Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, of course it is a no-brainer; thank you, Senator Cormann. I take the Senate back to 2006, when the Reserve Bank Governor, Ian Macfarlane, told a parliamentary committee that the decline of new home affordability was all about house prices. I would like to quote what he said then, because it is very much still the situation. He said:

I think it is pretty apparent now that reluctance to release new land plus the new approach whereby the purchaser has to pay for all the services up front—the sewerage, the roads, the footpaths and all that sort of stuff—has enormously increased the price of the new, entry-level home.

If you want any further evidence, consider this disturbing fact: the price of land in Sydney between 1973 and 2003 rose by 700 per cent, while the cost of the housing component of house and land packages has increased by just four per cent over the same period. That is absolutely shocking. It is shameless the way that Labor continue to protect their mates in the states and territories by blaming interest rates. This could not be further from the truth. Interest rates have averaged 12.7 per cent during Labor’s 13 years in government compared with the low rates under the coalition. Have we forgotten interest rates of 17 per cent? How many people had to sell their homes when interest rates were at 17 per cent?