Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I must say thank you to the member for Casey over there. I didn't realise that I got tickets to stand-up comedy today, because he must have been joking when he said the coalition delivered in the housing space. I was physically chuckling in my seat when that line was said. Look, what I am going to do is describe to you a scene, as I have before in this parliament, in the emergency department about people who are trying to get into housing or who are homeless. I'm talking about multiple shifts day after day, night after night, where people come in, not because they need medication, not because they need a medical illness treated but because they're fleeing family and domestic violence. They're unable to get into emergency accommodation. They're unable to get into housing at all. That is right across the spectrum of our community, but in particular those at-risk groups that the member for Casey listed for me, so that's fantastic that he is aware of that. I'm talking about women over the age of 50, the fastest-growing group of women who are becoming homeless in this country. I'm talking about the men and women of our armed services who have put their lives on the line to defend this country. Veterans in our community are unable to get into emergency accommodation, unable to get into housing. That is an absolute disgrace. Talking about our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, as a Wiradjuri man, that is heartbreaking for me. In the land of the Darkinjung people on the Central Coast, people not able to get unto housing in this country is a disgrace. So not only is it shameful that the opposition and other members of this parliament aren't supporting housing legislation that's only going to benefit this nation; it's disappointing, because the Housing Australia Future Fund is one of the biggest investments made in housing in this country in history, and that is absolutely something that needs to be supported.

My friend the member for Swan knows how important housing is in our communities. From Perth all the way across to the New South Wales Central Coast—east to west, north to south, regional, rural, in cities, in the country, inland and on the coast—it is absolutely vital that the men, women and children of this country have access to social and affordable housing and a safe place to call home for the night. That's what our government, the Albanese Labor government, understands: that safe and affordable housing is central, core and critical to the security and the dignity of Australians.

Too many of our fellow citizens are being hit by growing rents, too many are struggling to buy a home, and, as we have heard, too many are facing or experiencing homelessness. That's why we have this agenda that the Australian public voted for in 2022, so that we focus on and put money into things like housing, because we need to. People's lives depend on it. We said that we wouldn't waste a day in delivering this agenda, and that's what we're doing right now. That's what members here, including the member for Bruce and the member for Swan, are talking about today. Housing is important for our communities.

The housing legislation package that establishes the Housing Australia Future Fund, as has been said, is a comprehensive suite of measures to build more social and affordable homes for those people I was talking about who end up in the emergency department at night—in particular, women over the age of 50, veterans in our community and Indigenous people. It is so important, and it enables the most significant Australian government investment in housing in a generation.

This legislation implements the government's commitments to establish the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, to provide a stream of funding to ensure that there is a pipeline for new social and affordable housing for Australians in need. It's going to transform NHFIC, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, into Housing Australia, the national home for key housing programs—a much-needed change. It will make sure we expand activities into those at-risk areas, and it will establish the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council to provide independent advice to government—'independent' being the key word there—on ways that we can increase housing supply and housing affordability, because we all know in this place that we need more independence and transparency, particularly when it comes to government policy.

These commitments are part of the broader agenda of our government, the Albanese Labor government, when it comes to housing, particularly reforming the space. Just recently, we reached a landmark National Housing Accord, a shared ambition to build one million well-located homes over five years from 2024. We widened the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility and made it up to $575 million immediately available to invest in social and affordable housing. We developed a National Housing and Homelessness Plan to set short-, medium- and long-term goals to improve housing outcomes across Australia. We implemented the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which has already helped more than 1,600 people into homeownership, and the Help to Buy program, which will reduce the cost of buying a home and help people to buy a house sooner.

The Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 establishes the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, as I said earlier, as a source of funding for the social and affordable housing and acute housing needs—acute housing needs being exceedingly important. The government will credit the fund with $10 billion after its establishment, to be invested under the management of the Future Fund Board of Guardians to produce returns to fund the social and affordable housing and acute housing needs.

It will also help address acute housing needs by providing $200 million over five years for the improvement of housing in Indigenous communities, one of those at-risk groups that I was telling you about who come into the emergency department seeking shelter. I am talking $100 million for housing options for women and children impacted by domestic violence. In my clinical experience, I have seen people less than one month of age who have been impacted by family and domestic violence and who have been unable to get into a house that night. The only place they can go is the hospital because it is the only place with the lights on. There is no place for them to go.

There is an additional $30 million to build housing and to fund specialist services for veterans experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness. They have put their bodies on the line, they've risked their lives for our nation and we need to make sure that we are providing for them when they come home and are here in our communities.

The government, including through Housing Australia, will work with community housing providers, state and territory governments and other providers to improve housing outcomes in Australia. In addition to establishing the Housing Australia Future Fund to provide a funding source for social and affordable homes and those acute housing needs, the government has expanded the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to make $575 million immediately available to fund social and affordable housing.

I know that I continue to tell the House about my experience in the emergency department, but it is one of the reasons that I am here. I spoke about it at length to this parliament during my maiden speech and I continue to speak about it on many pieces of legislation, including this one on housing, because it is important. The emergency department has become a social hub, not an acute medical facility. People are coming in because they are fleeing family and domestic violence, they can't afford their medications, they can't get in to see a GP or they can't get a roof over their heads and a safe place to call home overnight. It is particularly true of those at-risk communities. Women over the age of 50 are the fastest growing group of homeless in the country. It's the veterans in our community. It's the Indigenous people in our community.

If we don't make this investment now, if we don't invest in housing, if we don't invest in addressing homelessness, the situation is only going to deteriorate and people in this country are only going to be worse off, and that's not what being in government is about. Being in government, being on this side of the chamber, being in this House, for every member here, is about supporting our communities, our electorates and the country. It's about making sure that we are making good financial and economic decisions, like for the construction of social and affordable housing. It is about making sure we're putting good social policy forward like the Housing Australia Future Fund, which will provide for social and affordable housing that is so desperately needed in this country. People are crying out for housing, and now we—all of us here—finally have the opportunity to make it right. We have the opportunity to invest in an area of need and we have an opportunity to make sure that men, women and children all across the country have a safe place to call home.

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