Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the minister's explanation in relation to housing. The minister's explanation is entirely unsatisfactory. Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis. Homeownership is slipping out of reach for too many, rents are sky-rocketing, and secure, affordable housing feels like a distant dream. The housing crisis is turbocharging inequality, and yet the government's housing strategy is timid. It is shrouded in secrecy and many of its elements lack parliamentary oversight.

Australians are being left in the dark about the detail of this government's housing policies and funding. Take the case of the Housing Australia Future Fund, the chosen vehicle for the government on affordable housing. The details are hidden. Australians deserve to know what is being built, how much is being spent and who is spending it. Australians deserve to know where their money is going. Who is profiting from these investments? That's not all. It gets worse. Labor is intentionally keeping Australia in the dark on its other minor housing interventions. What little reform they've made has been done through delegated legislation, most of which is not disallowable.

Take the Help to Buy scheme. The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation was scathing when assessing the recent Help to Buy Program Directions 2025. Crucially, the directions set out significant elements of the regulatory framework for the Help to Buy program in delegated rather than primary legislation. That is, the parliament has no real say. It cannot scrutinise. This is of real concern. Not only that, but the committee, chaired by Labor, raised the following six issues with this regulation: its compliance with legislative requirements, severely wanting; the scope of its administrative powers; the adequacy of explanatory materials; its treatment of personal rights and liberties; the availability of independent review; and its inappropriate exemption from disallowance and from sunsetting. When Labor's own senators are questioning their over-reliance on delegated legislation, there is a very serious problem.

This absence of scrutiny is not just a procedural issue; it has real-world consequences. These changes are being shaped without democratic overview. Meanwhile, these policies are pushing prices up. The Home Guarantee Scheme is supposed to help first-home buyers but, by boosting demand without building enough homes or dampening down the tax fuelled demand, it just makes houses more expensive, more out of reach for first-home buyers. So, those first-home buyers end up paying more, borrowing more and sinking deeper into debt, and the rate of homeownership falls.

The scheme is stacking the deck against the very people it's meant to help, and no amount of social media cavorting can put lipstick on this pig. Instead of easing the burden, these policies are deepening the crisis, and Labor knows this, which is why they are running scared from basic scrutiny. This isn't just about numbers and policies; it's about trust. When decisions about public resources are made behind closed doors, when they are covered in black ink, as we have seen just now, resources are not allocated with proper oversight. Trust in our institutions begins to erode, and people see their housing hopes dashed while the rules benefit very wealthy property investors and developers.

That's why transparency isn't optional; it's essential. Australians deserve better. They deserve to know what is being built, how much money is being spent and who is benefiting from these investments. They deserve policies that address the root cause and size of the housing crisis, not just temporary, minor fixes with details that aren't made clear or transparent and solutions that too often perpetuate the problem—make it worse—rather than really face up to the solutions.

This government lacks ambition on housing, and it lacks transparency about what it's up to. Labor campaigned on integrity and transparency in parliament. Well, I'm yet to see it. They are denying the capacity of this parliament to decide on and judge their decisions. Their goal is clear: to avoid scrutiny from this parliament. Transparency was a very core promise, yet they treat public scrutiny like a threat. That's not leadership; that's cowardice. It's time for a housing strategy that is open, is honest and truly works for all Australians and is open to their scrutiny and examination, as it should be if it's going to work.