Housing affordability and competition law are two key areas Treasurer Scott Morrison wants to discuss with his state and territory counterparts.
Little more than a month after taking over from Joe Hockey, Mr Morrison is hosting a meeting of the nation's treasurers in Sydney on Friday.
He wants the housing discussion to go beyond the usual call for faster land release to satisfy growing demand.
"It isn't just about housing affordability to buy a house," Mr Morrison said.
"It is about rental affordability, it is about the effectiveness of social housing and how that is delivered, and it's also about getting people out of homelessness."
The treasurer described as "archaic" the way social housing was delivered across the country and was aware of frustrations about attempts to reduce homelessness.
Almost $11 billion is spent by federal, state and territory governments on housing support each year.
The former social services minister did not think those who depended on that support would be giving it "a very big tick in terms of its effectiveness".
Mr Morrison also intends to use the meeting to broaden the discussion on competition law, which he feels has tended to centre on recommendations from the Harper review to counter misuse of market power.
The treasurer said many of the matters raised in the review went to state and territory governments.
"There is no area of government that can say that they have reached the point where its service delivery has reached the zenith of its efficiency and its effectiveness," he said.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said reforms of the 1990s demonstrated economic benefits from competition policy could only be fully realised if all levels of government worked towards a common objective.
Friday's meeting was a crucial first step towards putting in place a detailed competition reform program with supporting institutional arrangements, she said.
Share
