Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

If those opposite are not all that interested in this particular question, I am sure the young people that I see surrounding us in the gallery will be, because housing for their parents is a fundamental part of their future.

Housing affordability has been on everyone’s mind for quite some time, and I think that the question really went to what the Commonwealth government has provided. We have provided $9.6 billion over the last decade, which is a considerable amount of money. And we have done it in the great spirit of partnership—principally with partners in the states and territories from the Labor Party. In this spirit and in the interests of future generations of Australians like those in the gallery, we provided $9.6 billion. A little bit of simple maths: $9.6 billion at around $250,000 a house over that period of time is about 36,000 homes. You can imagine 36,000 homes in really big suburbs—houses as far as the eye can see. But we do not have 36,000 homes; we do not have 3,600; we do not have 360; we do not have any! An investment in public housing of $9.6 billion over 10 years by this government has, through the state and territory governments, resulted in 13 fewer houses than we started with.

I tell you what: I am sure those in the gallery will understand that if you spend $9.6 billion on houses and a truck arrives and the doors open and there are none, you would not want to do that again, would you? It is pretty basic stuff. And so, no, we are not going to be doing that again. We are engaging with the private sector and the community sector and with non-government organisations that are prepared to do the right thing. When we enter into a deal, we say, ‘We will provide money and you will come up with houses that keep people out of the rain.’ That is pretty basic sort of stuff. We know that the government has provided the money. We can come up with the invoices—I can tell you that now. We can provide absolutely unquestionable evidence that $9.6 billion has been provided. So when we say to the states and territories, ‘Excuse me, where are the houses—