Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (13:14): I think that this question in some ways misunderstands the existing business model of Defence Housing Australia. This has been canvassed in estimates on occasions when we've been together, but Defence Housing Australia has entered into what is being termed the New Builds Volume Leasing Program agreement in Rockingham.

That is with four Western Australian businesses, and that is to support the delivery of new properties. Essentially, the nature of that arrangement is that suppliers will offer investors the chance to purchase off the plan, and, once built, those homes will be leased to DHA. That model essentially incentivises investors by providing some measure of certainty about the likely occupancy of the homes once built.