Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Senator Evans. Can the minister explain why only 9,289 dwellings have been built and tenanted under the government's National Rental Affordability Scheme since the program began in 2008? Given that the government's performance summary promised 25,302 dwellings by April 2013, doesn't that mean that the government will have to build over 2,000 houses per month just to meet its interim target?

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

I thank the senator for her question because the question of increasing the housing stock that is available for public housing tenants and for low-income households is an important issue. That is why this government made sure that we had a minister for housing, so we had the focus on it at a federal level that had been lacking throughout the Howard years. As part of that, a range of new housing schemes were introduced to try and increase the stock of housing—making it available to more people—and to encourage state governments and other providers to work towards the provision of more homes.

We have committed, under the National Rental Affordability Scheme, to provide 50,000 new more affordable rental homes through NRAS by 30 June 2016, which is 50,000 more new affordable rental homes than would have been delivered if the Liberal government had still been in office. We also remain committed to meeting our interim target of delivering 35,000 of these new more affordable rental homes by 30 June 2014. We continue to work very closely with state and territory governments and NRAS participants to improve the pace of delivery to ensure that more affordable rental housing is brought to market as questioned.

I note that in my own portfolio area there has been a number of developments in providing affordable housing for university students in partnerships with the universities. They are proving to be very popular under the general housing initiatives. I do acknowledge that NRAS was slower to start than we thought and that investors needed to be— (Time expired)

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. How will the government then solve our national housing shortage of 228,000 dwellings when it is clearly failing now to bring enough affordable rental properties to the market and when the carbon tax will also add, for new home builders, $5,200 per home, according to the HIA, even after compensation?

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

I could make the obvious point that the major threat to many people in home affordability is the loss of jobs brought about by the New South Wales, Queensland and Victorian governments slashing public service jobs. But it is the case that we need to bring more houses onto the market. That is what our housing policy is seeking to deliver. But it is also a question of private housing supply. It is the case that the domestic construction industry is flat at the moment. That reflects, I think, the issue of consumer confidence, which is not strong despite the very strong economic conditions that exist, the low levels of unemployment and the low levels of interest rates. We have not seen home construction at the same levels that we might have in the past. (Time expired)

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for COAG) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Why would the Australian people trust this government to take housing seriously when only 9,279 NRAS buildings have been completed? The performance summary target for 2013 is 25,302. The minister now tells us the target for 30 June 2014 is 35,000, and the original promise in 2008 of housing minister Plibersek was 50,000 houses by 2012.

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

I really react badly to suggestions from opposition senators when they seek to lecture us about our commitment to tackling homelessness and housing shortages in this country given that under the 11 years of the Howard government they could not even have a minister responsible for housing. They took no interest in the scheme. The only thing that they can do when they debate this is to try and argue about whether we have met our targets.

I think that everyone involved with housing in this country accepts that this government has made a genuine commitment to improving housing affordability and housing supply. As I said, we are seeing a pickup in completion of NRAS dwellings. We have indicated that we will be in a position to deliver 25,000 dwellings by April 2013. (Time expired)

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