Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. House prices, in the month of September, grew at a faster pace than at any other time in the last two years. Now industry is warning that the government's reckless expansion of its Help to Buy Scheme will push house prices up by 6.6 per cent in 2026 and for several years after that. Hopes for a Christmas rate cut are now dashed. Is this what the Prime Minister meant when he said he has real and lasting plans for cheaper mortgages?

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

I thank the member for Monash for her question, and, indeed, I hope that she writes to the 1,358 members of her electorate who've benefited from the five per cent home deposits. I hope she writes to them and says that, somehow, it's inappropriate that you're buying your own home and that what you should have done was just stay paying off someone else's mortgage rather than paying off your own mortgage, because that is what the member for Monash is suggesting.

But she raises housing policy under this government that I'm proud to lead with a housing minister who's doing an extraordinary job supporting increases in social housing and increased build-to-rent schemes for private rentals as well as increased homeownership across the board. In August, indeed, the Leader of the Opposition claimed about this policy:

… today Labor announced a revised Morrison government policy which we developed to help Australians get into their first home with a smaller deposit.

So it was their policy that they tried to claim, then they're against it. Now they're against the 1,358 Australians who have benefited from this in just that one electorate. But we know that there is a comparison, of course, because we heard it yesterday from the member for Wright. The member for Wright said—and he backed it up today, saying it exactly when the Minister for Housing was making her contribution in this chamber—that the reason why there was no housing minister under the former coalition government was that it wasn't needed. Apparently, up to 2022, everything was hunky-dory.

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

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance, of course, there is a question here. The Prime Minister is not attempting to answer the question. He's paying a lot of attention to the member for Wright—which I'd recommend, of course—but that wasn't in the question, and this is a serious question about an increase in his own government scheme leading to increased house prices. The Prime Minister has not addressed it, and he's not addressing the question.

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

The manager has raised his point of order. The Prime Minister was asked about house prices growing at a faster pace over the last two years. He's indicated he's covering that as the topic. He was asked about Help to Buy and interest rate cuts. The question was: is this what he meant by 'cheaper mortgages'? There was a lot in that question. He's commented on some commentary about the topic. I'll ask him to remain directly relevant in light of what the manager has raised.

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

Those opposite believe, as I was saying, that everything was hunky-dory before May 2022. There were houses being built everywhere, there were social homes and people were getting into public housing, and rentals were apparently coming down under them. It's all nonsense, because it's all about supply. What we have done is concentrate on supply—increased building and increased supply. The increased approvals figures that came out yesterday showed that under this government you are getting an increase in supply. As we go right around the country—all the projects that are opening under the programs that we have established—over 520,000 new homes have been built under Labor. We're just getting started. There is more to do but we will deliver. (Time expired)