Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an important motion because it seeks to effectively give the government a pat on the back for housing, when in actual fact we know that they're failing quite broadly on housing. What we do know for sure is that the minister has absolutely no solutions to this problem. She continues to talk about this aspirational plan that they have to deliver 1.2 million homes. She continues to talk about the $45 billion spend, but in reality, out there, every day Australians are finding it harder and harder to buy a home. They are finding it harder and harder to keep a roof over their heads because their mortgages are so high and their rent has escalated so dramatically.

The coalition believes that we must restore homeownership as the centrepiece of the Australian dream. Under Labor, the great Australian dream is fast turning into a nightmare. We know that this minister was hopeless in Home Affairs in the last term of this government and now we see she is hopeless with homes. Today we've got the new backbenchers here––which is great––sent in to do her bidding on all of this, which is really quite catastrophic for Australians. For example, the motion says that the housing crisis has been 40 years in the making, when what we know to be true is that, actually, it's only been four years under this Labor government. It's time for this Labor government to front up to the Australian people and be honest about how they're tracking. They're actually failing each and every Australian.

What we've got today is their entire housing wisdom on display. Minister O'Neil and Treasurer Chalmers are the two people who the Prime Minister has decided are going to solve this issue. We know the minister's track record, but Treasurer Chalmers, of course, has something special going on today; it's his birthday. The member for Calwell will well know what Treasurer Chalmers would like for his birthday––higher taxes. What we will see for the Treasurer's birthday, no doubt, is that at some point all of these discussions, this banter and the speculation about taxes on housing will probably come to fruition in order to celebrate the great Treasurer. But we all know that higher taxes will equal fewer houses. That's why this combination of Minister O'Neil and the Treasurer is such a dangerous combination. Their track record so far is that renters are struggling because rents have gone up 22 per cent under this Labor government. Every mortgage holder in Australia, because of higher-than-expected inflation and higher-than-necessary inflation, is seeing higher interest rates. That means thousands and thousands of dollars more for each and every Australian who's just trying to pay a mortgage.

The really scary thing is that recent real estate data would suggest that homeownership is now less affordable than it's ever been through most of our capital cities. The minister continues to spruik the 1.2 million home build that will be delivered, but what we see is absolute failure. We've seen that they've fallen 80,000 homes short of their target just over the first year and a bit. Every quarter that goes by, this carrot that they're holding out for all Australians—that there'll be homes there for them—is being dangled further and further away. It is absolutely unachievable.

The last point I want to make—this is a little game here for the member for Calwell; he can play if he likes. How do you spell 'runaway construction costs'? CFMEU.

No, I asked to spell, Member for Calwell––CFMEU. If there were ever a single reason why costs of construction have blown out, it's them, and we've now got report after report confirming those blowouts.

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