Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Labor's housing policies are failing. Under Labor's $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, just 567 of the promised 40,000 social or affordable homes have been completed, and now it is being audited by the national auditor. The chair of Housing Australia has resigned after bullying allegations, and the government fell short of its construction targeted by 66,000 homes last year. Does the Prime Minister accept that his government is building fewer homes and has made housing affordability worse?

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

I thank the member for his question. I'm not sure if the member was here during the debacle that was the rolling door of governments between 2013 and 2022. If he was, he would know that there weren't questions asked for most of that time of the housing minister. If he was here, it wouldn't have been possible for him to ask a question of the housing minister for most of that time, because they didn't even have one. The member has the hide to ask—

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We didn't have a problem.

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

The member opposite says that we didn't have a problem in housing during that period. With that one quote, this member exposes the fraud that is their attitude towards housing.

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

The Prime Minister was responding to an interjection, so it's going to be very difficult to take a point of order, Member for Bowman. I'll just remind you that you only get one point of order, and we're only a short way into the question. Yes, you can take it.

Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're halfway through, but the point of order is on relevance. I did ask the Prime Minister about his—

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

No, resume your seat. You can't just take points of order because you don't like the answer. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11—11 examples from 2008 to 2015, under Speakers Bishop and Smith, of people who just didn't take points of order. I can go through all of them. I don't want to go down that path. People were removed just for standing up to take points of order. We're not going down that path either. I just make the point. I want to get on top of this.

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

The interjection from the member for Wright exposes precisely why there is an issue with housing that we inherited. He says that they didn't have a minister because there wasn't an issue with housing in Australia up to 2022. He suggests that, before the change of government, there were no issues with housing.

The question that's asked by the member, speaking about the number of houses that have been completed under the HAFF—they held up the HAFF for month after month after month after month.

And then they go, 'Why aren't the houses built?' You have got to be kidding me!

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

The member for Cowper is warned.

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

We have completed, under our government, 5,000 social and affordable homes across the board; under the former government, there were 373 in the entire time that they were in office—in nine years. Today, building approvals rose 12 per cent in the month of September to be 15.3 per cent higher in through-the-year terms. We are delivering, whether it be social homes or whether it be supporting the build-to-rent scheme, which they opposed as well. And the member for Wright's interjections we will remind him of day after day, week after week and month after month.