Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I can assure you, Senator Roberts, it's not the one world government in control of our policies. That's definitely not the case. The Australian government, of course, is in charge of our migration policies, and it's the Australian government who has reduced migration numbers over the last three years through a variety of measures—

including a number of measures that the very vocal Senator Canavan over there voted against. They've got a lot of things to say from the cheap seats over there in the opposition, but, whenever they get the chance to vote on something, they vote against it.

Senator Roberts, I don't know whether the figures you have just quoted about the number housing starts are correct or not; I'd have to check them. But what I do know is that the construction of new housing being funded through our Housing Australia Future Fund was held up for month after month after month by the unholy coalition of the Liberals, the Nationals, One Nation and the Greens. They blocked our legislation and prevented spending on housing that has finally been passed by the Senate, still with the opposition of this lot over there. We're now getting on with building those homes.