QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (15:00): The policy objective is about making sure that we can help more Australians enter the housing market and that we have 75,000 more Australians able to own their own home, because we on this side understand that the opportunities that most of us have had—we should ensure we do what is required to enable those opportunities for the next generation of Australians.

It's as simple as that. We don't think the status quo, where so many young Australians are locked out of the housing market, is appropriate. We don't think it's right.

We don't think that is about having a fair go in this country. This legislation—the objective of the tax changes in relation to housing was about making sure that more Australians, more renters, have an opportunity to be homeowners. Again, I come back to this: if you were worried about cost of living, why did you vote against tax cuts?