Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Cormann, and relates to housing affordability. Is the minister aware that on house price to income ratios Sydney is now the second most unaffordable city in the world and Melbourne the fourth? What is the Turnbull government doing to address housing affordability and ensure that more Australians are not permanently locked out of the housing market?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The price of anything is a function of supply and demand, and obviously if the demand exceeds supply then prices will go up and if supply exceeds demand then prices will go down, and over time, in the free market, things will get into balance. The truth is that the best way to improve housing affordability is to increase the supply of housing, and there are a whole range of things that state governments, in particular, can do in relation to that. Indeed, the Commonwealth, through the Treasurer, is working with state governments in relation to some possible initiatives in that space. What I would say, though, is that the worst thing to do in terms of housing affordability would be to pursue Labor's disastrous policy on negative gearing, because it would push up the cost of rental accommodation and push down the value of existing properties, which means it would undermine the wealth of families across Australia and their capacity to invest, to get ahead. That is why we continue to—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, a point of order on direct relevance—and the minister may have just been getting to it as I stood up: the question was, in particular, what the Turnbull government is doing, rather than what concerns the minister has about our policy.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There were two elements to the question. The first one was whether the minister is aware of Sydney and Melbourne housing affordability. He has been addressing that question, and I believe he has been addressing the second element of the question.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor get very touchy when people on our side of the parliament start pointing out the deep flaws in their ill-thought-out so-called policy, because Labor want people who are looking for rental accommodation across Australia to pay more for their housing. People in the Labor Party want to reduce the supply of rental accommodation, which of course will mean—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, a point of order, again on direct relevance to the question about what the Turnbull government is doing: the minister has just gone straight back into his comments about our policy rather than answering what his actions are.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has not fully addressed the second part of the question, I agree. However, the minister did address the first part of the question. I cannot direct the minister as to what elements he should or should not answer, but he has certainly been directly relevant to the element that he did answer. Minister, you have the call.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I very clearly said what we were doing, and I am also saying what we are not doing, and what we are not doing is implementing Labor's disastrous policy which would push up the price of rental accommodation and which would undermine and drive down the value of existing properties, because we believe that is bad for families and bad for the economy.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the minister aware that the homeownership rate for 25- to 30-year-olds has fallen from more than 60 per cent to 48 per cent over the past three decades? Why won't the government do more to help young people buy their first home?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government is working very hard to help ensure that young people can get ahead, and the most important thing we can do is to ensure that young people across Australia have an opportunity to get a good job, to pursue a career whereby they can get a better-paying job. After six disastrous years of Labor governments, when Labor was putting more and more lead into our saddlebags, making it harder and harder for our economy to be successful, we are now taking the lead out of our saddlebags. We are investing in our country's future. We are helping to ensure that our economic transition is as successful as possible by investing in innovation, by making sure that we are as competitive and productive as possible, by making sure that our exporting businesses have the best access possible to key markets in our region, by making sure that our tax system is as growth-friendly as possible and by making sure that we deliver the NBN faster and at a lower cost than the disastrous previous Labor government was going to do. (Time expired)

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I refer to the coalition's promise at the last election to improve housing affordability and encourage high levels of homeownership. Can the minister confirm that under this government housing affordability has declined?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I indicated in response to a question by Senator Bushby earlier, this government is making progress in putting the Australian economy on a stronger foundation for the future. We are guided by giving people across Australia the best possible opportunity to get ahead. That includes the best possible opportunity to afford their own home. We will continue to press ahead. The worst thing that Australia could do is to go back to the discredited and disastrous ways of the previous Labor government.