other ways—and I will be convening the state treasurers on Friday here in Canberra to talk about some of these issues that he raises in his question. But if his question is: is there a role for the Commonwealth, then, yes, we embrace that enthusiastically. If his question is: is there a role for states and state regulators, of course there is. If we are to build the homes we need for the young people to deliver that sense of intergenerational justice that the member asked me about, everybody needs to do their bit. We're doing our bit and the states need to do their bit as well.