Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everything the government touches turns to you-know-what, but not much suffers more than housing. We are in the middle of the worst housing crisis in our nation's history, and what does the government do? Both sides are guilty of this: more of the same failed interventions. They pump the market with first home buyer grants that just inflate prices. They guarantee high-risk loans using taxpayer funds. They roll out shared equity schemes, but nothing says 'freedom' like co-owning your house with the government—people who can barely balance a budget! They open the migration floodgates—record numbers of people have come here recently—and then they wonder why there's a shortage of homes. It's not complicated, guys and girls; it's basic economics—supply and demand.

We now have the most unaffordable housing on Earth, second only to Hong Kong. In 1990, homes cost about three times the average household income. Today, it's roughly 10. Young Australians are losing hope. Families are breaking under the weight of mortgages and rent. Parents are forced to outsource parenting to the state, trading family time for double shifts and longer hours just to keep a roof over their heads. And the government's answer is more government, more demand-side stimulus and a bigger bubble. Just stop meddling. Just get out of the way. Australia needs this: more land release, lower taxes, less migration, less red and green tape and far less taxpayer funded demand-side stimulus. In short—and this is the answer for almost everything in this place—less government, more freedom. That's it.