Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Housing Investment Probity Bill 2024. I want to commend Senator Scarr on his enlightening contribution there. It was quite something to follow, because what Senator Scarr does is highlight the issues relating to housing in this country, which many will gloss over in this debate. We've had an election, and, yes, we have a returned government, but some in this place seem to think that that's a reset and that all of the issues that were there before the election have gone away and that we don't need to worry about the things we had to worry about before the election. But, if you go out there, as many of us do, and speak to our communities, you'd be reminded that the problems that were being experienced and faced by Australians before the election remain very much problems being faced and experienced by them now, despite there being a government returned to govern Australia.

That set of problems, those issues confronting Australians, of course include the matter of housing. I just think that we cannot lose sight of the fact that this problem being experienced by Australian households, young people and even older people seeking to enter into the housing market—it has not in any way lessened the impediments to that. It certainly remains a problem. Senator Scarr talked through some of the suggestions we had by way of policy, including the removal of regulation and red tape, making it easier for investment to occur, assisting with the headworks costs that go into—