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

Yes. Senator Abetz is from Tasmania. It has been a constant issue for as long as I have been in politics, which is just over 18 years. From a federal point of view, whilst we do not have direct responsibility, we do have some appreciation of the size of the issues.

Beyond the COAG process that I have outlined, as I have indicated, I would expect that COAG would release the documents on the analysis, overview and oversight. The Commonwealth will be asking for that, but I cannot give an indication today of whether COAG will agree to it. The Commonwealth certainly believes that that should occur. I think it would be very unreasonable for states and territories to refuse. As the Prime Minister has indicated, if there is any backsliding in this area, any failure to meet with standards, moneys will be reallocated to other states and territories. That is a pretty effective penalty for failing to meet standards. That would have to be publicly justified, obviously. If a particular state or territory had its moneys or part of its moneys reallocated, that would certainly have to be justified. As I say, the difficulty for me here is in not being able to pre-empt the formal meeting of COAG, but I do accept your interest, Senator Ludlam, and determination to ensure we have full, rigorous and public oversight of outcomes in respect of all of the detail we have been discussing.

Putting aside the macro and economic stimulus issues, the social housing matters that we have touched on are very important. The Prime Minister himself has a very strong focus on homelessness, for example. That, again, is part of the social issues with respect to social housing. I have indicated the figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11—some 20,000 social and Defence homes. That is 20,000 homes that would not otherwise have been constructed by the states. That is an important economic stimulus but also a very important social issue to consider and to put a much greater effort into. All the components in this package are important, but I think, from a social equity point of view, it is critical that greater focus and more resources be given to this area, and this is an appropriate time to do so. That is what is being delivered through this package. That is one reason why this package should receive the support of the Senate.