George Campbell (NSW, 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 data contained in the Housing Industry Association 2006 census showing that over half of all people renting in Hastings, Great Lakes, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca, Kempsey, Bellingen, Tweed and Byron Bay shires are in rental stress? Doesn’t it also show that over 40 per cent of people living in Auburn, Strathfield, Fairfield, Rockdale, Liverpool, Botany Bay, Holroyd, Kogarah and Hurstville in Sydney are enduring mortgage stress? Can the minister explain how this latest report fits with the Prime Minister’s claim that working families in Australia have never been better off?

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

I think we all accept in this place that there is a clear link between the cost of rent and housing affordability generally. I know these matters all fall within the same argument. I think it is important that we deal with some facts. It is surprising to note the number of reports that do spring up, and an important document is the most recent census document. The census showed that median weekly rents as a proportion of median weekly household incomes have remained stable at about 19 per cent since 1996. That is a fact that should be noted. But that does not mean we should not acknowledge that there are pockets of demographics around Australia that the good senator can point to that may be experiencing fluctuations. I am not aware—I am not sure whether the senator is—of particular reasons behind that. It may be because of a particular shift in some demographic or another.

It is really important to have a look at some of the issues that the Commonwealth government, in a generic sense, have afforded. We provide nearly $2.3 billion a year to ensure that people can enter the private rental market through our rental assistance program. This is an absolutely essential program that we are committed to, and it is the single biggest budget item anywhere in Australia in terms of people paying rent. We have a whole range of issues that need to be considered at a state and Commonwealth level. The cost of rent is tied very much to the cost of housing. We need to address the absolutely cynical approach by the states and territories in terms of land release and the provision and expansion of public housing.

I was in South Australia last Friday, on the Eyre Peninsula. A number of people were talking to me about this very issue. A number of people were saying: ‘Rent’s just increasing. It’s becoming very hard.’ It is in a demographic that you are speaking of. I made further inquiries that day. I understand that for some reason known only unto themselves the South Australian government are selling 150 of their own public housing stocks. One hundred and fifty houses are being sold by the South Australian government at a time when there is rental pressure on their own constituents. I am not sure if that is a circumstance that exists everywhere, but I suspect that if Australians need to understand why the rents are going up in some particular area the answer will be about housing stocks and the availability of public housing. I think substantially we can look to the complete failure of the Labor governments around Australia to produce a single extra house, at the cost of some $10 billion provided by the Commonwealth government, and we can look to the very cynical process of providing money for public coffers by selling off public housing.

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I point out to the minister, just in case he misunderstood my original question, that all of the places and areas I named are in New South Wales. None of them are in South Australia. Doesn’t the government’s own backbench know that the government has dropped the ball on housing affordability? Hasn’t the Howard government had 11 long years in office to help families who cannot afford housing? Why is it that after 11 years the best the Howard government can do is to get out the whiteboard in the party room and try and cobble together a desperate pre-election stunt?

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

All of Australia needs to understand that this government in this matter is fair dinkum. We have decided to pull apart the foolish relationship we have with Labor in the states and territories. We are going to stop pouring money into the states and territories, hoping they will get fair dinkum and actually provide a single house for Australians. They are not going to do that. We are fair dinkum. We have engaged the private sector. We are going to be fair dinkum about providing new houses for those people in Australia, particularly in those demographics that are suffering from rental increases. We are fair dinkum, but I can tell you that those on the other side do not have a clue. They are a policy-free zone on this matter and on almost every other matter you care to name. We are a government that is characterised by strong leadership, not like the absolutely leaderless mob on the other side. We are going to provide better, affordable housing in Australia in the future.