Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

A little bit of housekeeping for those people listening in: this is what is called a matter of public importance, which occurs after question time. Normally, we sit here for question time and it goes for about an hour, or an hour and a half. After question time some of us duck out to refresh ourselves and get a drink, or something like that. I went out, and when I came back I thought I had walked into a meeting of hypocrites anonymous. I heard those opposite trying to lecture this side about housing. We saw the member for Deakin—I really thought I was in a surreal, bizarro world—trying to lecture us, saying it was a matter of public importance. But they forgot to mention the 10 years of neglect under them.

We all remember that 'I don't hold a hose' prime minister. The member for Deakin misread it. He thought it was 'I don't hold a house,' so he followed suit. I've seen some crazy things in my decade and a half in politics, but I've never seen a minister run from his own portfolio so often and so hard as the member for Deakin did when he was the housing minister. He was the housing minister and he turned housing matters into on-water matters, so he wouldn't talk about it.

Thankfully, the Albanese government, with its long history of cleaning up the mess left by the coalition, is taking immediate action. The member for Deakin did actually mention something that he is doing about housing. He's blocking our Housing Australia Future Fund. Getting into bed with the Greens and One Nation to stop people who are fleeing domestic violence and veterans from looking for housing—that's what the member for Deakin is proud of doing.

What did we do? We have taken immediate action with the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator program, delivering new social rental homes across the country. We increased the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent, and it was not mentioned by any of them. It was the largest increase in 30 years, and it was not mentioned by the member for Deakin. We supported that extra $2 billion in financing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation because we do take it seriously. I've an 18-year-old son and a 14-year-old son. I talk to them about the possibility of them and their friends getting into housing, and unless it's through the bank of mum and dad they almost have no chance. We are failing that generation. That's why we need to do more.

That's why I cannot believe that the Liberal Party and the National Party would get into bed with the Greens on something as crucial as housing—something that puts jobs back into the regions, an area that seems to be forgotten by the Nationals. I remember when the Nationals were represented by farmers and spoke up for the bush. What are they now? Bankers, accountants and economists. They don't have any farmers anymore and they've forgotten about the bush.

Obviously our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which we've reintroduced to the House, is something we care passionately about. All sensible Australians would. Anyone with children would know that we have to give that next generation a chance. We know that growth in our economy is linked to being a growing economy by having people come from overseas. I note they got the old dog trumpet out again. It's not enough to go with the Voice; they've also got the 'foreigners coming over the hill' line. They trotted that out again today in this MPI. We know that Australia grows when we have people come from overseas. So much of our economic growth is linked to that. So we do need to do more, and that's why I thought the sensible people in the coalition would get on board with that.

There is a guy in the electorate next to me who flies down to Canberra to talk about housing and then blocks it when he's in his electorate. He campaigns against housing in his own electorate. But that's coming from the Greens political party. I know we've got the ridiculous Senator Hanson and her party. They're never a party of government; they're a party of objecting to everything. But I thought parties of government like the Liberal Party and the National Party would get on board with pumping some money into housing on this occasion. That's what we need to do. It's not about campaigning on something for clickbait for Facebook or whatever it is. We need to actually help people. I joined the Labor Party to help people.

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