Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Hansard source

Our nation is in crisis. Cost of living is out of control—rents, mortgages and the rest. We all know that. It's breaking budgets. Families are hurting, and there is no relief in sight. Australians are suffering not because of a new phenomenon but because of a persistent and toxic cocktail of bad policy at federal, state and local levels. All levels are responsible. The obsession with cash handouts and adding layer upon layer of bureaucracy and red tape has led us to this crisis. It's basic economics. Nowhere in the world, nowhere in history, have price caps produced the desired outcome. The answer is not price controls. The answer is increasing supply by reducing bureaucratic and financial barriers to housing supply. The answer is entrepreneurship, the free movement of capital and, most importantly, government getting out of the way of the free market.