Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak today in support of this incredibly important legislation—the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 and related bills—that will make a huge difference to the lives of Australians. I am incredibly proud to be part of a Labor government who are again delivering on an election commitment central to what we took to the last election, and that was about the importance of housing to the dignity, security, health and prosperity of all people. That is why this was such an important part of the platform we took to the last election and we are delivering on it with urgency in this place.

I would hope that this would be something that every member of this House would be supporting, because I think that every member of this House, if they're engaging with their electorate, would be hearing about the struggles that Australians are having with housing: housing costs, homelessness and high rents. I certainly hear a lot about that in my electorate of Canberra, right here, where we have some of the highest rents in the country and very high housing prices.

As I said, Labor understands how central housing is to people's lives. We have already unlocked up to $575 million from the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to invest in new social and affordable homes. Despite being in government for less than one year, we have already helped more than 1,700 Australians buy their first home through the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which was only introduced in October. I want to congratulate Minister Collins on her important work in this vital space. She has clearly hit the ground running.

We must be clear here, this is a matter of urgency, because for many Australians, the great Australian dream of owning their own home is just that—a dream—and far out of reach. Sadly, too many Australians are facing or experiencing homelessness, and we need to do much better on this. That is why Labor's ambitious housing reform agenda is so important and long overdue, because Australians deserve to have a safe and affordable place to call home. For 10 years we have watched as this crisis has got worse and those opposite floundered. The best solution they could come up with was to force first homebuyers to raid their superannuation to put down that ever-growing deposit, a policy which would increase demand without increasing supply. That was not the correct approach.

When Labor won the election, we promised we wouldn't waste a day in government and we haven't wasted time in delivering on this ambitious housing agenda. The housing legislation package will build more social and affordable homes. It will increase supply. It will be the most significant Australian government investment in housing in a generation and that is why it is remarkable that anyone in this place is not supportive of it. The legislation implements the government's commitment to establish the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund to guarantee a pipeline of new social and affordable housing for Australians in need. It will transform the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation into Housing Australia as the national home for key housing programs and expand its activities. It will establish the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council to provide independent advice to government on ways to increase housing supply and affordability. These commitments are part of our broader housing reform agenda.

We have already reached the landmark National Housing Accord, a shared ambition to build one million well-located homes from 2024, with $350 million in additional Commonwealth funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes from 2024, matched by the states with another 10,000 homes. We have widened the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility with up to $575 million immediately available to invest in social and affordable housing; and are developing a national housing and homelessness plan to set short, medium, and long-term goals to improve housing outcomes across Australia. This is an incredibly important piece of this puzzle, a long-term strategy, and something we didn't see under a decade of the previous government. We have implemented the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee and we are implementing the Help to Buy program, which will reduce the cost of buying a home and help more people into a home sooner.

These reforms are going to end a decade of neglect that got us into this position. We need urgent action on the housing crisis. As I said, every member of this House should be supporting this legislation and that is what their constituents who are battling with the cost of housing in Australia today would want them to do.

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