Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Scullion, the Minister representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Is the minister aware of a report released yesterday that says the number of Australian households enduring mortgage stress will rise above 600,000 in coming months? Doesn’t the Australian mortgage industry report by Fujitsu and JPMorgan also find that 113,000 families may be forced to give up their homes because of mortgage stress? Doesn’t the report cite rising interest rates as the main reason for mortgage stress and conclude that young families in the outer suburbs will be particularly hard hit? Don’t these findings, which show that record numbers of families are losing their homes, reveal the impact of the government’s broken promise to families that it would ‘keep interest rates at record lows’?

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

I particularly love getting a question from Labor on interest rates. They have absolutely no sense of irony. I remind senators once again that the highest interest rates there have ever been under the coalition government are still lower than they were at the lowest point under the last Labor government. What do the Australian Labor Party say to those people who struggled under 17 per cent interest rates when they were in power? What do they say to the two million people who were unemployed? It is almost a trifecta: you have interest rates out of control, nobody has a job and you have exploding inflation. They try to make some sort of a comparison, but I have to say that in the last 11 years of government we have been extremely effective with housing policy. We introduced the first home owners grant. Perhaps I can share with this place the interesting anecdote today of a staffer who has just purchased her first home in the Australian Capital Territory. She lives in the ACT and was delighted to receive the $7,000 first home owners grant. However, she was just a tad disappointed to be hit for $11,000 in stamp duty by Mr Stanhope.

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

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. It goes to relevance. While I normally enjoy Senator Scullion’s reminiscence and anecdotes, Senator Webber asked a very serious question about the Australian mortgage industry report. I would appreciate it if you would ask him to respond to the very serious question asked of him.

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

Senator Evans, I cannot direct the minister how to answer a question but I can remind him of the question.

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

It is good to see the Leader of the Opposition is paying attention. The substance of the question was about interest rates. The report indicated that interest rates are going up, so I stand in this place to remind the Australian people of what it must have been like to have had 17 per cent interest rates, rather than the 8.3 per cent that we have now. I think that is a very reasonable consideration of the question that was put to me. Over the last 11 years of this government we have been extremely active on housing policy. We now have tax arrangements to encourage—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order!

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

We have already spoken in this place of a new approach to boost the supply of public housing by getting the private sector involved. We have had tax arrangements to encourage the Labor state governments to start doing the right thing with regard to cutting their housing tax. We have again provided a strong economy so that everybody who wants a job has one. It is very hard to pay off your mortgage if you do not have a job. Again, 2,186,000 people today enjoy a job that did not exist in 1996. That is the crux of it. You have a job and you can have the joy of being able to buy your own home.

We are an experienced government. We make policies that are well thought out, sensible and extremely well considered. We do not pretend that we can solve problems by establishing another inquiry or having a committee. We have philosophies based on substance, not on froth and bubble. Of course, our government is characterised by a leader who is prepared to make decisions. Unfortunately, those opposite are led by a completely weak and gutless leader.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order! Had you concluded your answer, Senator Scullion?

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

I had indeed, Mr President.

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Hasn’t the Howard government had 11 long years to do something about the housing affordability crisis? Why is it that, after 11 years in office, the best this government can do is hold a brainstorming session in the party room to desperately try and discover a pre-election policy? Doesn’t this highlight the fact that this stale, out-of-touch government has no idea about how to make it easier for young families to buy a home in the future?

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

I was actually in the party room, and I am not sure about ‘a brainstorming session’. As I have said in this place, if those opposite were paying attention, we have made a substantive investment in a new relationship with the private sector. The private sector can be trusted to deliver. I know that if we invest $10 billion over 10 years with the private sector, we will not be scrabbling around and wondering why we had absolutely zero houses, which is what we had from Labor. There will be a new and refreshed relationship with the private sector, because Australians deserve to have a better deal in terms of housing affordability. That is exactly what this government are going to deliver, because we have strong leadership and they have none.