Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Sitting here day after day, during question time, we listen to Labor insult the Australian people—going on about how proud they are of what they're doing in housing, their economic management; the list goes on and on. The fact is that hard-working Australians are doing it tough right now. Living standards are falling, housing budgets are under strain, and businesses are going bust or moving offshore.

Labor have built 17 homes. Let's think about that for a moment—17. We have a housing crisis in Australia, and Labor have caused a housing nightmare for the Australian people. In just three years, this government has presided over the biggest boom in Australia's population growth since the fifties. We've got a significant housing construction collapse. This government seems more interested in looking after its union buddies than it is in looking after hard-working Australians who just want to get into the housing market.

Today during question time—we won't call it 'answer time', because Labor like to sit here and tell us about all the things that they're doing—we got the revelation that Labor have actually been going into the housing market and buying or acquiring homes. They've been going in, competing against first home buyers, competing against everyday Australians and causing an even bigger issue in what is a difficult market to get into.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ananda-Rajah, you're going to an opportunity in a few moments to have your contribution.

Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Labor government has a $43 billion agenda. They are focused on building, building, building. We'll go back to that number again because those opposite refuse to say it. They're building, building, building 17 homes for the Australian people. The results speak for themselves. Senator Wong, in question time today, said that net zero is good for the economy. Let that sink in just a little bit. We've already gone over the fact that Australians are doing it tough, that living standards are down, that cost-of-living pressures are up. We've got the minister in this place talking about how what they're doing is good for the economy.

I don't know who those opposite are speaking to, but, when I'm out there in the community, people are telling me that it is tough. They can't afford their electricity bills, which are up 39 per cent—up another 13 per cent, we've just found out just this year. These are everyday Australian people who are struggling. They are choosing now between heating their homes in winter and eating. They are choosing between allowing their kids to play sport and sending them to school with lunch. Forgive me when those opposite sit in here and try and lecture us on how good their economic management is, because I think that everyday Australians out there would disagree with them.

The funny thing is that the government—when they run out of money, when their big-spending, big budgets run out of money—are coming after the Australian taxpayer. They are coming after everyday Australians' dollars. We heard today that they won't rule out a tariff. We're talking about a carbon border adjustment mechanism. They will not rule out a tariff on sectors like building materials, fertiliser, fuel, cement, chemicals, steel and aluminium. These tariffs would make these industries uncompetitive. It would mean closing down these industries and sending them offshore, meaning that Australians will need to import cement, chemicals, and steel and aluminium from other countries that don't have a price on carbon.

This government is bad for manufacturing. It's bad for jobs. Think about those communities that rely on these industries. With Labor's big spending, they're running out of money, and now they're going to come after all of us with tariffs. Let's not forget the $275 that they promised we would all save on our electricity bills. Like all Australians out there, I'm still waiting for a $275 reduction in my electricity bill. All I've got so far is a 40 per cent increase, with another 13 per cent just this year. This government has got to do better. (Time expired)

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australian industry and households do need affordable and reliable power. They do. We've heard that loud and clear. They also know that renewable energy is the cheapest form of power. It's the cheapest form of power. Don't take it from me and don't take it from the CSIRO, our peak scientific body; take it from the 4.1 million Australian households that have taken up rooftop solar—4.1 million households can't be wrong. This, paired with our most recent announcement on 1 July, making home batteries more affordable by cutting the cost of these batteries and installation by around 30 per cent, has led to an absolute surge of uptake of home batteries. Those 4.1 million households that now have rooftop solar are slapping on batteries at a rate that we have never seen. A few weeks ago, it was sitting at 30,000 households that have taken up this offer. It is now actually 41,000 households, 1,000 households a day.

And still the coalition are clinging on to coal and gas. I am surprised they haven't brought a piece of coal into this chamber. I am surprised, because they're still debating about the science of climate change. Meanwhile, the Australian people have moved on. They have left them in the dust in the rear-view mirror. A great emphasis that that has happened was at the May 2025 election and also at the 2022 election, when I took one of their Liberal seats.

That's not all we are doing to help Australians save money. We also cut the taxes on electric vehicles in our first term of office. When we first came to office, electric vehicle sales were flat, moribund, stuck at around two per cent. We introduced tax breaks and saw uptake increase, increase, increase. Electric vehicle sales are currently sitting at 13 per cent of new car sales, and we have around 300,000 pure battery electric vehicles on the road today. Australians have electric vehicles, rooftop solar and now home batteries. You can see how the dots are all lining up and joining up to save Australians money and to reduce our emissions.

Those opposite use the phrase, 'Net zero is good for the economy,' as a statement of derision. We see it as absolutely central to the liveability of this planet but also central to our future prosperity. I speak to those children up there, rather than those opposite, who have absolutely abandoned those children, the future generations of this country by still fighting over the concept of climate science in their party room. To those children I say: your prosperity will depend on Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower. It is within grasp.

When we first came to government, we set a target of 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030. We are within striking distance. We came in to clean up the Liberal legacy, the mess of our energy system. Where four gigawatts went in, one gigawatt went out. Do you know how many gigawatts we have ushered in since we came to power in 2022? Has it been three, four, five, 10? Does anyone know? It is 18 gigawatts into our grid, enough to power six million households. By the way, children up in the gallery, that is Victoria and New South Wales combined.

But that's not all. We've also introduced what is called the Capacity Investment Scheme. It's designed to attract investment into Australia for large-scale solar and wind, backed by large-scale batteries. We have pledged 40 gigawatts to enter the system. We recently upped that ceiling to 40 by 2027. That is attracting overwhelming interest from overseas companies. (Time expired)

Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to take note of the minister's answer to Senator Bragg's questions on the government's performance on housing. My colleague Senator Bragg asked three questions about housing—questions that he has asked multiple times in the past five sitting weeks—yet we still do not have any answers. You hear from my colleagues time and time again that the accountability and transparency of our government is slipping away every single day. Senator Bragg asked the Minister representing the Prime Minister if 2,000 homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund were built or acquired. Built and acquired are very different concepts. One is a supply side measure. One puts more homes into Australian society for young families to buy. The other is totally and absolutely anticompetitive. We are in direct competition with the Australian people when we are acquiring homes instead of building them. We could get no answer on that from our minister.

Previously, Minister Gallagher confirmed that the Housing Australia Future Fund was acquiring and converting existing homes. Senator Bragg asked for clarification on whether the HAFF, the Housing Australia Future Fund, is still purchasing homes in direct competition with Australians. Instead, we heard from Minister Wong. We heard what they'd like to do—not what they're doing, not what they've done; no numbers on houses that are built for the Australian people. We know that here in Canberra there are only 17 houses—we will also let that figure sink in for a little bit—from the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. It is simply not enough. And yet we don't know if more have been built, because we're not getting the numbers.

Senator Bragg's final question was whether it was reasonable to have asked the minister four times in five weeks how many houses have been built and completed under the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund and why we have never been provided an actual figure. It's a very important question to ask. It comes down to accountability and transparency, and we know that those things are under pressure under this government. What we have seen over the past several years is not a plan and not a strategy but a spectacular failure to meet even its own targets—and, worse, a refusal to admit it.

As a new member to this chamber, I have sat here and listened to my colleagues ask very specific questions on how many houses have been built, and yet Senator Wong continues to deflect and speak about projections, none of which are even close to being met. The government promised 1.2 million homes over five years to Australians. It was sold as a bold target to the Australian people, a benchmark that would ease the pressure on Australian families, on young people and on renters right across the nation, and yet here we are with construction rates collapsing to barely 170,000 homes. A year under Labor, this just keeps collapsing, and even the government's own Treasury department doesn't believe in this policy—doesn't believe it's going to work. Instead of fronting up and being honest with the Australian people about this total failure of a policy, it's chosen to tinker at the edges.

Home construction has collapsed and targets are being missed, yet the minister still refuses to admit that the Housing Australia Future Fund is purchasing homes in competition with Australians. (Time expired)