Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

Wonderful stories there from Adelaide—200 homes being built. That's great. I wonder if the Prime Minister and the member for Adelaide, when they were explaining to Erin and Harry the success in buying that home, explained to them that they have let 1.4 million new people into this country by way of net overseas migration, that we're all having to compete for homes with all of those people and that they're building less houses now than the coalition built when we were in government. How do Erin and Harry actually understand and make that add up sufficiently? Good for Erin and Harry, but what about the rest of the Australians who can't get a house? Labor wants the House to note how much money they're spending, but what Australians want to know is how many houses are actually getting built.

It's classic Labor: big numbers, big press releases, zero accountability for delivery. The member for Adelaide and all of his friends over on that side think that a $47 billion figure is the outcome. It's not the outcome. The outcome is roofs over people's heads. This government says that it's investing more. But the truth of the track record we've seen under this Labor government over four years is that rents are up, mortgages are up, approvals are slow, construction costs are blown out and Australians who are trying to get into the market simply can't. For those of us who've got a mortgage, there've been 15 interest rate rises under this Labor government. You're now paying approximately $30,000 more in interest under this Labor government than you were when the coalition left office.

You see, Labor can't be trusted. They've shown in their latest budget that they are prepared to break promises. They just can't be trusted to sit on that side and govern this country. The problem that Labor has is not in announcing policy. They're very good at that. The problem is that Labor can't actually deliver housing. They had a wild hope that they could build 1.2 million homes over five years. Guess what? In the first year, they ran 80,000 short of their target. Instead of 240,000, they delivered about 170,000—less than what was being built during the coalition years.

Home ownership is quintessentially Australian. It gives families security and financial independence. It gives us a stake in this great nation. But, under Labor, the great Australian dream is fast turning into a nightmare. I spoke about home ownership during my maiden speech. That's how important it is to me. I was given an opportunity under the Howard government to buy my first home, and I want to see that home ownership is restored as the centrepiece of the Australian dream. Only a coalition government can actually do that. The Liberal and National parties have always fought for home ownership. This budget has made it crystal clear: Labor promised more homes, but all they've delivered is more taxes.

The budget papers themselves confirm that the changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing will lead to 35,000 fewer homes being built—that's on Treasury's estimates—never mind the increases in rent or all the other blockages in the system. This Labor government, quite frankly, has created a housing crisis that it's got no idea how to get itself out of. We know that Minister O'Neil was hapless in Home Affairs, and now she's hopeless with homes. This is so far off the rails that this Labor government clearly has no solutions as to how to fix it. They have taglines that will fit on a corflute, but there is no substance to their policy. They are failing each and every Australian who deserves to have a roof over their head and to have the genuine hope of homeownership here in Australia.

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