Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise and speak about housing and a return of the federal government to the provision of housing, especially social housing. What has been unfortunately a reflection of the political characteristics of the government is whether they would invest in social housing or not. The colour of the federal government and their political persuasion have determined whether the federal government would invest in social housing in support of the states or not. It was Curtin and Chifley after World War II who underwent a huge venture of federal government investment in housing for returned service people. It was the Whitlam government who invested in social housing as well. Of course, right through the Hawke and Keating years, the federal government supported people to have access to safe and secure housing. During the global financial crisis, the Rudd government, with Minister Plibersek, invested in access to safe housing, rental affordability and the provision, building and construction of social housing.

I'm extremely proud that this Albanese Labor government with the Minister for Housing is returning the federal government back to the provision of social housing. Unfortunately, the problem inside Australia, as you know, Deputy Speaker, is only going to get bigger. Without the federal government at the table, we will not be able to provide and make sure that Australians have access to safe and secure housing.

It shouldn't just be the Labor Party who believes in the federal government having a constructive role in funding the provision of housing. This should be something that all of us are united on, but unfortunately it's not. What we saw in the previous government was the former minister, who was in this debate—instead of bringing the federal government to the table on the provision of social housing, he said it was a matter for the states. He said it was a matter for the states and that the federal government wasn't going to invest in social housing. That had to change, and I'm very proud that under this government we are changing it.

The other thing that the federal government is doing that is really important is making sure that people with low and middle incomes can have access to the housing market. For my generation, and the generations that will follow me, a majority of people won't be getting into the housing market. It is an extraordinary thing to think that a majority of people coming through our workforces won't be able to get into the housing market. It means that, at retirement, people aren't going to have had assets accumulating throughout their lifetime.

The disparity between those who are able to get into the housing market and those who are unable to is extraordinary. In 2018, Per Capita conducted a study that found that if you could get into the housing market your net worth at retirement was around $980,000. If you were unable to get into the housing market, if you weren't able to get a mortgage, your net worth at retirement was around $40,000. A $40,000 to $1 million disparity is absolutely massive.

Housing has been a huge wealth creator in this country. Unfortunately, when you combine that with the fact that housing has because more unaffordable, more people are being driven into the rental market, the price of rent has gone up—especially in my electorate—following the return of skilled migrants and following the pandemic, housing is becoming less affordable. The percentage of someone's income going into the rental market is becoming less and less affordable for Australians, so being able to save up money and access a deposit to get into the housing market is becoming less attainable.

We know that this is disproportionately affecting women and that women working in lower-paid industries and women who are taking bigger breaks from the workforce are finding it even more difficult to get into the housing market. It is probably right up there with tackling climate change as the key issue that people in my electorate are talking to me about right now. We need to make sure that, in this place, we are pulling all of the levers that we possibly can in order to tackle the housing affordability and housing accessibility crisis we have in Australia.

The previous government decided to leave it to the states, but, under this government and under my friend the minister, we are going to do our bit and get things moving. I am extremely proud of the fact that we're going to be building 10,000 affordable homes and 30,000 social and affordable homes as soon as we can. My question to the minister is: how quickly can we do this and how big is the impact going to be on the Australians who desperately require the federal government to support them in their housing needs?

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

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