Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, you promised Australians cheaper mortgages, but after 10 interest rate rises in a row on your watch the average borrower is now paying 62 per cent more in repayments than in 2020 and in almost half of New South Wales postcodes the average repayment is more than 40 per cent of median income. Prime Minister, why do Australians always pay more under Labor?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll begin addressing the question and then I'll ask the housing minister to make some further remarks because I haven't given myself other jobs, unlike my predecessor.

We understand that interest rates now are placing pressure on families, but they are less than when her Leader of the Opposition was the Assistant Treasurer. That's just a fact.

If we are going to deal with housing issues, I'd say, very simply, that there is one thing that they could do today, which is vote for the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill that is before the Senate. Another thing that people learn in economics degrees is supply and demand. If you have more houses, you will have an impact on price. That is a product of supply and demand. There is a bill before the Senate right now that will lead to 30,000 additional social and affordable homes being built for people in need in this country. Those opposite will have no credibility. Whether it's those opposite here, or the Greens political party, they will have no credibility on housing issues while they stand in the way of the Housing Australia Future Fund. I will see if the minister wishes to add the answer.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is absolutely right. When the housing ministers met in Canberra last week, the Housing Supply and Affordability Council chair addressed the housing ministers, and she said the answer to the questions around housing today is supply, supply and supply. That is what we're trying to do with the Housing Australia Future Fund: add to supply. It is part of our broad spectrum of housing policies that includes, of course, that National Housing Accord and the $575 million that we have already unlocked, which has houses being built on the ground today for Australians. It includes the regional first home buyer guarantee that we brought forward so more regional Australians could—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause. The Minister for Cyber Security and Minister for Home Affairs will cease interjecting. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Speaker, on relevance. The question was about the interest being paid by people buying housing in the private housing market. An answer about supply through the housing council has nothing to say about the prices that people are paying today on their mortgage. The minister should be directed back to the question.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll listen carefully to the minister. She was talking about housing supply, and I'll make sure she links that to the question regarding the issue of interest rates, but I'll give her the call. It is relevant, but I'll listen carefully to what she's saying.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the member opposite: the issue here in Australia is that we do have a supply issue. We have fewer homes per thousand people in Australia than the OECD average, and that has been going on for a long period of time, which is why we need to build more, which is what the National Housing Accord is about. It's an ambition to build a million homes from 1 July 2024. We have an agreement with the states and the territories, and with the construction sector, to actually get these homes up and running. We have the states that are going to respond to the National Cabinet, and the planning ministers are also going to meet on unlocking supply so that we can put downward pressure on housing prices. That is what we are doing.