QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:53): As I have said many times to Senator Bragg, he knows that the budget papers indicated that, when you take into account all that the government is doing, there will be an increased number of homes over the decade. I would make the point to you that we on this side of the chamber believe that government has a role in contributing to ensuring more houses are built in this country.
Under your government, I think there were only some 300-odd houses that were built with the support of government for social and affordable housing over a decade. The PRESIDENT: Senator Bragg? Senator Bragg: My point of order is on relevance.
Will there still be 35,000 fewer homes and higher rents as a result of this budget? The PRESIDENT: Thank you. Senator Bragg.
The minister is being relevant, and I'll continue to listen carefully. Senator WONG: I actually responded to that in the first answer. As I explained, as a whole we will see an increase in the supply of housing over the next decade if you look at all of the budget measures.
What we will see, importantly, in terms of composition is an extra 75,000 first home buyers. So this is a budget which, despite Senator Bragg's best effort, is a pro-supply budget. This is the budget which ensures that negative gearing will still be available for new builds, and new builds will have a choice of CPI indexation or 50 per cent discount for capital gains.
What I would say to you, Senator Bragg, is that we know housing affordability is a problem that is decades in the making, and we are throwing everything at it. We are throwing everything at it, and we are building on what we have done over the last four years. We are levelling the playing field for first homebuyers, we are building more infrastructure, we are cutting red tape, and we are approving more homes.
That is what we are doing. All you are doing is criticising, and you are part of a party that delivered nothing when it comes to housing support. The PRESIDENT: Senator Bragg, first supplementary?