Rookie senator wants homes and jobs for all

It is time to stop locking people out of employment and home ownership, Family First's Bob Day has declared in his inaugural speech to the Senate.

Australia would be a changed place if everyone had a home and an income but barriers like the minimum wage and land price manipulation by state governments are keeping the Australian dream at an arm's length, Senator Day insists.

"When it comes to jobs and houses, Australia is not a free country," Senator Day said in his maiden speech this afternoon.

The push to force school kids to finish year 12 is foolish and wrong, and condemns some youths to a life of misery, he said.

And making it illegal to work for anything less than $640 a week is "absurd".

The barriers to home ownership must be broken down at a federal level because state government land price gouging was largely to blame, said Senator Day.

Senator Day earmarked himself as a "committed federalist", who would work hard to bolster his home state of South Australia.

"The Commonwealth has to start giving up some of its power and control," he said.