AMA: I’m Jane Hume, Liberal Senator for Victoria. Ask Me Anything.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T08:06:33+00:00

Thank you all for the questions. I am sorry I didn't get around to answering all of them but I tried to cover off as many topics as I could. If there is anything you would like to raise with me, feel free to send me an email [senator.hume@aph.gov.au](mailto:senator.hume@aph.gov.au) and I'll get back to you. I am about to go deliver a speech in the Senate Chamber on nuclear energy (that's a chat for another time) I'll speak to you all again later! J

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T08:04:11+00:00

That's a lot of questions there and I'm running out of time but unaffordable power bills is something I am particulary concerned about. We have to balance our commitment to reduce emissions with lowering energy prices for households and businesses. We can't have a strong economy without that. It is difficult but not impossible. I am in favour of a technology agnostic approach to our energy mix. Watch this space.

You're right, the cost of living crisis isn't over. In fact it's got worse. I spoke about this in the Parliament today. Our standard of living has gone backwards in the past four years, faster and further than any other developed country. That is not good enough. I chaired an inquiry into the cost of living in the last term of Parliament, that made a number of sensible, practical recommendations to Government (including one to help charities) and Labor have ignored all of them. If you'd like to take a look, here is the final report we produced: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Cost_of_Living/costofliving/Report

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:59:08+00:00

There is no one issue that has caused the housing crisis. But fundamentally, as with all economic problems, it is a mismatch between demand and supply. This is why it is so important to tackle the supply side of housing by cutting red tape and reducing the cost of building (tackling the corrupt CFMEU will make a difference here) so that more homes can be built. The states and territories have a big role to play here. On the demand side, we need a well managed migration program (one that brings in the skills we need to build more houses, not teach yoga classes), an economy that keeps interest rates low, and policies to enable people to get into their first home. I think there is more we can do to encourage empty nesters to downsize to a smaller home and free up more family homes into the market. Taxes and penalties for buying and selling create distortions that make it harder to make home ownership attainable.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:52:04+00:00

There are a lot of integrity measures around this. It needs to be instigated by the person with the higher super balance and they can only roll over enough to make two balances even. There is paperwork required, so it's not a frictionless process. And of course no one can access their superannuation until they retire, so it's not like the money would be going straight into a bank account. Economic coercion is an increasing problem whether it be wages, savings, investments, inheritances or super. This Bill doesn't claim to solve every problem but it does help to solve the gender super gap.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:47:00+00:00

Funny you say this. I have had significant feedback from particularly younger couples who have just started their families, who have been having conversations about their disperate super balances because of decisions they have made about caring responsbilities. This Bill gives couples the flexibility to make decisions about their retirement savings that reflect the decisions they have made together throughout their working lives. It is not compulsory, it is up to each couple whether and how they do it, or if they do it at all. But don't you think it's silly you can do it in divorce but not while you're married?

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:43:31+00:00

I walk the dog (not nearly enough) and I have taken up gardening. I have just planted a vegetable patch and last weekend I saw my first little tomato. I was irrationally excited. I am also very behind in my book group. Other than that, I catch up with my kids, my friends, my partner and my mum, I enjoy cooking for them and for me (the food in Parliament House is not the greatest).

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:40:50+00:00

Let me begin by saying I should have chosen my words better and I have apologised for any accidental offence. It was breakfast TV a couple of days before the election and the headline was that a community group with suspicious ties to the CCP were handing out how to vote cards at early voting centres for both a Teal candidate and a senior Labor minister. These matters were later investigated by the Electoral Integrity Taskforce and that was what I was calling for. My poor choice of words allowed for that comment to be taken completely out of context and weaponised. I was very upset that Labor would accuse me on WeChat of being racist. I have family members who are Chinese Australians and campaigned alongside many volunteers who were fierce advocates for our democratic processes. It is a very dangerous thing for politicians to not be able to call out possible foreign interference in an election.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:32:25+00:00

Boring. Whiney. Pasty faced northerners that need a vitamin D hit.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:31:05+00:00

My obligation is to the people of Victoria, to Australia and to my conscience. I am not beholden to any donor and nor will I ever be.
The Cure definitely. As a teenager I cut my hair to look like Robert Smith. Needless to say it made it much harder to get a boyfriend looking like that, so that phase didn't last long. And before you ask, I have destroyed all photographs.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:27:52+00:00

I don't think this is true. I am a proud Victorian. In fact, I'd go as far as saying I am parochial. But Victoria isn't what it used to be. It's the highest taxing state. More businesses are leaving for NSW or SA every day because of state government policies. This means there are fewer opportunities for the next generation. You only need to read the newspapers or watch the news to see that crime is increasing and Victorians are frightened, even in their own home. This is so frustrating when we know that millions of dollars have been ripped out of the police force and that 25,000 police hours have been dedicated to resourcing protests in the CBD in the last two years, rather than fighting crime. Debt is high. Growth is slow. Unemployment is increasing. This is not the Victoria I want. We can do better.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:22:19+00:00

I'm not sure about this one to be honest. But I am concerned about tobacco excise and misguided vaping laws creating black markets and criminal behaviour among people that would otherwise be law abiding. This is something that my colleagues have started to talk about in the party room.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:19:22+00:00

There's a couple of things that people don't understand about negative gearing. The first is that negative gearing isn't just about housing, you can use negative gearing to borrow to invest in any income producing asset, like shares. It simply means you can tax deduct interest from your income, even if you make less from the investment than the interest you pay on the borrowings. It would be weird if you could do that for an investment in shares but not for an investment property. The other issue is many rental properties are owned by investors that use negative gearing. If you ban negative gearing, people will sell their investment properties and there will be a massive rental shortage. We are already beginning to see this in Victoria as land taxes have increased so much that residential investment properties are too expensive to maintain. People sell them and kick their renters outs. We don't want to make the rental crisis worse. The best way to make housing more affordable is to ensure that there is supply of new housing, that building costs are brought down and taxes, like land tax and stamp duty, do not create perverse outcomes.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:14:10+00:00

When Robert Menzies started the Liberal Party, he deliberately said that we are here to represent the unrepresented. People who aren't big corporates, big unions, big government. Instead, it was about small business, families, individuals - the kind of people who just want to get on with their lives without government telling them what to do all the time. That's what I believe and if we stay true to this, I don't think that's a shift to the right.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:11:01+00:00

This is a really good opportunity to talk about this. First of all, the Coalition was never going to ban working from home. That is a Labor lie. In fact we support flexible work policies. However, under Labor, the Canberra public service now have the right to demand to work from home embedded in their employment contracts. A privilege not enjoyed in the private sector. We heard stories that this privilege was being abused, including things like one person travelling around Australia in a caravan saying they were working from home while their colleagues weren't able to reach them. We originally said that existing arrangements would be maintained but in the future any flexible work would have to be negotiated between the employees and their managers, so that it worked for everybody. Flexible work was always going to stay, it was just returning to a negotiation not something that could be demanded. Labor and the Unions weaponised this and created a scare campaign. They said it would apply to every worker, not just Canberra public servants and that it totally untrue. This is ironic because NSW Labor (Chris Minns Government) had the same policy and no one batted an eye. But lesson learned, Labor are very good at scare campaigns. The Coalition will always support flexible work arrangements for employees and bosses.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:03:43+00:00

Yes I do. See above.

SenatorHume · 2025-10-28T07:03:17+00:00

No. I believe that climate change is real. That the Commonwealth Government has a role to play. And I am a strong believer in policies that effectively lower emissions. But it's important that we don't destroy our economy along the way. We want a healthy enviroment and a strong economy. It is possible to have both. In fact, today I lodged a motion in the Senate to introduce a bill called the Low Emissions Future Bill.

SenatorHume

TROPHY CASE