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

The housing crisis gripping Australia under this Labor government is nothing short of a national disgrace, a festering wound on the dreams of an entire generation. The minister's response is totally unacceptable for the government of transparency. Young Australians, the backbone of our future, are being crushed under the weight of housing markets spiralling into madness. The average price of a home has skyrocketed past $1 million, a figure that flies in the face of hardworking families and young people. Owning a home, once a mainstay of the Australian dream, is now a cruel mirage, receding further with every government failure. Labor's response? A master class in incompetence, a parade of excuses and a betrayal of the very people they claim to represent.

When they were pressed for answers on their so-called strategy to tackle this crisis, what did we get? No transparency, no accountability, but a smokescreen of excuses. We're getting no answers on the Housing Australia Future Fund, a supposed lifeline for affordable housing. Millions of dollars are being funnelled into this black hole, with billions more to spend. The result so far is 17 houses. That's it. When Australians demand transparency, when they ask where these availability payments are going, Labor slams the door shut. They have the audacity to claim that disclosing this information would be contrary to the public interest. Let's take that to the public, shall we? Let's ask the young couples scraping by in overpriced rentals, the single parents priced out of the market or the workers commuting for hours because they can't afford to live near their jobs. Ask them if they want to know where their tax dollars are going.

How about the people that the HAFF doesn't cover? The HAFF guarantees returns for developers of affordable housing, but guaranteed returns mean that these developers can afford to drag tradies out of the private housing market, inflating the price of building homes and extending build times for young families who are working themselves to death just to get a toe on the ladder. Don't you think it's in their interest to see how and where these HAFF houses are being built? The public interest is crystal clear—Australians deserve to know their government is failing them. Whatever happened to the government of transparency that Labor promised? Where is the openness, the accountability and the commitment to truth?

Just this week the government introduced a bill, the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025, to further shut down the public's access to freedom-of-information requests. This is the same government that is granting only 25 per cent of freedom-of-information requests in full, down from 59 per cent in 2012. The government of transparency is shutting out Australia. This government hides behind vague platitudes while the housing crisis deepens, leaving Australians to bear the cost of this government's own cowardice and incompetence.

Then there's the unbelievable revelation that Labor is in deep talks with India's commerce and industry minister to build one million homes in Australia, a project worth $500 billion. Half a trillion dollars—it sounds ambitious, doesn't it? But, when you peel back the layers, you see it for what it is: an outsourced $500 billion project funded by the UAE that would train foreign tradespeople up to Australian standards while Australian tradies, builders and labourers are left on the sidelines. This isn't a housing plan; it's an economic surrender, a slap in the face to every Australian worker struggling to make ends meet.

To make matters worse, India is right now rubbing shoulders with some of the world's most antagonistic regimes. They're currently in talks with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea to explore economic cooperation. Who's tagging along? None other than Labor's own Dan Andrews and Bob Carr, gleefully attending the party. This is the company Labor keeps—governments that clash with Australia's values and interests. Meanwhile, Mr Albanese can't even secure a meeting with Donald Trump, the leader of one of our closest and oldest allies. The United States, a partner we've relied on for decades, has lost faith in this government's leadership, and who can blame them? When Labor prioritises doing photo-ops with adversarial nations over strengthening ties with our allies, it's no wonder our international standing is crumbling.

This housing crisis isn't just a policy failure; it's a moral one. If the HAFF is producing the housing that Labor would have us believe it is, show us the proof. But Labor continues to hide. They hide behind excuses and dodge accountability—if only Labor were as transparent as the Prime Minister's glass jaw.

Question agreed to.