Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

because he understands, as those on this side of the House understand, how critical it is for us to deliver more social and affordable housing. Indeed, it was great to be in his electorate last November, when we jointly announced more than 300 affordable rental properties that the federal government is contributing to at Westmead. We talked to a key worker, a midwife, about how great that rental property was for her and how important it will be for her to be able to continue her job.

With the passage of our landmark legislation through this House, we have taken a big step forward to start addressing the nation's housing crisis. The legislation will create the $10 billion Housing Australian Future Fund. This is the single biggest injection by a federal government in social and affordable housing in more than a decade. Of course, part of that package is our National Housing Supply and Affordability Council—we will be getting advice from the council, for all tiers of government, about how to improve housing supply and make it more affordable—and the creation of Housing Australia, which will be the home of our housing agenda.

The $10 billion fund, as I said, is the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade. We on this side of the House make no apologies for trying to get this done as quickly as we can. We understand that people on the ground—the people who write to me and, I'm sure, many members over there every day, talking about how tough it is to be able to afford to rent a home—understand how critical this is, and we need to get on with it.

I'd say to those opposite: stop saying no. Go back to your electorates after this parliamentary flurry, talk to people about social and affordable housing, come back here and tell your colleagues in the Senate to vote yes for this legislation. Get out of our way so that we can get on and deliver on our election commitment to help those Australians who are doing it tough and need this social and affordable housing; to help the women and children who are fleeing family violence—

See this speech in context