QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:37): I thank the member for her question. Indeed, yesterday the shadow housing minister had a day out. It was a ripper.

It was a highlight and well worth watching. He said, 'As someone who was a backbencher in the Morrison government, I am sorry I didn't do more to stop the madness.' The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will pause. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tehan: I'm going to quote Speaker Smith from 21 June 2021: 'I uphold that point of order. There was no question about alternatives. There's a lot else in the question, but certainly nothing about alternatives.' The Prime Minister needs to be relevant to the question, and there was nothing about alternatives.

The SPEAKER: We'll hear from the Leader of the House. Mr Burke: If we are quoting Speaker Smith, I'd remind the House of two other things Speaker Smith would always do: first, allowance of a preamble on any answer, and second, that ministers were always allowed to compare and contrast. On those two particular phrases, there are multiple references.

The SPEAKER: The manager? Mr Tehan: I actually have a quote of Speaker Smith on preamble, from 11 February 2021: 'The Prime Minister's had more than a preamble. The question was very specific indeed and— Mr Albanese: You've just undermined yourself!

Mr Tehan: No, I haven't undermined myself. And Speaker, could the Prime Minister—I know he's had a bad week— The SPEAKER: No, no—just get to the point. Mr Albanese interjecting— Mr Tehan: I know you've had a bad week.

Government members interjecting— Mr Tehan: If I can— The SPEAKER: Order! We'll just get to the point quickly and efficiently. Mr Tehan: Yes: … the Prime Minister's had more than a preamble.

The question was very specific indeed and, whilst the Prime Minister is entitled to talk generally at the start of his answer, he needs to either come to that question … It's time to come to the question. Government members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right are going to cease interjecting immediately.

The manager is right to raise his points of order in the way that he does; 20 seconds is not a very long time. But Speaker Smith also said, on 22 October 2019: … but, as I've said before, both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition do get some tolerance to compare and contrast. I'm glad you've raised Speaker Smith, because I've got a whole lot of his quotes ready to go, which will be great.

We can go through all of them! The Prime Minister will continue. Mr ALBANESE: I do thank the member for that point of order, backing us up!

I'll make a couple of points that are pretty clear. The latest RBA data shows: less than one per cent of all mortgage holders are in negative equity. That was point 1.

Point 2—guess what? That's less than half of the mortgage holders who were in negative equity under the Liberals in 2017 and 2019— A government member: That's less than half! Mr ALBANESE: less than half.

In April 2019, the RBA reported just over two per cent of borrowers were in negative equity. Unbelievable! This is while median dwelling prices fell by 4.3 per cent between May 2018 and May 2019, with Sydney dwelling values dropping 10.7 per cent over that year.

No wonder, when they let their housing shadow minister out yesterday, he not only went on to say he was sorry that he didn't do more 'to stop the madness'; he described universal superannuation as 'one of the biggest public policy failures since Federation'. When he was asked whether some low-income Australians will have to accept housing that is substandard, this morning, he said, 'Yes, definitely.' Here's a tricky question he got asked: 'If Angus Taylor can't lift support for the party by the end of the year, will you have to change leaders again before the next election?' Senator Bragg: 'That's really a question for the commentators to get into.' Seriously!

Then, when he was asked if he wanted to broaden the base and increase the rate of the GST: 'I wouldn't take anything off the table.' Mr Bowen: He's a moderate! Mr ALBANESE: And this is a moderate! This is a party that now is not run by this bloke, but run by Tony Abbott.

And he's a moderate! Goodness knows! I reckon they should broadcast one of these shadow ministry meetings.

It would be pretty entertaining. (Time expired)