Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (Social and Community Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question without notice today is to Senator Scullion, representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Is the minister aware that nearly 6,000 families in New South Wales have lost their home since the start of 2006 because they were unable to meet their mortgage repayments? Aren’t 90 households in New South Wales losing their homes every week in 2007 for this same reason? What advice does the minister have for working families who face the risk of losing their homes as a result of nine interest rate rises in a row? Don’t these rate hikes mean that families are now paying $430 extra each month on a $300,000 mortgage compared to before interest rates started going up? How could the government have broken its 2004 promise to these families to keep interest rates at record lows?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. There is something that must annoy those who are thinking about buying a new house, those who are paying rent and the sort of demographic that the senator referred to, and that is the blame game. This government is not into playing the blame game for someone else’s problems or responsibilities. We are about accepting responsibility for our constituents in Australia—right across the state and territory demographics—who deserve the very best. We have made an investment of over $1 billion a year over the last decade, and I do not think that there is any argument about that. As a consequence of that, through the states and territories, through Labor governments, we now have 13 fewer houses than we started with. We decided that that is probably not the best way to continue.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What have you been doing for 10 years?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate asks what we have been doing for 10 years. To clarify, I was actually referring to the Labor governments in the states and territories. We have decided not to keep going down that road. What we have decided to do is engage the private sector. We have flagged that future investments we make will be made on the basis that the nature of the investment will not change. We are not going to be throwing good money after bad. The people on the other side, who continue to provide advice to us, should look very carefully at the model that is being provided.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (Social and Community Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order. We are not talking here about department of housing stock. We are talking about 6,000 families—

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is your point of order?

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (Social and Community Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Please direct the minister to answer the question that I asked him.

Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot direct the minister to answer a question, but I remind the minister of the question.

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am more than happy to be reminded. Basically, it is all about supply and demand. If there are not enough houses then there is nowhere to stay and the price of houses goes up. The senator used the example of a $300,000 purchase in New South Wales—the senator’s own state. Stamp duty on a $300,000 house in New South Wales is $8,990. For those who wish to purchase their first home, that is going to be a very dire situation indeed. Where the Commonwealth tries to provide relief for first home buyers in particular—and that is a little over $7,000—it is immediately gobbled up by the states, which have a love affair with money rather than with their constituents.

I think it is a bit trite coming into this place and lecturing us about opportunities for housing affordability. I could go through a number of other areas where stamp duty and the responsibility to try to keep the cost of housing down and make it more affordable go on and on, but in particular there is a close association with the provision of public and community housing. We can never have affordable housing without the amount of public and community housing increasing. We have made an investment of $9.6 billion over a decade. The Labor Party has mismanaged the provision of affordable housing to Australians and we are going to change that.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (Social and Community Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for his answer, which of course is cold comfort to those 6,000 families who have lost their home since 2006. I ask the minister: how does his rhetoric help the young families who are losing their home as we speak because they cannot afford their loan repayments? Why does the Prime Minister claim that working families in Australia have never been better off when they are losing their homes in record numbers? How will young Australians be able to afford their own homes if mortgages and prices keep rising along with interest rates?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With their record it is pretty amazing that the senator should come into this place and talk about the history of interest rates and their affect on housing.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who holds the record?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Perhaps we need to clarify this on the record. The very lowest that those opposite ever achieved was 8.34 per cent. The highest that we were was 8.3 per cent. Interest rates have fluctuated between 6 and 8.3 per cent, while those opposite lorded over interest rates of between 8.34 per cent and 17 per cent. It was 17 per cent because those opposite have never been able to demonstrate that they could manage a trillion-dollar economy, and Australians who are listening to this broadcast today should be warned: they cannot trust Labor in government.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.