Slade Brockman (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will continue my speech on this motion from Senator Bragg. I am trying to recall where I finished up yesterday. The key is that we need some scrutiny on the Housing Australia Future Fund. We need some scrutiny on the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator, on the National Housing Infrastructure Facility and on the National Housing Accord facility. This is a government that loves to have a slogan, a title—a three-word title in particular. They love their 'Home Guarantee Scheme'. They love these things! There's 'capacity building' and 'Help to Buy'. That's another three-word slogan from this government. They put these schemes out there one after the other after the other and leverage off taxpayer dollars, often off budget, and this requires a level of scrutiny.

There is scrutiny available through the estimates process, and Senator Bragg has certainly prosecuted that very well indeed. But it does require a level of scrutiny in this place, because we need to confront this raft of housing programs, which, quite frankly, have not delivered what the government promised. They have not delivered the houses on the ground. As I said yesterday, the Home Guarantee Scheme, in particular, needs examination in the current market, where we have prices rising very rapidly, young people being effectively encouraged into the market with the five per cent deposit scheme, house prices potentially falling and interest rates rising. They're actually worse off than they would have been without this government's program.

Debate adjourned.