Disallowance Requirements for Legislative Instruments Made Under the Housing Australia Act
Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025
Opposition BillSenate
House of Representatives
Assent
Introduced by: Senator Andrew Bragg (LIB)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Wendy Askew LIB
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. Leave granted. Senator ASKEW: I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted.”
Zali Steggall IND
“The Administrative Review Tribunal is an important element of our judicial system, to provide an independent mechanism of review of administrative decisions. It is central to ensuring fairness, transparency and accountability in government decision-making. Immigration has again become a political football, as all too often it does in Australia, and this must be resisted.”
Andrew Bragg LIB
“I rise to speak to the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025. The purpose of this bill is to enact a system where there is going to be democratic accountability over the Housing Australia legislation, because, as it stands, the minister is able to make material changes to Housing Australia programs, including the Home Guarantee Scheme, without any reference to this parliament.”
Dorinda Cox ALP
“Wow. Thank you, Senator Bragg, for that performance. I think, when Senator Bragg started his speech today on the second reading of this bill, he talked about assumption. The Labor government are not here to run on assumption. We are here to provide certainty, and our housing policy does exactly that.”
Jane Hume LIB
“I rise to speak in support of the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025. This bill is fundamentally about three very basic things. It’s about transparency, it’s about oversight, and it’s about protecting the Australian economy from reckless government policy. More importantly, it’s about reducing that risk of excessive executive overreach.”
Luke Gosling ALP
“I rise to speak in strong support of the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. I do so mindful of the gravity of decisions that we entrust to our defence organisation and to the Australian Defence Force and respectful of the responsibility the parliament bears to provide both oversight and confidence on behalf of the Australian people.”
“I rise to speak against the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025—a bill that is bad for housing, bad for Australians and bad for homeownership. In the middle of a housing crisis, the shadow minister for housing thinks it’s a good idea to move a bill like this—a bill which seeks to allow the Senate to block housing reforms.”
“I thank Senator Bragg for introducing the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025, which One Nation supports. There’s an urgent need for this bill, which restores the Senate’s right to scrutinise regulations issued under a bill.”
Maria Kovacic LIB
“I’ve been listening with interest to the comments from Senator Roberts, the senator for One Nation, on the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025. I note with interest—this wasn’t how I intended to start my speech—that he said that only One Nation has a plan to solve Australia’s housing crisis.”
Lisa Darmanin ALP
“The government will not be supporting the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025, because the government is in the business of helping first home buyers buy their own homes. The government is in the business of delivering social and affordable housing. The government is in the business of building more homes and giving renters a fair go.”
Slade Brockman LIB
“What a bunch of baloney we’ve heard from those opposite. The Liberal Party opposed Labor’s various attempts at housing policy because they are failed policies that we knew were going to be failed policies when they were introduced to this place over the last few years. History has now shown that they are failed policies, and we have been proved correct.”
Ellie Whiteaker ALP
“Let’s be honest about what this bill, the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025, would do. It would make it harder for first home buyers to buy their own home. This bill by the Liberal Party—by Senator Bragg—will make it harder for first home buyers to buy their first home and will stand in the way of the delivery of affordable housing for Australians.”
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. Leave granted. Senator HODGINS-MAY: I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted.”