Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership) Share this | Hansard source

The overall fiscal stance is what is at fault here, and the fact that there is a massive cost-of-living crisis is of no great surprise to me, because, over the last 18 months or so, when we've had the Reserve Bank come to Senate estimates, I have asked the governor, whether it was Philip Lowe or Michele Bullock: is the government running a fiscal stance which is contractionary, neutral or expansionary? Never once has the Governor of the Reserve Bank said, 'The Commonwealth government is running a contractionary budget stance.' They were very polite, but they were less polite last week in their meeting minutes when the Reserve Bank made it clear that the government is going on the wrong direction and forcing the Reserve Bank to seriously consider raising interest rates at a time when our global peers are cutting them. So this question of homegrown inflation is not in doubt. This is not something that's just being said by politicians in the building; this is the position of the independent Reserve Bank and the Governor of the Reserve Bank as appointed by this Treasurer.

I am in no doubt that the Reserve Bank is desperately wanting the government to recalibrate its fiscal stance. But, if you look at the budget papers, where we're going is deficit, deficit, deficit over the next three years, after we get through this fiscal year. We are going in the wrong direction, and all you've got to do is look at the on-budget and off-budget items to see the picture. Even though there are off-budget items—a slush fund or a multibillion-dollar fund like the reconstruction scheme or the housing scheme—these things spend real money. They spend billions of dollars, and that is adding to the inflation problem. My view is that, while we have these massive schemes, the inflation problem will only get worse.

Of course, the housing question is desperately sad for so many Australians. We see in the data that rents have gone up significantly over the last couple of years, but so have housing and construction costs. We know about the 30 per cent tax the CFMEU levies on every Australian wanting to build a new house as part of a larger construction. That CFMEU tax is avoidable. We only have that tax because Labor is totally beholden to this union. It has been allowed to run the country's construction sector. That has massively inflated construction costs, which has meant the Australian dream is further from reach than it should be.

As a result of Labor's intransigence on housing, their high inflation and their commitment to the CFMEU, plus their failure on housing policy more broadly, we have now had to establish a separate inquiry to look at the question of lending. The government never talk about the problems facing individuals, because they are so blinded by their obsession with what's good for institutions. The government is more interested in what's good for Vanguard, BlackRock and Cbus than in what's good for the average worker. That is where we are in this country right now. The lending inquiry will look at how we can restore the ability of an average worker on an average wage to get a mortgage, because, if you can't get a mortgage, you can't get a first house. Australia is becoming a country where you have to be a rich person to get a loan. That is a very sick position for a country like Australia with an egalitarian ethos where the middle classes and the average worker could access a mortgage and a house. It is hugely regrettable that we've now had to take this step of establishing a special inquiry to look at the question of lending and how we can allow the average worker to get into a mortgage, because, if we close the door on the financing of housing for individuals, we are closing the door on the Australian dream.

Labor might be happy with the idea of giving Cbus, AustralianSuper, BlackRock and Vanguard tax cuts so they can do build-to-rent housing and with Australian people become serfs to these major institutions, but that is not the Australian dream. We want to see housing become affordable once again in Australia.