Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Hansard source

When we're talking about housing, it's not just a social issue that we bang on about but a macroeconomic one. This isn't about pointing fingers at who's to blame, who was in government the longest or who created the mess; it's about what we're going to do about this mess that we find ourselves in. When we have figures showing that social housing makes up just 3.6 per cent of dwellings, which is down from nearly six per cent back in the 1980s, that's concerning, and it highlights policy failure of the government of the day.

We've heard from Senator Dowling about the importance of increasing supply, but there are other things we can address that will save a lot within the budget and also ensure that, for Australian families and young Australians who are doing it tough, the Australian dream of homeownership is not lost. They include addressing negative gearing and capital gains tax discount and making sure we are not giving property investors the tax breaks that they don't really deserve. Let's face it, seven per cent of investors own a quarter of all investment properties. I wouldn't be surprised if they were most of the 48 billionaires around the country who are hoarding the assets and who are trying to influence the politics of the day, who have politicians in this place who do their bidding for them. So it is about getting to the crux of the issue, and that is listening to the Australian people and easing cost-of-living pressures by making housing affordable. That means addressing negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, which, research shows, would save the budget about $160 billion. That's a lot of money that could go into building houses.