Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was absolutely extraordinary, Member for Fadden. What we saw was—we had the Department of Home Affairs, which is the department that is responsible for administering Australia's migration policy. They came before the committee, and we asked them what I thought was a quite simple and straightforward question. The question was: does the department rely on any modelling in relation to infrastructure and in relation to housing when it devises, along with the government, its migration intake and our numbers for migration into Australia? I was expecting a list of the modelling, and I was expecting a detailed and comprehensive answer, because this is something that I think most reasonable Australians would turn around and say: 'Well, yes, surely our migration figures are based on based on what our country can take, what our infrastructure can take, what our housing can take.' But what was the answer? There was nothing. There was no modelling that was actually the basis of our immigration policy. I think that just goes to the lack of concentration by this government on something that, to be quite honest, Australians deserve better on. It's something that the young people of Australia, the older people of Australia, the working class and the families are all struggling with, whether it's rentals or whether it's homeownership. It's something that, when I hear the members of parliament on the other side of the chamber come in here and talk about the value of housing, I really hope they finally learn a lesson from the opposition on and start to act appropriately.

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