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

I am more than happy to be reminded. Basically, it is all about supply and demand. If there are not enough houses then there is nowhere to stay and the price of houses goes up. The senator used the example of a $300,000 purchase in New South Wales—the senator’s own state. Stamp duty on a $300,000 house in New South Wales is $8,990. For those who wish to purchase their first home, that is going to be a very dire situation indeed. Where the Commonwealth tries to provide relief for first home buyers in particular—and that is a little over $7,000—it is immediately gobbled up by the states, which have a love affair with money rather than with their constituents.

I think it is a bit trite coming into this place and lecturing us about opportunities for housing affordability. I could go through a number of other areas where stamp duty and the responsibility to try to keep the cost of housing down and make it more affordable go on and on, but in particular there is a close association with the provision of public and community housing. We can never have affordable housing without the amount of public and community housing increasing. We have made an investment of $9.6 billion over a decade. The Labor Party has mismanaged the provision of affordable housing to Australians and we are going to change that.