Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

I was particularly interested in the questions in relation to the economy from Senator Birmingham to Senator Wong. The question Senator Birmingham asked was specifically around why this government can't manage inflation. Instead of actually getting an answer to that question, we got an answer around the tax cuts and around the energy relief. I think we need to stop and reflect for a little while. There is this $300 of energy relief over a 12-month period that every household gets, and we also have this scenario where we have the tax cuts that Senator Wong spoke of.

But let's just look at one element of what Australians are dealing with as a result of the current inflationary and cost-of-living crisis in this country: the average Australian home loan, which is $750,000. That is an additional $35,000 a year in mortgage repayments for those families. I'm really sorry, but a $300 energy rebate does nothing to dampen the impact of that. These are catastrophic conditions for many Australians, primarily for young Australians who have only purchased their first home in the last couple of years who have actually seen their expenses just blow out exponentially. That has turned what was meant to be their Australian dream into an Australian nightmare. We need to reflect on that and actually think about it. It's fundamentally unfair. We need to address the issues at hand, and those issues specifically point to this government's inability to manage that inflation, and it is a really important question that didn't get answered.

Something that also struck me in that answer was a comment that there are more homes in more parts of the country being built more quickly. I think I took that down accurately; that's my recollection of it. Now, that is inherently untrue. There are fewer homes being built. They are more expensive, and it's happening less across our country. So, the exact opposite of what was said in response to Senator Birmingham's question is the lived experience of Australians who are trying to get into a new home. The homes are not being built, and that is an absolute fact. In my state of New South Wales, the state Labor government's targets for new housing will not be met. That's a given. There's no    question about that. We know it won't happen. So, we absolutely know that more homes in more parts of the country are not being built.

Senator Paterson asked Senator Watt some questions in relation to Palestinian visas. I observed with interest that it was a very straightforward question from Senator Paterson: how many of the 2,922 Palestinians who have been granted a visa by the Albanese Labor government since October 7 have had their visa cancelled on character grounds? That is a very straightforward question that would have a numerical answer. So, either the minister knew the answer to that question and could provide it, or he didn't know and could take it on notice. Instead, for a full two minutes, we had a preamble and a discussion around background checks and visa criteria and pointing to the opposition and different things that they've done in government, when the answer was a simple statistic: how many? It's a number. A discussion wasn't required. A preamble wasn't required. A background as to the construction of different character grounds or character tests for visas wasn't required. So, that is quite a significant concern as well.

Finally, Senator Nampijinpa Price asked a question about the Regis goldmine—again, just asking whether the minister will seek out a meeting with a group to hear their concerns. And there could not be a simple answer of yes or no—again, there was a broader discussion about different things but no simple answer. Sadly, today's experience with questions without notice is very reflective of this government and its lack of transparency and the lack of willingness to answer questions directly.