Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia needs housing; we all agree on that. But young people have been priced out of the market. I feel for all the young Australians coming out of high school or university, looking to start a life and a family and seeing that the average Australian dwelling price has surpassed $1 million. One Nation sees the problem as basic supply and demand. This dictates the price of houses. The government refuses to address demand, instead driving up demand through record immigration numbers and forcing Australians to compete for even the most basic housing. Just last week, we saw a story in Perth of 92 people showing up to view a single rental home. That is a disgrace.

Because Labor refuse to address the demand and give Australians much-needed relief from spiralling home costs, they tell us they will instead address supply. They tell us they will have 1.2 million homes built in five years through schemes like the Housing Australia Future Fund. Let's roll forward a year; what contribution has been made by the HAFF? Thanks to Senate estimates, we found out that a mere 17 houses have been built by the fund and that the fund has acquired another 340 homes. Labor need to go back to economics 101 because they don't seem to understand that buying homes out of the market does not increase supply; it just puts more pressure on Australians who are already doing it tough. The simple truth is that the federal government should not be involved in building houses. It drives up prices and distorts the market, hoovering up tradespeople into government contracts and out of the private market as politicians push for political deadlines.

Of the millions of migrants the Labor government has let into the country, how many are concreters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, tilers, roofers, plasterers or landscapers? Where are the skilled tradespeople? Immigrants are mostly coming from countries with lower building standards, so they will all have to be retrained anyway.

Australia has built an average of 187,000 homes per year over the last five years; that's about a million homes in five years. How can the government possibly double that? How does the government propose to fill this void? Where are the out-of-work tradespeople? There aren't any. Have you tried to get a plumber or a sparky lately? We need a doubling of tradespeople to build double the number of houses.

Given the complete failure of the HAFF to deliver housing, Australians have the right to know where their money is going. If no housing has been built and no tangible benefit has been provided to the Australian people, then what are we paying for? I thought the Labor Party was going to be part of transparency. One Nation calls on Labor to live up to their word, tell Australians where their money is going and deliver the documents.

Question agreed to.