Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Hansard source

It seems quite a long time since the moving of the adjournment last night. I had expected to be completing this speech on these so-called clean energy bills somewhat earlier today, but there we are. When the adjournment was moved last night one of the issues I was discussing in relation to these bills and my shadow responsibilities was the impact on housing in Australia that will occur after the implementation of this legislation. I was speaking last night about the increases that will result, particularly in rents, as investors in new houses are forced to pass on the costs of servicing those larger mortgages to their tenants.

When you increase the cost of building new homes you inevitably also slow the growth in new housing stock and push up the price of existing homes. We already have a shortage of rental properties, so an increasing shortage of rental properties will only see more low-income earners and more welfare recipients pushed into what is often known as marginal housing. A number of senators in the chamber are familiar with the issues around homelessness. I am not sure that I understand a policy that is ultimately going to exacerbate social problems such as this. It seems to me to be ill conceived. Equally perversely, the additional costs of new housing construction are going to punish those who want to build a house, as modern, newly constructed houses have the highest levels of energy efficiency and therefore the lowest contributions to carbon emissions of Australia's housing stock. It will deter the construction of new, more energy efficient housing, and this is at a time when Australia already has a chronic national housing shortage, which stands at 202,400 as of June 2010 and is expected to exceed 300,000 by 2014. I would really like to have more current, more up-to-date, figures but for reasons known only to members of the government the National Housing Supply Council was not reappointed for an extended period after the last election. In fact, it was in limbo for months and months, notwithstanding the fact that the relevant aspects of the red book for that portfolio indicated that it was a priority action. So we are awaiting a State of supply report which will show Australians and, more particularly, investors what the state of shortage is. In ignoring the important issue of the national housing shortage—and it is extremely frustrating in the estimates process to seek answers as to when we will see a new State of supply reportthe government also ignores the fact that the implementation of the carbon tax as it is constructed under this legislation will only exacerbate the problem, and that is a matter of great concern to members of the coalition.

We think, as members of the Liberal and National parties, that there is another way to go about this, and numbers of my colleagues have spoken about that previously. Overwhelmingly, Australians want to see something done about climate change and want to see Australia doing its part. Rather than using the blunt object of carbon pricing, the coalition's plan is to address climate change and to reach its five per cent emissions reduction target by 2020 by positive, direct action.