Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women. What evidence is there of benefits to employment in local businesses as a result of the government’s investment in social housing?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Deakin for his question. I know that, under the Australian government’s nation building for recovery plan, there are 53 projects underway in his electorate, at a cost of $21.6 million, and I know that he is very happy to have that investment in his electorate. That includes 45 projects under the largest school modernisation program in the nation’s history, across 40 schools in the Deakin electorate, and $2.9 million for the redevelopment of the Ringwood Soccer and Multipurpose Sports Pavilion. I bet that has been a very popular move in your electorate, Member for Deakin. These projects are supporting jobs and small businesses in suburbs like Ringwood, Mitcham and Blackburn, and it is part of this government’s strategy of nation building for recovery. If the Liberals had their way, not a single one of these 53 projects would have gone ahead. The contrast is very clear: we are building our economy up; the opposition are talking it down.

A couple of weeks ago, when I visited Bayswater North with the member for Deakin, I was able to see the direct effect of some of our repairs and maintenance spending on social housing. In fact, 66 homes are being repaired in Deakin, at a cost of $410,761. While I was at Bayswater North with the member for Deakin, I met Rick Kuyken, who is the managing director of a family business, local builders C&M Kuyken. He works there with his dad, and they have been in business together for many years. Rick’s company recently won a contract to repair 15 homes in the Bayswater area—very important to them at this time to get that ongoing work. The house that we visited was being painted and having the guttering replaced, the trees were being trimmed, an old shed in the backyard was being replaced with a new one and new drainage systems were being put in. On the day I went, there were carpenters and painters at work, including a young apprentice who was putting new wiring on the screen doors. Mr Kuyken told me: ‘At the moment I’ve got roughly three big contracts on the go. Usually at this time of year we’re a bit quiet—’

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

but now there’s a lot more jobs out to tender.’ I hear the Manager of Opposition Business is saying this is a waste of time—talking about jobs in Australia is a waste of time.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, you might think that jobs are a waste of time, but over here we are very concerned to know jobs—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the minister is verballing me. I said it was a waste of question time—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt will resume his seat.

Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Toughen up, Princess!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Solomon will withdraw.

Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw, Mr Speaker.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I just said to his colleagues around him I am having difficulty with my radar over in that direction; somebody will end up being punted and it may not be the guilty party.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are all guilty.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is no need to carry on. I simply suggest to the member for Sturt that if his incessant interjections stopped he would not get himself into this predicament. The minister has the call. The minister is responding to the question.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was recounting to the House what Mr Kuyken told me about his business, C&M Kuyken: ‘At the moment I’ve got roughly three big contracts on the go. Usually at this time of year we’re a bit quiet, but now there’s a lot more jobs out to tender. I’ve put on another two carpenters and an extra apprentice, who started work two weeks ago. I’ve also put on another four to five painters over the last three months because of all the work around.’ Now, this is a small family business, a small local business. This is the effect for their business of the government’s stimulus package.

This is a story that is being repeated across the country. I have been talking to builders in inner-city Brisbane, Western Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, South-East Melbourne, right across the country, and these people are putting people on instead of laying them off. That is not to say that things are not still tough in the construction area; of course they are. But imagine how tough they would be if this package had not gone through. Imagine how tough they would be if we were not building 20,000 new homes and fixing up almost 50,000 homes in social housing spending alone.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. If the minister were to be of relevance, she would explain—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Cook will resume his seat. The minister is responding to the question.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is terrific to have a housing spokesperson who opposes investment in housing. Mr Speaker, this week we have received reports from states and territories that as at the end of April repairs and maintenance had been completed on almost 10,000 homes—9,073 homes, individual dwellings—and work had commenced on a thousand more. That work is right across Australia. We know that the opposition voted against building more social housing dwellings. They voted against the repairs and maintenance and they voted against the jobs that are delivered by this work. The government has taken strong and decisive action to support infrastructure building for the future and support jobs today, and it would be great if the opposition got on board.