Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023. If this legislation and the related bills are the government's whole response to the rental crisis engulfing Australia, the response falls very short of what's needed.

Labor says it will borrow $10 million and invest it in a fund to generate returns of $500 million a year that may be spent to build 30,000 new homes over five years. That is $2.5 billion for 30,000 homes, minus the cream skimmed, but more bureaucrats to oversee the fund. Labor obviously needs some remedial education in basic maths because that is only a bit more than $83,000 per home. According to the Bureau of Statistics, it costs an average of $471,000 to build a new house in Australia, and that figure was reported in April 2022. It is also very hard to see how Labor's construction plans won't similarly take away from private construction the tradies and materials that are already in short supply. Labor needs to understand that 30,000 homes will barely make a dent in the estimated national housing shortfall of 650,000 homes. This is much too little, much too late. The housing and rental crisis is like a tortoise. You could see it coming from a long way off a long time ago.

Labor could also use some remedial education in basic economics, because the housing and rental crisis is primarily about too little supply and too much demand. One Nation's policy will increase supply and reduce demand and always puts Australia and Australians first. To increase supply, we must ban foreign ownership of all residential property in Australia. With mortgage stress forcing more Australians to sell their homes, Chinese investors are snapping them up at a rate of $8 million a day. Many of those houses are being left empty. Why has the government cleansed illegal foreign ownership of our housing? Is it because money speaks louder than looking after the vulnerable, the destitute and the homeless? Why hasn't the government moved to address the issue of foreign owned homes lying vacant for months at a time while Australians are forced to live on the streets?

On census night in 2021 more than a million dwellings were vacant. We should ban foreign ownership and give foreign owners a defined period to sell up. It would quickly increase the supply of housing available for Australians. New Zealand has done it. Canada has done it. There is no reason why Australia can't do it with a system that requires agents for sellers to cite documents proving the Australian citizenship of the buyer before the property is transferred.

To reduce demand, we must substantially reduce the huge number of immigrants Labor is bringing into Australia. A study by the Grattan Institute found in 2018 that, for every 1,000 new immigrants, up to 550 dwellings must be built to accommodate them. Across the last financial year and this one Labor will have brought 715,000 new migrants to Australia. That will require more than 355,000 new dwellings just to accommodate them. It makes no sense to allow hordes of immigrants into Australia every year when the country can't find enough homes for the people already living here. It raises the question: do they really want to build the 30,000 homes for Australians or for the migrants they've invited out here? Aussies, make up your own mind. A great example is the foreign student scam. Last financial year more than 250,000 of students were permitted into Australia. Another 187,000 are expected this year because it is a convenient back door for permanent migration. According to the Institute of Public Affairs, on average foreign students took up 70 per cent of net new housing units supplied to the Australian market. I agree with Senator Rennick: our universities generate enormous revenues from foreign students. It's a $40 billion-per-year industry, and it receives billions more from taxpayers. They should be levied to contribute to more housing so their cash cows aren't taking much-needed rental accommodation from Australians. Labor is making the housing rental crisis worse with its immigration policies and international students, and ignoring the majority of Australians who do not support high immigration. Labor's high-immigration policies are also completely incompatible with its extremist green left climate policies. High immigration means higher emissions. Go figure.

One Nation's policy is to allow Australians to access part of their superannuation to buy a family home. One Nation has been speaking to superannuation funds about investing in their clients' own homes as a tenant in common, just as many funds already invest people's super in property. We would limit this to primary residences, excluding investment properties. Upon sale of the home the super fund would take its proportionate share of any gains while the homeowner takes theirs. It would be the super fund making the investment, not the client removing some of their superannuation themselves.

Also, One Nation's policy requires tax reform. GST and state government fees and charges like stamp duty account for 45 per cent of the cost of a new home; 40 to 45 per cent of the price of a new home is actually government tax fees and charges. That's why the Australian people can't afford it. Why don't you address that issue? Many state government fees and charges were meant to be replaced by GST revenue more than 20 years ago. But, as we all know, governments are very reluctant to forgo the taxpayer revenue to which they feel entitled. One Nation also calls for a policy enabling homeowners to rent out rooms in their primary residence tax free. This would help alleviate demand in the rental market and provide a way for homeowners to meet the rising cost of living and rising mortgage payments.

State and territory governments are also making the housing and rental crisis worse, with ever-increasing restrictions on landlords. These people are not the greedy property tycoons we're told they are. The vast majority of these people—around 75 per cent—own only one investment property. They've worked hard and saved carefully to nurture this investment to provide for their income or retirement. However, these days they have fewer rights than their tenants and are facing increased costs, such as insurance and council rates. There was a story on A Current Affair earlier this year about a Victorian woman who cannot move back into her own property because the tenant, who hasn't paid rent since July last year, refuses to leave. This woman is more than $65,000 out of pocket and can't even inspect her own property.

Landlords are being forced to accept pets. They're being forced to increase notice to tenants. Queensland's Labor government has joined other states in limiting rent increases to once a year after considering a cap on rent increases. And we know the Greens want a national rent freeze, which is just about the dumbest policy ever proposed in this place. Don't tell people how to run their lives or personal businesses. Don't tell people how to look after their own property. And don't tell people what they can charge for accommodation. Property investors carry all the financial risks in this market—rising council rates, mortgage payments and insurance costs—while tenants carry virtually none.

Investors aren't the problem here. No matter how much Labor and the Greens try to demonise them. The real problem is with governments—tax grabs, record immigration, allowing foreign ownership and lack of land release. Investors are getting out of the long-term rental market and putting their money in safer alternatives like the short-term holiday accommodation market because they are fed up with the government control and have no confidence.

Today's Courier Mail reported a survey of Queensland investors that found almost 40 per cent had offloaded at least one property in the past year. Most of these are not being bought up by other investors but by people intending to occupy the property themselves. Investors are also getting out of the market in droves in Victoria. Both states have implemented greater restrictions on landlords to give the appearance they are helping renters but it is having the opposite effect and the market is tighter than ever. Last month the national rental vacancy rate hit a record low figure of 1.1 per cent. Rather than punish landlords and reduce available rentals, we need to incentivise investment in the rental market. A good start would be reducing stamp duty, reducing capital gains tax and restoring the balance of rights between landlords and tenants.

One Nation also calls for reform in the public housing sector, in particular state governments must put an end to decades-long or lifelong public housing leases. Public housing is meant to be a temporary accommodation for those whose circumstances prevent them from affording private rentals. Once people are in a position to afford private rentals they should be required to vacate public housing to make way for others who really need it.

One Nation's policy also addresses red tape roadblocks at state and local government levels. State governments and councils are taking a ridiculous amount of time to release land for new housing. Councils are also spending ratepayers' money on things which are outside their core responsibilities and must prioritise essential services in an effort to prevent unaffordable rate increases.

I acknowledge the issues which have created this housing and rental crisis are complex and have been many years in the making. This is making proposed solutions more complex too, but this is no comfort to Australian families facing increased mortgage payments and rents, facing rapid inflation and enormous energy bill increases. It is no comfort at all to the growing number of Australian families now facing homelessness. We all want to prevent homelessness and, except for the Greens, we all want families to be able to realise the great Australian dream of owning their own home. These bills do not address the cause of the national housing and rental crisis and, in terms of increasing housing supply, they are worthless. One Nation will not support this legislation. What a bitter disappointment this government has been to Australians doing it tough.

I just want to reiterate what Senator Rennick said tonight. He is spot on with the universities. Most of them claim charity status. They are a $40 billion industry. We actually give them funding to the tune of billions of dollars. They bring foreign students into the country, 250,000 this year, and they actually don't contribute. They are a strain on our facilities here in Australia. They say they are bringing so much money into the country, but why aren't we getting taxes out of the universities? It is a $40 billion industry and we get nothing out of it. We actually give them money. You have these vice-chancellors on $900,000 plus a year. Some are on over $1 million a year.

A lot of these students use university as a back door to get into Australia. Most of these university students are taxi drivers, who have come here to study accountancy or some other course and end up only using it to get a back door into Australia, and these students are taking up 70 per cent of net new housing. This is the big problem. What are we getting out of it? For what? Propping up the universities is a big problem.

You know what? It is a shame that the Liberal Party are looking at getting rid of Senator Rennick because he won't get on the ticket. He is a true conservative with values who fights for the Australian people and I support him. It is a shame that he may not be on the ticket at the next election. I would like to see other people go in this chamber like Simon Birmingham, Andrew Bragg, Jane Hume, Richard Colbeck, Dean Smith and the new one, Maria Kovacic. These are all the lefties who actually should be in the Labor Party—and some even in the Greens. You're allowing the moderates into this chamber, which is not the Senate for Australians. As far as Senator Marise Payne is concerned, I'm pleased to see the back end of her, because she's another moderate in the chamber. Thank you very much. Cheers.