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

No, the government isn't planning on reforms such as the one outlined by Senator Rennick. Our focus on housing affordability is on the supply side. That is the area of pressure which we are experiencing in the housing market right now. There are simply not enough houses to match the demand for houses.

We do believe the government has a role to play to ensure that we are delivering the right type of housing for the demand that's out there. That involves making sure that we have funded services that are dealing with homelessness and people who need a particular support in that sector. Then, in the social and affordable housing sector and the community housing sector, it involves making sure that there is accommodation and that suitable projects are happening there. Then it involves looking at how we can support renters through rent assistance; we've put in a big increase there. Beyond renters, we're looking at how you support people into homeownership. Our Help to Buy Scheme, which is stuck in this Senate, would support tens of thousands of people into homeownership, with the government providing the necessary support. And we are ensuring that we're working with the states and territories to unblock all of the barriers and the bottlenecks that exist with the delays in infrastructure and enabling works to get housing developments open.

So that is the plan that we have, Senator Rennick. I accept that it's not your preferred plan, but that is the plan that we have been working on for the last two years, since we came to government. We do believe there's a role for the government to intervene and to be actively involved in supporting the areas of demand in the housing system, but we prefer the path that we've gone on, which is focusing on supply. It would be great if the Senate would support some of those bills that have been locked in here for way too long.