DOCUMENTS

Senator SCARR (Queensland) (12:17): It's extremely important that people listening to this debate understand what we're actually discussing here today. The Senate passed a motion requiring documents to be produced to the Senate in relation to the government modelling supporting its five per cent deposit scheme. A majority of senators—we just heard from Senator Barbara Pocock, a Greens senator, and we heard from my colleague Senator Bragg, a coalition senator—required the government to produce these documents, and the government has refused to do so.

The government has thumbed its nose at this Senate and refused to provide these documents, notwithstanding the order from the Senate. This isn't just a single occurrence; this is now a course of conduct. It goes to the character of this Labor government.

They do not like transparency, they do not like accountability, and they don't like integrity. It's not just me saying this. The Centre for Public Integrity—one of our outstanding non-government organisations that's at the front line of calling for greater integrity, accountability and responsibility in relation to government processes—also said it about the Labor government.

Director Geoffrey Watson, a wonderful Australian who's been at the front line in dealing with corruption by the CFMEU construction division, says: The alarming deterioration in transparency is deeply troubling … undermining democratic accountability. That's not a Liberal senator saying that; that's Mr Geoffrey Watson. Professor Gabrielle Appleby says: … ministers are hiding information from the Senate and the Australian people … They're not just hiding it from us.

When they hide it from us here in the Senate, they are, in effect, hiding it from the Australian people, because we are sent here by the Australian people to perform our roles in this house of review. In order to discharge our obligations, we need the information to review, and the information we're seeking in this regard is the government modelling which supported its five per cent deposit scheme.

Senator Bragg made a very, very important point with respect to why this information is crucially important. The government did not anticipate the consequences of this scheme, and the facts prove that. There was a six per cent increase across the country in the cost of entry-level housing during the first six months following the introduction of this scheme—six per cent in six months.

The government never predicted it, so we want to see the modelling. On what modelling did you base this policy? Now they refuse to give us the modelling.

How are we meant to interrogate the basis for policies adopted by the government if they will not give us the information and the analysis used to form the basis for adopting those policies? Why do they fear exposing that analysis to the sunlight of the day so that it can be examined, it can be questioned, it can be queried and we can have a debate? Why do they continue hiding information?

In the words of Professor Gabrielle Appleby, 'Ministers are hiding information from the Senate and the Australian people.' This is a really important point, and I commend Senator Bragg with respect to his determination in relation to trying to get access to this information. And we will keep coming back here; we will keep coming back to the Senate and seeking explanations from the minister.

We're going to hear another explanation from a minister in a few moments. I ask everyone who's listening to this debate to ask themselves: 'What are they hiding? Why are they fearful of this information being produced to this Senate and, through this Senate, to the Australian people?' It's not good enough.

We also want to see the modelling which, in the budget, said that rents would only go up by $2 a week. As Senator Bragg said, in his home city of Sydney the fear is that rents are going to go up by hundreds of dollars a week. We also want to see the modelling, in the budget, which said that, as a consequence of Labor policies, there would be a decrease in housing supply.

As a direct consequence of their tax measures, housing supply is going to decrease. We want to see the modelling for that, and we want that modelling to be produced to this Senate and, through this Senate, to the Australian people. Question agreed to.