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The Auditor-General responded on 4 March 2026 to correspondence from Senator Andrew Bragg dated 4 February 2026, requesting that the Auditor-General expand the ANAO Audit into the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
4 March 2026
Senator Andrew Bragg
Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness
Senator for New South Wales
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
By email: Senator.Bragg@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator Bragg
Audit of the Housing Australia Future Fund
Thank you for your correspondence dated 4 February 2026 requesting that the audit of the Design and delivery of the Housing Australia Future Fund be expanded in relation to measures set out in the 2025–26 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).
I have considered the request made in your letter. I can advise that the audit of the Design and delivery of the Housing Australia Future Fund is underway and is expected to table in June 2026. The objective of the audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) design and delivery of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
The scope of the audit includes consideration of program advice and ongoing management of the program during the period from the initial design following the 2022 Federal election through to present. This will include consideration of the advice provided by Treasury to the Australian Government in relation to social and affordable housing in the 2025–26 MYEFO. Program monitoring, evaluation and reporting is one of several factors to be considered by the audit in relation to whether Treasury has established effective delivery arrangements for the program.
In addition, Treasury is included on the list of entities to be audited in the 2025–26 Performance Statements Audit Program. Treasury’s 2025–26 Corporate Plan contains a new measure on housing, performance measure 7: Proportion of social and affordable dwellings contracted that received support from Housing Australia, assessed against the annual target. Treasury’s reporting of housing results will be examined as part of the performance statements audit.
Yours sincerely
Dr Caralee McLiesh PSM
Auditor-General
4 February 2026
Dr Caralee McLiesh PSM
Auditor-General
Australian National Audit Office
GPO Box 707
Canberra ACT 2601
By email: ag1@anao.gov.au
Dear Dr Mcliesh
Request to Expand the ANAO Audit into the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF)
ln the context of your current Financial Performance Audit of the HAFF, I want to draw your attention to the increase in expenditure on the HAFF reported in the 2025-26 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) and the need for full transparency in this area.
I note that page 118 of the 2025-26 MYEFO states that "the cap on the Australian Government's guarantee over Housing Australia's commitments has been increased from $26 billion to $44 billion to support commitments for Housing Australia Future Fund Round 3 projects." At the same time, the MYEFO notes on page 65 there was a reprofiling of HAFF "disbursements and funding to align with the delivery model, which combined with additional support is expected to increase payments by $4.4 billion over the life of Round 3 but is expected to decrease payments by $742.6 million over the four years to 2028-29." Finally, the latest available performance reporting data from the Department of Finance indicates that, as at 30 September 2025, the HAFF had only spent $500 million, and that the total balance of the HAFF was in fact $11.2 billion.
It is not clear how all these statements add up. There should be full transparency on why money is being moved from year to year, what has been achieved to date for existing money spent, and what
will be achieved in future in terms of key performance indicators - particularly in terms of new dwellings built, compared with HAFF acquiring existing dwellings. For example, the spending is not
clearly disaggregated by each HAFF funding Round, and it is not clear what each Round is expected to deliver, and how progress is tracking on each of these deliverables.
I remain concerned about the quantity and the quality of HAFF spending. I therefore request that your Audit expands to examine the revelations of taxpayer funds being shuffled in MYEFO. Further, it appears to be an ever-growing liability without clear returns or value for money. I don't expect the ANAO to examine the governance of Housing Australia, but the financial transparency requires your examination.
Your sincerely
Senator Andrew Bragg
Shadow Minister for Productivity and Deregulation
Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness
Liberal Senator for New South Wales