Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

On the amendment moved by Senator McKim: the government won't be supporting this amendment, although I understand perhaps an agreement has been reached with the Opposition and the Greens on both of these bills.

The government will argue, certainly on the PRRT bill, that this is an important budget repair bill. It's important that it passes this Senate not only to provide the certainty that the sector has been seeking around arrangements but also to support the budget repair that the government has been working on for some time now, since coming to government, and it contributes to that over the forward estimates. I don't believe it is as complex as Senator McKim would argue. It clearly puts in place the arrangements going forward, but, importantly, it brings forward revenue into the forward estimates for budget repair.

On the Help to Buy scheme, I think we again see an alliance between the Greens and the Liberal Party on measures and legislation that we are trying to pass through this chamber to improve people's access to affordable housing. This is an important commitment we took to the election. We've negotiated it with the states. There's been agreement at National Cabinet to progress this legislation. And now, similarly to what happened with the HAFF bill, we see the Greens and the Liberal Party trying to slow this down. You can't on the one hand attack the government over rents and housing and then, at the same time, slow down legislation that we are seeking to pass here so that people can get access to cheap mortgages and get into the housing system from the rental system. That's what Help to Buy will deal with—it will help people who have been unable to purchase a house get into the housing ownership market.

This legislation, again, is not complex. It is pretty straightforward in aiming to establish a scheme that has been operating in the states for some time and has proven to be very successful in delivering those outcomes. We get that the Liberals and the Greens want to gang up on matters about housing and then go out and campaign on that, but here is a piece of legislation that very clearly creates access to the housing market for people who, for whatever reason, are currently locked out. The Commonwealth wants to move into this space. We agree that the Commonwealth should provide leadership on housing, as we've been doing through Minister Collins's work, through establishing the HAFF and through all of the other arrangements that we're putting in place.

But, by delaying the legislation, kicking it off to April and not having it dealt with, instead of coming back and dealing with it in the first sessions of next year, we're saying 'no' to potentially 40,000 applicants under a Help to Buy scheme being able to access affordable mortgages and enter the housing market. It's just nonsensical that the Senate would be standing in the way of that. We've got legislation in the House. It could easily be dealt with. The schemes have been operating. Talk to your state colleagues about how they're working, but please don't stand in the way of the government making progress in the area of housing.

We've seen it with the HAFF. It delayed the HAFF by months and months. We expect it from those opposite—the 'no-alition'. We've come expect it from the Greens on housing, which is extraordinary. But please consider what you're actually doing out there, which is preventing thousands of Australians out in the suburbs in your communities from being able to access affordable mortgages through the Help to Buy scheme. It's a good scheme. It works; it's been proven to work. The states and territories are behind it. The first ministers and the Prime Minister have agreed on arrangements to put this in place. And then the Senate and the coalition—or the 'no-alition', which has been building up on a number of different measures on legislation in this place—are standing in the way of thousands of Australian families being able to enter the housing market. There is no logical argument for it other than that you want to delay, point-score and campaign but you don't actually want to be part of any solutions to fix the decade of delay and neglect that we inherited from those opposite on housing policy.