Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have never, ever accused Senator Carr of being ineloquent but today he has simply demonstrated the pervicacious nature of the Labor Party and their entire policy-free zone. He has demonstrated to me exactly why the Australian people have rejected the Australian Labor Party at four successive elections. We are talking about home ownership today, and specifically about affordability of home ownership and the burden upon regular Australian families. The dream of home ownership remains a uniquely Australian dream. It is a dream that, in this great country, allows all Australians the opportunity to own their own home. And it begins, let me tell you, with having a job.

This government has lowered unemployment to such a level that every Australian in this country who wants a job can actually get a job. We can only contrast this with what happened under the Labor Party. In 1992 the unemployment rate across this nation was 10.9 per cent, and it in fact averaged 8.5 per cent under the Labor administration. How do you buy a home or afford to pay for a home when you do not have a job? The answer is: you cannot. How can you afford to buy a home, if you have a job, at 17 per cent interest rates? The answer is: most people cannot. You want to talk about home loan affordability and how many people defaulted on their payments; you need to go back to the high point in this country—the high point of defaults. In fact, it should not be the high point: it is actually the low point in economic mismanagement in this country, and it occurred under a Labor government.

We need to remind people that this government—and I remind Senator Carr—has reduced the tax burden on the regular taxpayer so that 80 per cent of the taxpaying public pay 30c or less in the dollar. This is a very important point because, under the Labor Party and under their administration, the top tax rate kicked in at around $50,000. Today it does not: today the average taxpayer pays around 30c in the dollar. This government has assisted first homebuyers by providing over 828,000 first homebuyer grants. This enabled a lot of people to put their foot on the housing market ladder—the ladder of opportunity—which, under this government, has every rung intact. It is not missing a few rungs along the way so it is only an opportunity for some, because it is an opportunity for every single person.

We have reformed taxation rates not only by reducing the marginal tax rates but by reforming our entire taxation system. By doing that, there were some agreements reached with the state governments that they had to fulfil in order to receive the rivers of gold in the GST. What has happened? We are talking about housing affordability. The estimated costs—the exact figure—escape me. I must be suffering from lethologica, I think, because the word was on the tip of my tongue. However, we have to decide here that the states have abrogated their responsibility. They have not cut stamp duty, which adds an unfair impost and an unfair burden to the new homebuyer. In fact, it adds to the cost of housing for any person upgrading, or even downgrading, their home ownership dream.

What else have the state Labor governments not done? Perhaps it is what they have done. They have fully loaded the costs of development of land onto private individuals and private developers. This is one of the tragedies that our developers are facing at the moment. Land banks are being released on an ever-diminishing basis by the state Labor governments. When they are released, the developers are expected to fully fund the infrastructure costs that go into them and pass those costs on to local homeowners and to new homebuyers. The cost of building a home has actually risen only marginally over the last 10 or 15 years in real terms—what we have are massive costs of land. This is the responsibility of the state Labor governments, I have to tell you, because the land is being released by them and they are failing in and abrogating their responsibility to support affordable home ownership for Australian people. Let us talk also about the level of investment, the level of asset growth and also the level of debt in the Australian nation. (Time expired)