Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Scullion, the Minister representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Is the minister aware that families now need to earn $148,000 a year in Sydney, $133,000 a year in Perth, $112,000 a year in Canberra, $110,000 a year in Darwin and $97,000 a year in Brisbane just to afford the repayments on a medium priced home? Is the minister further aware that data from the 2006 census showed that the median family income in these cities is up to $61,000 a year less than these amounts? Doesn’t this show why many young families can no longer afford to buy their own home? Isn’t this a direct result of nine interest rate hikes in a row that have added $433 to monthly repayments on a $300,000 mortgage? How could the government have broken its 2004 promise to young families that it would ‘keep interest rates at record lows’?