Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is pretty unbelievable to me that I'm standing here to appeal to other members of this place to support the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023. I thought, in the lead-up to the election, there were some things that we announced that may not have the full support of those opposite, but I thought this was one thing that no-one could argue with.

We all know the crisis that exists, and I guess it's disappointing, and maybe not surprising, that the opposition's decided that saying no is going to be their fallback position. But the Greens opposing it takes me back to a time I don't want to remember, when there was other legislation in this place—long before I was here—to take action on climate change, and they blocked something that would have also made a world of difference to our economy and our environment. That was in 2009 with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Like with our action on climate change, we on this side of the parliament are trying to shift things after a decade of nothing, a vacuum on housing policy. Those who were in government in the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison years thought the market would fix itself somehow. They were so wrong on that, and we are now paying the price as a community. Everybody is worse off when there are people who are struggling.

I want to share a story about young people that I was told just in the last few days. In the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, young people sometimes head to the city when they are stretching their wings and establishing themselves in university and then later in their careers. I heard a story from the inner west of someone going to look at a two-bedroom apartment. Two-bedroom apartments are really popular because you can share rent with someone else; it's not all on you, as it is with a one-bedroom apartment. They counted 71 people in the queue to view this apartment, including a single dad and his son. This young person said, 'How hard is it for that single dad and his son to compete with a couple of professionals who might also be looking for it?' The inequity in the current system in this crisis is evident every weekend when homes are open for inspection for rentals. This isn't even about people trying to buy a home; this is just about people trying to put a secure roof over their head somewhere close to where their work life is.

We've had no action from the Liberals and Nationals for a decade. No action to work with the states to do the one thing that can actually make a tangible difference in a reasonably short space of time—that is, to build more homes. Build them. They do take a bit of time, but they are one of the things we can do on the supply side. Yet those opposite are not interested in doing it, and, for whatever reason, the Greens are not willing to support more homes being built. As I say, I am just stunned that I am standing here, making a speech pointing that out. This should have had universal support. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that there is a really big need.

The previous speaker talked about emails she gets. These are not new emails. I went back several years through the emails I have had. Back on 8 April 2022, Jo got in touch with me to let me know how unaffordable it was to try and rent a home in the upper mountains. The increases she was talking about were extraordinary—increases of 25 per cent in the last year or so. That's April 2022. This is not something that just happened in 2023 or since May 2022 to now. This was happening. Then I go back to August 2021 and an email from a single mum who was trying to get something affordable right at the top of the mountains. Back then, she noticed a total inability to get something affordable within her income. She was a TAFE teacher. I've got emails from nurses, from teachers, from single parents, from women who have escaped domestic violence and are re-establishing their lives. They have been crying out for this, and we are delivering it.

In this bill are the first steps to shift things so that the inequity that currently exists can be transformed. Yet, for some reason, people in this place think that it's not good enough or it's not something they're willing to support. It just defies logic. We know that we can't fix all of this in one go, but the bill before us contains the biggest single investment in affordable and social housing that Australia has ever seen. It tackles the one part of the problem where we can do something that will help reasonably quickly; we can tackle this supply side and we can provide more social and affordable housing right across the country.

I feel like I shouldn't have to tell people why secure and affordable housing matters. We've had a lot of groups in parliament in the last week talking about mental health; that's one of the No. 1 reasons why it matters. People who have secure housing are better able to tackle their health issues, whether it's mental health issues or physical issues they face. They're just better placed because they're not worrying about a roof over their head or how long they're going to have a roof over their head. Long-term, affordable and secure housing creates a new beginning for any woman who has fled a relationship of violence. It's a new beginning for her and her children. I don't understand why anyone would want to stop that from happening and want to stop us from making some improvements in this way.

There's a tonne of research that shows the cost of providing stable and affordable housing, whether it's to the individual or the wider community or from government. We would call this investment, which is why it is done in the way that it is because these will be investments. All this research shows that the health outcomes are much better. We also see increased social participation from people. We see reduced incidents and interactions with law enforcement. We see better family relationships. We see improvements in education. All these things are key to breaking cycles of intergenerational disadvantage. At every level it's something that is better for people, better for our society and better for our community.

I've held forums in the last couple of years on a whole range of issues, whether on talking about wellbeing or on domestic violence or around mental health. Every single forum has identified housing as a key issue. For women over 55, the largest and fastest-growing group of homeless people—women of my age—and for every single group of people I've spoken to, like the young—those young ones who aren't even sure whether they can ever dare to dream of owning their own home; right now they're just thinking about a decent rental—the need for secure housing has come up in every single forum. It's come up when I've been talking to veterans and their families. There isn't a part of society that's not going to be touched by what the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 starts to put in place.

Even more specifically, in my community in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, $1 million of this funding, as it starts to be returned—because the fund is created, and it's making returns, and we're able to take out the funds we need—is going to go to my community for additional crisis accommodation. Anyone opposing this is saying to the people of the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, 'You don't deserve what has been committed to you.' I urge those opposite, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens: please support this fund. Please do something that may not be perfect in your mind but you know is going to make a significant difference, and help us stop the 10 years of policy drift that this sector has seen that has landed us where we are. This is one really practical step we can take to start to turn things around.

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