Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a risible performance from the Liberal members today. The way they're behaving, you would think that we are against the idea of stimulus for the housing and construction sector, when actually we are the people arguing that it needs to go further and that they need to do better. They're not doing enough to stimulate the sector. Australia is set to lose a further 100,000 apprentices and trainees this year, a massive 35 per cent drop on what we have now. Tasmania is set to lose 2,107. It's no wonder that our nation has a shortage of bricklayers, plumbers, hairdressers, panelbeaters and other critical trades. How does this Prime Minister expect HomeBuilder to rebuild communities and the economy when his government has slashed support for the apprentices and trainees who are vital to the building and construction industry?

Over the past seven years, this incompetent Liberal government has ripped more than $3 billion from Australia's TAFE and training systems, leaving this critical sector woefully unequipped. No wonder Australia has a skills shortage, with more than 140,000 apprentice and trainee positions lost in this country since those opposite came to office. There are 140,000 already lost, and another 100,000 are soon to join them under this government. What a legacy. It's all very well to talk about construction projects and renovations, but you need tradies and apprentices to build them. The sector was expecting to build 160,000 homes this year. Now it's 100,000. That's 60,000 fewer homes in the pipeline.

This Prime Minister has a plan to get his photo taken next to tradies in high-vis but no real plan to save and build the sector. HomeBuilder is a massive missed opportunity. It is woefully inadequate and woefully misdirected. What sort of person who claims to be a national leader would think up a $688 million housing and renovation program and not put one cent—not one cent—towards public housing or towards housing for women escaping domestic violence?

There are 3,500 Tasmanians on Tasmania's priority public housing list. People could be waiting for a year or more for a place. We are talking about pensioners, veterans, single parents, people with disabilities, women escaping domestic violence, people who could do with a bit of a hand and, more importantly, a roof over their head. Dave, for instance, has been on the housing priority list for several years and lives in a car. He sleeps on his mate's couches sometimes. He has been told to go to a men's shelter but it doesn't have room and Dave is keen for a place to call home. Then there is Bill, living in a one-bedroom public house now, away from his wife and the grandchild they care for. Bill is in a wheelchair and the unit is not wheelchair friendly. He is desperate to reunite with his family.

If you are not convinced by the social good argument, be convinced by the raw economic argument. Tradies would be kept busier building more homes for these folk and fixing public housing than they would be building pool decks and second storeys. Imagine the maintenance backlogs that could have been cleared if armies of tradies were deployed to fix up public housing around the country in desperate need of repair—mould in kids' bedrooms because of crappy ventilation, leaking kitchens, dangerous electrical outlets, security fly screens that don't lock. What is the better use of public money? Which one delivers the better bang for buck?

Instead, this Prime Minister has designed a scheme that gives $25,000 to people with at least $150,000 to spend on a reno and it locks out the vast majority of Tasmanians. I asked local builders in my electorate how many had done renovations of $150,000 over the past couple of years? There was one reno in two years—one. This is a poorly designed scheme that fails to do what it is meant to—stimulate building and construction, which was sputtering even before COVID, and since then is heading for the cliff.

The Prime Minister's performance in question time today was a disgrace when he said he had deliberately designed a scheme to lock pensioners out. Pensioners who want to renovation their kitchens, he has deliberately locked them out and he basically labelled the entire small trade sector 'crooked' and a 'sham'. He stands condemned for that, and I hope people remember it at the next election.

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