Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

I can give one time and day, and I will try and get the other answers. I will not be going to the Treasurer’s office personally and asking those questions. But I can inform you that the Treasurer signed off the documents at 1 pm on Sunday, 1 February 2009. That is the answer to the question you asked a little earlier.

When will the government pay down the debt? As we have said time and time again, as soon as the economy recovers and grows above trend the government will take action to return the budget to surplus. These surpluses will be drawn down upon to pay down debt as rapidly as economic conditions permit. I did have an earlier discussion with Senator Joyce, and we went through those matters in fairly considerable detail—not to his satisfaction nor, I suspect, to yours—so we did canvass that set of issues much earlier.

Senator Ludlam raised charities’ tax status. I do have a response. Community housing providers will be able to provide social housing in the package without the risk of losing their charitable status. It does fall within core activities of a public benevolent institution. The Treasury will continue its work with the ATO with the aim of providing certainty on this issue, but the advice I am given is that it is not an issue.

Senator Ludlam asked how the funds will be distributed. The states and territories will receive an allocation on a population basis, provided proposals from the states and territories meet key requirements. The Commonwealth will select the projects in jurisdictions that provide the best outcomes against the requirements. If a jurisdiction does not provide proposals that meet the criteria, or if they do not perform against delivery milestones, funds can be redistributed to jurisdictions that can deliver.

Will houses be located close to transport? Proposals from states and territories for new housing will need to identify their proximity to public transport, and this will be assessed in selecting the best proposals. On the funding split and regional or urban targets, there is not a target on this matter but we do want mixed urban-regional communities so we do not have high concentration. We do want to see a share of properties in areas of real need. To digress, personally I look at the circumstances of the north-west coast of Tasmania and I think—