Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I think I did concede that rents have risen and that this is of course of considerable concern to low-income earners. That partly flows through from the supply and demand equation with respect to housing. The housing market is such that demand is exceeding supply. That is forcing up prices, and that flows through to rents. But I did point out that, on average, over the last five years wages have risen somewhat faster than have rents, so the capacity to pay those higher rents is greater because average wages have risen as a result of the policies we have put in place. As I say, it is critically important that we keep policies in place to ensure that we maximise job opportunities so that low-income earners have access to employment, to enable them to pay the rent, and to ensure that we maximise the incentives to invest in rental housing.