Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Not long ago, the Herald Sun published an article which called Brunswick East, a suburb in my electorate of Wills, the most difficult suburb in Melbourne in which to buy a house. According to a CoreLogic report, the median house price in Brunswick East is around $1 million and skyrocketed a staggering 26.6 per cent during the 12-month survey period. There are other suburbs in Wills that are not much more affordable. In fact, every suburb in my electorate is above the Victorian median house price of around $800,000. Demographia did an annual housing affordability survey in 2016 which showed that the average home in Melbourne costs 9.7 times the average yearly household income. Do you know what it was in 1975? Four times. This means that the great Australian dream is completely unreachable for ordinary Australians. In response, we get nonsense from those on that side of the House. Suggestions like 'Just get rich parents' came from the Prime Minister; 'Just get a high-paying job' came from the member for Deakin; and one comment was 'Just move somewhere cheap.' I think they all believe that one. They should be listening to Aussie John, maybe even to John Alexander, the member for Bennelong. People should not need to abandon their friends, family, ties to the community and everything great about our city just to afford to live. There is nothing more reasonable than wanting to own a house in your own town. Labor has positive plans to address negative gearing and housing affordability for all Australians. (Time expired)

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