Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer inform the House of the measures the government has taken to improve support for Australians living in rental accommodation and public housing? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Greenway for her question. I can inform her that the Commonwealth spends about $2 billion a year in rental assistance to help families and pensioners pay rents. Over the next five years the Commonwealth will spend about $5 billion on public housing. That is money which will go to the states and the territories to construct public housing at subsidised rentals. Of course, the best thing you can do to help families is help them get into work and help them to get an income to pay the rent.

I have been asked about alternatives. I was interested to read a proposal that was announced yesterday by the Leader of the Opposition to give an $8,000 tax break—$6,000 from the Commonwealth and $2,000 from the state—for the construction of new properties which would be rented out under market rents. In passing, I note that the generosity of the tax breaks is not matched by the reduction in rent. The tax break is worth about $150 a week. On a $400 rent the rent cut would be about $80, and on a $300 rent the rent cut would be about $60. So you are paying a very significant tax break for only a portion thereof to find its way into the hands of a renter. But it was said by the Labor Party that 3,500 properties would qualify in the first year, 11,000 in the following year and 25,000 in the third year.

Last night on the news the Leader of the Opposition went out to a property to tout this policy. He touted the policy with someone who had been selected by the Labor Party to go on the evening news. I know that because I have the email which the Labor campaign workers sent out asking for a volunteer to be part of this photo op last night. The person whose house it was was somebody called Rosanna Harris. The Leader of the Opposition said this—and this was carried on all of the news bulletins last night—‘What’s the rental on a place like this?’ Rosanna Harris said, ‘$260 a week.’ Kevin Rudd said, ‘$260’ so you’re effectively going to get 50 bucks plus off each week.’

That was entirely false. Rosanna Harris will get nothing off her rent. Rosanna Harris will not qualify for any part whatsoever of this scheme because this will only apply to new construction from 2008, and any person who is currently in a rental will receive no benefit whatsoever. Not only did he deceive Rosanna Harris but, of course, there is no show without ‘Punch’—the old member for Lilley was out there. It is a wonder he did not have 50 bucks in a brown paper bag for Rosanna Harris.

The ABC news carried Kevin Rudd again making this false claim to Rosanna, ‘If you’re here on $260, you are effectively going to get 50-plus bucks off each week.’ That was false. That again was a completely false statement to Rosanna Harris. And ‘Punch’ backed it up by saying to Rosanna Harris, ‘Hopefully, it gets you off the merry-go-round where you are paying so much rent you can’t afford to do anything else.’ Rosanna Harris will not get any cut whatsoever under this policy.

It is possible that the Leader of the Opposition does not know his own policy. The people of Australia are entitled to wonder why he would go and announce a policy which he did not understand. It is also possible that he does understand his own policy and it is possible that, notwithstanding that, he took the calculated decision to deceive not only Rosanna Harris but also every renter who would have been watching last night’s television.

This is a repeated pattern we are now seeing from the Leader of the Opposition. There is a stunt today but, after the cameras have left and after you start analysing what he has actually said, you will find that it is not quite truthful; it is not quite accurate. It is like when he said he was going to monitor grocery prices. After the cameras had left, he had to concede he would not do anything to bring them down. It was like his promise to monitor petrol prices. When you got to the bottom of it, he conceded he would not do anything to bring them down. Running a country is more than stunts on the evening news and it is more than the kind of false promise that was made to Rosanna Harris last night. The people of Australia deserve the truth and the Leader of the Opposition ought to apologise for misleading Australia last night.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services, Housing, Youth and Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to his claim yesterday that Labor’s announcement of a tax credit to boost construction of affordable rental properties was ‘terribly inefficient and wasteful’. Given the Treasurer has done nothing to improve housing affordability, who should the Australian people believe: the Treasurer—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sydney has the call.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services, Housing, Youth and Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, would you like me to start again?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney will continue.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services, Housing, Youth and Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

or the Housing Industry Association, the Real Estate Industry of Australia, the Industry Super Network, the Property Council of Australia and the Australians for Affordable Housing—all of whom have endorsed Labor’s policy? Why doesn’t the Treasurer actually come up with a policy to help the half a million Australian households suffering rental stress?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me make this point: if Labor were worried about the half a million people which it is talking about, why does it have a policy which will not do anything except in four years time for 50,000 people—one-tenth? If Labor were worried, why would it offer a tax break, which is, as I said, $150 a week, which on a $400 rental could give a benefit of $80 and on a $300 rental a benefit of $60? I call that wasteful. Who pockets the difference? Have you ever thought about this proposition? Who pockets the difference between the $150 tax break and the $50 decrease in rent? Have you ever thought about that proposition? Who pockets the difference? The 100 bucks does not just disappear; it does not go into the ether. It does not end up in a brown paper bag on its way to the Democrats. It is there.

The last point I will make is this: if the member for Sydney is really worried about renters, perhaps she could go back, now that the cameras have left, and speak to Rosanna Harris and explain to Rosanna Harris that, although Rosanna was used as a prop last night on the national news, the promise that was made to Rosanna by the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Lilley and the member for Sydney was false. I will tell you one thing you could do for Rosanna: you could tell Rosanna the truth. That would be a big improvement.