STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr SMALL (Forrest—Opposition Whip) (13:42): Although the Labor government apparently only discovered a problem with our housing market after the last election, having broken faith with the Australian people in promising not to introduce new taxes on housing, they missed a step. The problem in our housing market wasn't created by tax settings. It wasn't created by super settings.

It was created by this government's trifecta of failure when it comes to managing the number of migrants that come to this country and our capacity to accommodate them. It's just as well that the Liberal and National parties have a plan to fix our housing market. We will introduce a $5 billion housing infrastructure fund to unlock new land and get new homes to market.

That is unlike the $80 billion this government has spent building 30,000 fewer homes than under the coalition government. The Albanese government has managed to make it harder and more expensive to build new homes in this country. I hear some squawking from over there, but the facts speak for themselves: at the end of the day Australia is building fewer homes a year than when the coalition were in power.

They squawk about having a housing minister to help. Well, the Australians I speak to don't want that sort of help from this minister. The coalition has a plan to fix this.