Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to join this discussion about affordable housing in this chamber. Labor know that people are facing significant problems around affordable housing in Australia, particularly in the Sydney market, as we have seen particularly over the last two weekends, as well as in other hotspots around the country, including parts of Melbourne.

The contrast between the Labor approach to dealing with affordable housing and the approach of the current government is so different. Labor know that we need to work with the community and we need to work with the housing sector—from the development sector through to the representative organisations that speak on behalf of people with housing needs—to be able to resolve affordable housing questions into the future and that is why I asked those questions at question time today of the Acting Leader of the Government in the Senate. I was somewhat surprised at his response. I think we actually touched a nerve of the Acting Leader of the Government in the Senate with those questions today.

It is true that in a recent Senate inquiry John Fraser, Secretary of the Treasury, answered questions that were asked of him about the Sydney housing market by saying that Sydney is 'unequivocally', to use his word, in a housing bubble. He said:

When you look at the housing price bubble evidence, it's unequivocally the case in Sydney. Unequivocally.

Frankly—

he went on to say—

whatever the data says, just casual observation can tell you it's the case.

Glenn Stevens, the head of the Reserve Bank agrees with the Treasury secretary. He said:

I am very concerned about Sydney, I think some of what's happening is crazy—

these are the words of the Reserve Bank chair; these are not the words of some idle bystander—

but we've got a national focus to manage as well - that just increases the complexity.

Contrast that with the words of the Treasurer. The Treasurer, when asked about the problems with housing affordability in his home town, where he has a house, where he lives, said:

Look, if housing were unaffordable in Sydney, no one would be buying it. People are purchasing housing in Sydney, it's expensive. As a multiple of average weekly earnings it is expensive, it's an expensive city to live in …

Talk about stating the obvious! But what are you going to do about it, Treasurer? What are you going to do about the fact that the number of young families forming in Sydney is reducing. The age at which young families are forming in Sydney is getting older. People in Sydney in particular, but also in Melbourne and other parts of the country—Perth, for example—are having difficulty entering the housing market. And as the Acting Leader of the Government in the Senate said in question time today, it is the biggest investment that anyone ever makes. For most families that is the case, but if you cannot get in, then how do you get in on that investment in the future?

Mr Hockey then went on to say, with incredible perspicacity:

The starting point for a first home buyer is to get a good job that pays good money. If you've got a good job and it pays good money and you have security in relation to that job, then you can go to the bank and you can borrow money and that's readily affordable.

How offensive is that—that the job you have got, because it does not pay enough money, means you are not trying hard enough. Just go and get a better one, get one that gives you more money. This man is so out of touch with the reality of life for young families trying to get into home ownership in Sydney; he is so patronising to say that.

Labor is different. Labor knows we have to do something about housing affordability. That is why Bill Shorten has asked Chris Bowen, as our shadow Treasurer, and me, as the shadow minister for housing, to undertake a consultation so that we can have a conversation about where the answers might lie. That sits on top of the work that I, and others on the crossbench, asked the Senate Economics Committee to inquire into. This report is a good contribution to the conversation we need to have about tackling housing affordability. But let me make it absolutely clear: Labor has not come to a view around negative gearing or capital gains tax at this time. We are prepared to have a conversation. We are not going to shy away or hide behind any sort of countenancing of negative gearing by, frankly, telling untruths.

What the leader said today in this chamber was factually incorrect. ABC Fact Check will tell you that—I am sorry, but I will believe ABC Fact Check over any answer given to a question I ask in this chamber at any time. We know that first home buyers now make up around 14 per cent of all home purchases, which is well down on the historical average of 20 per cent. The median value of a Sydney property is now nearly 10 times median income in that city. By this measure, that makes Sydney the third most expensive city in the world to live in. Melbourne is not far behind, ranked sixth most expensive in the world with the median value of a property costing nearly nine times the median income in that city. So our leader has asked Chris Bowen and me to start a conversation. We had a round table earlier this year. We put out a discussion paper and we have had quite a number of considered responses to that discussion paper. Labor's next steps are to work together and work across a number of portfolios to develop our policy that will take us to the next election. The contrast could not be more stark: head in the sand, do not have the expertise, and do not want to talk about housing. Compare this to a party that is prepared to get in and do the job.