Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann. Yesterday, the minister said that HomeBuilder would be:

… directly supporting 140,000 tradies and a further up to one million jobs indirectly in the residential construction sector.

ASIC estimates there were 1,183,000 people employed in the entire construction sector last year. Does the minister stand by his claim that every single construction job in the country will be supported by HomeBuilder?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would encourage Senator Gallacher to reflect on the words 'directly' and 'indirectly', and, indeed, I stand by my answer.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Gallacher, a supplementary question?

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My supplementary question is: what is the total value of private investment that the government expects to generate through the HomeBuilder program?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think I went through all this in some detail yesterday. We expect that about 27,000 projects will be supported through this program. The terms and conditions of this program are well known, and we'll report on it on the other side of this period that is in place.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Gallacher, a final supplementary question?

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the government believe that HomeBuilder will fully offset the projected decline in residential construction sector employment?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not a program that operates on its own. This is a program that will make an important contribution to supporting workers in the residential construction sector. Of course, in a number of states, state jurisdictions will be complementing this scheme.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can see that the Labor Party clearly doesn't like supporting workers in the residential construction sector.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Point of order: what we don't like is ministers misleading about their numbers. That's what we don't like.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, you know better than that. On the point of order: I didn't hear a reflection or imputation there, I must say. I'll call Senator Cormann to continue.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will continue to do what we have been doing. We'll continue to make decisions to support working families around Australia. We'll let the Labor Party continue to do what they're doing—we'll let them continue to throw verbal rocks at the government—and we'll just get on with the job.