MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Senator BRAGG (New South Wales) (16:50): Thank you very much, Acting Deputy President. It's great to have a Tarong supporter in the chair this afternoon. Today, I want to talk about the Labor government's complete and abject failure on housing.

After four long years of this government, we've seen a model of high tax, high red tape, high levels of corruption and a complete failure to meet the targets it set for itself. The government has no chance of ever meeting the housing targets it's set for itself—to be at 1.2 million houses over five years. The government has no chance of ever meeting the social and affordable housing targets it set for itself through the Housing Future Fund, which has had $10 billion and three years and has built fewer than a thousand houses, most of which it has purchased, not built.

The government has subjected the Australian people to this shocking model of failure. We see, on the ABS's own numbers, 30,000 fewer houses each year. That's right.

After billions of dollars, the new taxes, the new red tape and the new everything else, we have fewer houses. For the housing minister and the Prime Minister and the Treasurer to walk around and brag about how much money they're spending on houses—that doesn't matter. What matters is how many houses you actually get.

Just because you spend more money on things doesn't mean you get more things. I know it's not a particularly scientific concept, but it is a fact under this government. We saw a budget that doubled down on that failed strategy and saddled this country with $77 billion of new taxes, not just on housing but on everything.

I have still not heard a coherent explanation as to why there needs to be a 30 per cent tax on everything to solve a housing crisis. No coherent explanation has ever been provided as to why crypto, ETF, shares and whatever else need to be more highly taxed. That is one of the reasons that we have a sclerotic economy in this country.

What is the net result of this dreadful budget three months after it was given? If you look at supply, the government, by its own budget papers, admits there are 35,000 fewer houses, and there are even fewer houses when you take into account its ban on SMSFs investing to provide new properties. Why is the government restricting housing supply?

That is a very good question. I think most Australians would say it's because the government has no brain. We see an estimated $2 a week in rent increases.

We've already seen projections of up to $250 a week increases in Sydney. And then we see perhaps the most telling stat of them all: home loans. We've seen a 15 per cent drop in loans to owner-occupiers since the budget.

So there are fewer houses and higher rents: those are the results of this budget. When you look at all the indices, you can see that people's lives are getting harder and harder. You've got a question why the government has doubled down on this failed strategy.

Why does it think that more taxes will give you more houses? It won't. It never will.

The most regrettable part of all this is that the people who can least afford to pay more in rent will suffer as a result of these policies. For the Prime Minister to publish his condescending, disgusting social media videos where he says, 'Have a great weekend'—people are over it. They know that this guy is completely out of touch, with his triumphal claim that he has solved the housing system problems by reducing housing supply and increasing rents.

I think people are seeing through this as a completely failed approach. The problem the Australian people have is that they've got at least another 18 months of this. After four years of a government that has completely failed on housing, has wasted more money on housing than any prior government and has presided over a corrupt model—where the CFMEU gets to set prices and where it increases taxes and increases regulation—they've got to suffer for another 18 months until we get an election.

And the next election will be a referendum on the government's completely failed housing policies, because at the end of the day you can't have your own facts. The stats are the stats: 30,000 fewer houses, massive increases in rents and a reduction in overall supply numbers. That is making the Australian dream worse, not better.