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Thursday, 25 August 2011
Page: 5573

Housing

Senator BILYK (Tasmania) (14:54): Mr President, my question is to the Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness, Senator Arbib. Can the minister advise the Senate how the government is assisting in the construction of new housing, particularly social housing, and how is this supporting the building and construction sector? Are there any third-party views about the effect of government investment on job creation in this sector?

Senator ARBIB (New South Wales—Minister for Sport, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development and Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) (14:55): I thank Senator Bilyk for the question. This is a government that is very proud of the work we have done on nation building, and we are very proud of the work we have done with the social housing package. There have been 15,700 homes completed—homes that will go to people in need, to Australians who need affordable housing and support during the bad times in their lives.

We are also proud of the jobs that the Nation Building Program has supported. The package has supported 200,000 jobs. These are jobs that would have been lost, and families would have experienced unemploy­ment and its terrible effects. We know the OECD has said that without the stimulus package pushing the economy, unemploy­ment would have been two per cent higher. I remind the Senate, that 750,000 new jobs have been created since we came into government in 2007 and we have an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent, which is around half that of the United States and half that of most European countries.

Under the social housing package, there are still houses being rolled out as we speak, which we will continue to support.

Honourable senators interjecting—

The PRESIDENT: Order! Interjections on both sides are disorderly. I need to hear the answer to the question.

Senator ARBIB: These are homes that are being rolled out right now, directly supporting jobs in the economy, supporting tradespeople, supporting labourers, support­ing apprentices, supporting small businesses and supporting contractors. There is also indirect stimulus on other small businesses. Look at the transport operators, look at the building suppliers: they are all being supported right now by the stimulus package and by the social housing that is being delivered in our economy. (Time expired)

Senator BILYK (Tasmania) (14:57): Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. How is the government supporting construct­ion jobs into the future in terms of building additional affordable housing, and are there any risks?

Senator ARBIB (New South Wales—Minister for Sport, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development and Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) (14:57): There are still around 3,700 homes to be delivered under the social housing package. Those homes are going to provide a huge amount of work for tradespeople—contractors and builders—in our economy, but our housing packages and programs are a lot bigger than that. Almost 80,000 homes across the country—when you roll in NRAS, when you roll in the National Partnership Agreement on Social Housing and when you put in the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness—are going to help many, many people.

The one big threat to these programs—I have said this before and I will say it again—is the $70 billion hole that the Liberal Party, the coalition, have—

Honourable senators interjecting—

The PRESIDENT: Order! On my right! Senators, I am waiting to call the minister.

Senator ARBIB: In relation to the $7 billion worth of cuts that the coalition will have to make, the question is: which housing programs will they cut? (Time expired)

Senator BILYK (Tasmania) (14:59): Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. How is this additional housing helping Australians in need of affordable housing? Can the minister advise whether there are any alternative approaches that have been proposed?

Senator ARBIB (New South Wales—Minister for Sport, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development and Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) (15:00): When you add up the number of homes that the government is delivering under our housing programs, we are almost at 80,000. As I was saying, the threat is the Liberal senators on the other side of the chamber. They voted against the stimulus package, they voted against those 19,600 homes being constructed, they voted against repairs and maintenance for social housing and they voted against jobs. We know that if they get back into power once again they will look for the easy answers. Last time they Liberal Party were in govern­ment they cut $3.1 billion out of housing and they cut social homes across the country. We know where they are going to go again. They are going to get straight back to cutting housing programs, putting people on the street and increasing homelessness. That is the Liberal Party way of doing things. (Time expired)

Senator Chris Evans: Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.