Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Special Minister of State) (14:40): The price of anything is a function of supply and demand, and obviously if the demand exceeds supply then prices will go up and if supply exceeds demand then prices will go down, and over time, in the free market, things will get into balance. The truth is that the best way to improve housing affordability is to increase the supply of housing, and there are a whole range of things that state governments, in particular, can do in relation to that. Indeed, the Commonwealth, through the Treasurer, is working with state governments in relation to some possible initiatives in that space. What I would say, though, is that the worst thing to do in terms of housing affordability would be to pursue Labor's disastrous policy on negative gearing, because it would push up the cost of rental accommodation and push down the value of existing properties, which means it would undermine the wealth of families across Australia and their capacity to invest, to get ahead. That is why we continue to— The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Moore: Mr President, a point of order on direct relevance—and the minister may have just been getting to it as I stood up: the question was, in particular, what the Turnbull government is doing, rather than what concerns the minister has about our policy. The PRESIDENT: There were two elements to the question. The first one was whether the minister is aware of Sydney and Melbourne housing affordability. He has been addressing that question, and I believe he has been addressing the second element of the question. Senator CORMANN: Labor get very touchy when people on our side of the parliament start pointing out the deep flaws in their ill-thought-out so-called policy, because Labor want people who are looking for rental accommodation across Australia to pay more for their housing. People in the Labor Party want to reduce the supply of rental accommodation, which of course will mean— The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Moore: Mr President, a point of order, again on direct relevance to the question about what the Turnbull government is doing: the minister has just gone straight back into his comments about our policy rather than answering what his actions are. The PRESIDENT: The minister has not fully addressed the second part of the question, I agree. However, the minister did address the first part of the question. I cannot direct the minister as to what elements he should or should not answer, but he has certainly been directly relevant to the element that he did answer. Minister, you have the call. Senator CORMANN: I very clearly said what we were doing, and I am also saying what we are not doing, and what we are not doing is implementing Labor's disastrous policy which would push up the price of rental accommodation and which would undermine and drive down the value of existing properties, because we believe that is bad for families and bad for the economy.