Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on these housing bills: the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023, the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council Bill 2023 and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Measures No. 1) Bill 2023. I think one thing that unites everybody in this chamber or listening to the speeches on these bills is our desire for more affordable housing for those who want to buy their own family home or those who need to or want to rent. That is something that absolutely unites us all. What divides us is how to achieve that goal.

What we see yet again in these bills is Labor putting rhetoric, spin, and catchy names ahead of the substance that will actually deliver the outcome. Not only is this poor legislation; it is quite a cruel hoax, I think, on Australians around this nation, including so many in my home state of Western Australia, who are absolutely desperately suffering with Labor's cost-of-living increases, to the point where they cannot afford rent or they cannot afford their mortgages or, certainly, to get a mortgage for the first time. These bills are a rerun of what we have now come to expect from those opposite in the Labor government: legislation that is poorly thought through and poorly defined and has insufficient time in Senate committees to improve the bills through the collective wisdom of those in this chamber, as we have done since the Senate was formed.

They are also guillotining important bills like this to push them through before the Greens have a chance to change their mind. I've got to say it was very noteworthy, when I was standing in this chamber earlier in support of a Greens urgency motion, that I observed that Labor, halfway through their first term in government, would be hearing from the Australian Greens that they had been gaslighted and betrayed. I have to say to the Australian Greens: you might think that you've done a good thing with the deal on this bill. But let me tell you: in 18 or 12 months time, when we go to the next federal election, and you look at what the Labor Party has done—not just with this legislation but with so much of its other legislation—Australia will, sadly in this case, not just be standing still but it will be going backwards.

Let's have a look at their record so far, halfway, or a little bit more now, through their term. Not a single one of Labor's promised 30,000 new social and affordable homes have even been started. Even with this bill, I have to ask the Australian Greens: if they haven't been able to build one of 30,000 in over half their term, how on earth are they going to be able to start delivering any of the rest of it which they've promised? Past performance is certainly a good indicator of future performance, and on new social and affordable housing they have a big, fat fail. This has had a significant impact on so many Australians who desperately need these homes and who have been sold a lie by Labor.

To Labor's much-vaunted Help To Buy program with its promised commencement date of 1 January this year: it's late, with no announcement of when this program will even start. That's a second failure of promise and of commitment to some of Australia's most vulnerable people, particularly exacerbated now through the cost-of-living crisis. Thirdly, rents have continued to increase under this government. The fact is that ABS data shows Australian actual rents by new tenants increasing by 14 per cent over the year to February this year, and they're still going up.

For these, and for many other reasons, the coalition will not support the establishment of the Housing Australia Future Fund. It's a hoax, it's a fraud and it's most likely going to be the biggest slush fund that Labor have managed to get for themselves. It's bad policy, simply for the fact that it will be capitalised with $10 billion worth of additional Commonwealth government borrowing. No matter how they try to write it on the books it's still a borrowing, and in this desperate, last-ditch attempt to get its troubled housing bills through this chamber the Albanese government has been forced to cut yet another deal. As I said, this will absolutely be a deal where, in a few months time, the Greens will stand up here and accuse the Labor government of betrayal and gaslighting. That I can guarantee. The sad thing is that not only will the government have been gaslighting the Greens again but they will have let down every Australian who will look at these political announcements and think: 'I'm actually going to be able to get some social housing and I'm actually going to be able to have affordable rent. I might actually be able to start getting my first home,' or, 'I won't actually have to try to sell my house because I cannot afford the interest rates under this government.'

This is, without question, bad policy. This is a particularly low point, even by the very low standards of the Labor Party—which we have come to expect. They're using catchy titles and great promises. I ask the Greens: why would you believe this round of Labor promises when they've broken every other housing promise they took to the election over a year and a half ago? This is not just bad for the entire nation; it's particularly bad for constituents in Western Australia—and I'll come back to that. The difference, as I said, between those on that side of the chamber and those on our side of the chamber when we were in government is not just about the policy, which is all—the policy and the spin—that Labor cares about. It is about good policy. It is about consulting on policy, and it is about producing the best possible legislation to deliver a positive outcome for Australians. This set of legislation will not achieve that.

The bill lacks crucial detail for Australians in a number of ways, and it fails to define key terms, including probably the three most important. Those opposite have not defined social housing. That's a bit of a surprise in legislation that they're saying will assist social housing. They haven't defined affordable housing. Again, there's no definition of social housing, no definition of affordable housing and no definition of acute housing. I cannot believe that the Greens have struck a deal with Labor on something they care so passionately about when the legislation doesn't define social housing, doesn't define affordable housing and does not define acute housing.

This fund provides no certainty as all, as disbursements for the fund will be wholly reliant on the financial performance of the fund's investment in equities and other financial products. And guess what? I say this to the Australian Greens: if the fund had been established last financial year, when Labor wanted it to be established, the Commonwealth would already have lost $370 million out of that fund, in addition to the approximately $400 million in interest on the borrowing. Therefore, these great financial managers who wanted to set up this fund would already, in less than a year, have lost approximately $770 million. That would have meant not a single dollar was available for social and affordable housing projects, which, by the way, they have not yet defined in the legislation they are guillotining through this chamber today.

Shame on them. They talk about the cost of living, about people who need assistance and about families, but, under those opposite, the facts are very, very clear. Cost-of-living pressures have worsened to crisis levels now for millions of Australians due to Labor's high inflation, declining real wages—declining real wages under Labor!—and skyrocketing energy and grocery bills. This is Labor's inflation. As to Labor's bill, I can guarantee you, if you haven't done anything in housing in the first half of your term—and I say to the Australian Greens that they will rue the day they did this deal—nothing will change and the situation will continue to go backwards.

I turn to my home state of Western Australia and what the impact of this will be in my home state. Like other senators, I have been travelling around the state and talking to people across the state and across many different communities. There is no question that Western Australians are doing it really tough, and they're struggling with cost-of-living and household crises as a result. The cost of rentals in capital cities under this government has increased by 11.7 per cent in the year to April this year. Perth is experiencing record rent increases. The median weekly rental rate has risen to over $500. Over 7,000 Western Australians are experiencing homelessness, and one in four is sleeping rough every single night. And this lot want to put the Cook Labor government in charge. They are responsible. Despite all of the rhetoric and hubris from Labor governments, federal and state, the number of people sleeping rough under the Cook government has increased by 104 per cent since Labor came to government. In fact, sadly, Western Australia has been labelled the rough-sleeping capital of Australia. And there is nothing in this bill that will change their circumstances.

Today in Western Australia there are 34,000 Western Australians on the Western Australian public housing list, which is a complete and utter disgrace, and that has increased significantly under the Cook government, which has spent billions trying to fix the problem. All they have done is put more people on the public housing waiting list for far longer. How do you figure that? They have put money into the system but they now have less public housing and more people on the list. This is the crowd that those opposite want to put in charge or give the money to, to make the situation worse.

So for these and many other reasons, we will not be supporting these bills. It is a cruel hoax on all Australians who so desperately need support to be able to afford to rent their homes, to take out a mortgage or to keep their mortgage. This will not do any of it. It will cost federal taxpayers over $10 billion. I guess we have to thank the Greens for delaying this bill because the taxpayer would have lost over $770 million simply by having this fund. What more is it going to cost? So, again, I'm sorry to say this to the Australian Greens but you have been sold a hoax and you will be standing here shortly saying you and all Australians have been gaslit.