Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025; Second Reading

Summary

The Housing Australia Act 2018 currently allows the government to change housing policy directions—including rules for the Home Guarantee Scheme—by issuing simple orders that Parliament cannot block. This amendment makes those directions subject to parliamentary disallowance, meaning Parliament can vote to reject or overturn them. The change matters because the Labor government recently removed income caps and property price limits from the Home Guarantee Scheme without parliamentary approval, so this gives elected members a way to review and challenge major housing policy shifts in future.

What happens at this stage

The main debate on whether the chamber supports the broad purpose of the bill. Members speak to its overall merits and concerns rather than the fine print. The government outlines its policy intentions; the opposition and crossbench put their case. This is the stage that determines whether the bill proceeds at all.

Next: Consideration in Detail (House) or Committee of the Whole (Senate), where the bill is examined clause by clause