Albanese Government begins the new year with a new low

SENATOR ANDREW BRAGG

Shadow Minister for Productivity and Deregulation

Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness

Liberal Senator for New South Wales

STATEMENT

05 January 2026

Albanese Government begins the new year with a new low

The Albanese Government is showing contempt for parliamentary accountability and Australia’s democracy to cover up its housing crisis catastrophe.

On 28 October 2025, the Senate used an Order for Production of Documents (OPD) to investigate the cataclysmic governance failures at Housing Australia. More than two months later, Labor has failed to provide these documents to the Senate, yet has leaked details of them to the media.

It is unacceptable for the Government to brief the media while withholding information from the Parliament. I have sought advice from the Clerk of the Senate on this breach. The most secretive government since the Keating era has reached a new low.

There is continued chaos amidst slow housing approvals out of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), Labor’s flagship program to address its housing crisis, administered by Housing Australia.

The HAFF has been running for more than two years and controls $10 billion, yet very few houses have actually been built. Following an internal governance probe, it is clear taxpayer funds are being flushed down the dunny.

The situation is so dire that the Government appointed a Treasury official as an observer on the Housing Australia Board to watch over Labor’s handpicked political mates.

Round One of the HAFF has been poorly planned and has seen taxpayers fund single dwelling builds costing up to $1.3 million - despite Australia’s average build cost of around $500,000 for a new house. The HAFF is focused on returns for big superannuation funds rather than outcomes for Australian taxpayers.

Subsidies for investors and general mismanagement have crippled the HAFF. Taxpayers may as well throw their money into a bonfire outside Parliament House.

The Government should never have pretended to be a property developer.

Labor is good at talking and spending money, but the scoreboard shows only a tiny amount of houses have been built. We will develop a better way to provide social and affordable housing without the nightmare of Labor’s bureaucracy.

[Ends]