Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I find it highly ironic that Senator Gallagher is talking about housing affordability, given her record and the record of the government that she was part of in squeezing tens of thousands of Canberra families out of the housing market. It was achieved through deliberate policies, which colleagues like Bob Day have commented on in terms of other states. The ACT was at the forefront of these deliberate policies. They own a lot of land and they deliberately push the price of land up to keep their profits up as a government, forcing families to take on more and more debt just to get into the housing market. Then they put a massive tax on units for those who rent or for those who want to purchase a unit. It is no wonder that Senator Gallagher would not want to stay and defend her record on this, because the government she was part of and then led was just outrageous when it came to forcing Canberra families out of the housing market.

What I want to do now is talk about the debate we are having about the GST or about tax more broadly, I think it is fair to say—