QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms O'NEIL (Hotham—Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities) (14:37): With regard to the number that you've asserted there, I just point you in the direction of the PM's comments and the clarification from National Australia Bank today. Labor has a longstanding concern for Australian renters. Our passion for addressing the issues in Australia's housing market is really about them.
This share of our population is in many ways bearing the brunt of 40 years of policy failures in housing. They're in a situation where they're insecure in many of their tenancies and rents are going up too fast and too frequently. Many of them live with that agonising experience of the thing they want most of all, which is homeownership, moving further and further away from them.
That is why our government has the boldest and most comprehensive housing policy of a Commonwealth government in 70 years. What do renters of this country need? They need us to build more homes.
They need help with Commonwealth rent assistance, which our government has lifted by 50 per cent, they need improved rental standards, which our prime minister has negotiated with every premier and territory leader, and they need a realistic pathway into homeownership. I might just really politely point out to the parliament that our government is doing all these things.
Those opposite largely want to undo them all and create an unfair housing market for Australia's renters. Opposition members interjecting— Ms O'NEIL: With regard to the impact of the tax changes on renters, the parliament is also very well versed in this. We talked about this in budget week.
The Treasury has looked at the government's policy, and the advice is that there will be a negligible impact on rents. Why is that the case? You just heard it from the Prime Minister.
I remind the parliament again that everyone who was a landlord on budget night continues to get access to negative gearing because of our decision to grandfather the arrangements. In fact, it goes broader than that. If you owned a property as at budget night, then you are able to continue to access these concessions.
Our policies will also get more rental households out of the rental market and into homeownership—75,000 renters will get that opportunity—and we're also building more homes for renters. There's going to be a lot of politics about this debate. I think the fact that the Liberal Party of Australia is expecting us to believe that they care about renters is really telling us about the politics here.
Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: The minister will pause. Order! Members on my left!
The member for Parkes can leave the chamber under 94(a). The member for Parkes then left the chamber. The SPEAKER: This continual, non-stop interjecting is just not acceptable for the House.
There are norms that we all need to follow, and that kind of behaviour is not acceptable. The Manager of Opposition Business now has the call. Mr Tehan: It goes to relevance.
This was a much tighter question and it was asking about a guarantee: will you guarantee they won't go up by 30 per cent? The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House on the point of order? Mr Burke: To the point of order, the minister was comparing and contrasting briefly on the exact topic that was in the question.
The SPEAKER: Yes, she is entitled to do some compare and contrast about the government's position, but that can't be the remainder of her answer, which I'm sure she will adhere to. She has 30 seconds, and she was asked a specific question, so I'll ask her to return to the question and be directly relevant. Ms O'NEIL: There are going to be lots of political points made about the situation facing renters, and what I'd ask Australian renters to do is actually not listen to the politicians; listen to the people and organisations that exist only to protect the renters of this country.
I want to read a quote for you from Everybody's Home. They say: Rents have been surging for years partly because investor tax breaks have been fuelling the housing crisis. The idea that we should be doing more of the same is an insult to the intelligence of renters across the country.
(Time expired)