Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Help to Buy Bill 2023 and the Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023. Growing up, it was normal to own your own home. In fact, it was the ultimate goal for any young person entering the workforce to be able to work hard, save your money and be rewarded with the achievement of buying your very own patch of land with your very own house. If you're anything like me and many other Aussie dads and mums, you own your lawn. You put the effort into it, keeping it perfect and green, just for it to eventually die.

I feel that this dream has died for too many young Australians. For too many, regardless of how hard they work, buying their own home just isn't within reach anymore. This is a devastating reality for future generations, and, as a father, this really concerns me. I want my daughters to be able to know that, if they get out there and have a go, they will be able to see the fruits of their hard work when they get back to their own homes at the end of the day. I want them to be able to have the same aspirations of homeownership that the past generations have been privileged to have.

That's why it is our responsibility as a government to make this possible. It is our responsibility to give our young people a chance to own their own home, and that is exactly what we are doing by introducing the Help to Buy scheme. You only have to go back to 1997 to see how quickly things have changed in this country. In 1997, the great Darryl Kerrigan said, 'You can acquire a house, but you can't acquire a home.' But today, 27 years later, it seems like many can't acquire a house either. A man's home is his castle, and everyone who works hard should be able to afford their own home and feel the pride in their own castle. It's a part of the Australian character.

Help to Buy will help Australians be able to afford to buy their own home. It's a straightforward scheme, but it will have a real impact. This scheme will support up to 40,000 eligible Australians to purchase a home by providing an equity contribution of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price for new homes and up to 30 per cent for existing homes. The scheme will help those who need it most. The scheme will give those on low and middle incomes an opportunity to buy a home with at least a two per cent deposit, allowing them to access homeownership, which is linked to short-, medium-, and long-term economic security. In other words, this scheme gives an opportunity that would not otherwise be available to own a home and set yourself up for the future.

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to buying a house is saving the deposit and servicing the mortgage. This bill will help to make these challenges a little easier. With the Commonwealth providing an equity contribution scheme, participants will have lower ongoing repayments on a smaller home loan. Another way pressure is eased for eligible home buyers is that the financial risk and benefit will be shared between the participant and the Commonwealth, balanced to their interests.

This bill shows the real power for positive change that can come when the federal government works with the states with a common goal in mind. Each state and territory will be required to pass legislation for the scheme to operate in their jurisdictions. They all agreed at the National Cabinet in August last year to progress legislation so that this scheme will run nationally. They aren't wasting any time, with all states and territories expecting to have this legislation passed by the end of the year. We are all on the same page and the support is nationwide when it comes to this bill and to addressing the housing crisis, and that can only be a good thing with the states and the federal government working together.

I know how hard it is for everyday people who want to buy a house and set themselves up for the future. I know that often this is just not possible because I see it every day in the Hunter, which has soaring house prices. I am confident that this bill will help the hardworking people of the Hunter to be able to afford their own home, and that is why they deserve this bill to come through. They deserve a government which looks after what's in their best interests and helps them to be secure in life, whether that be through employment, health, education or—in this case—housing affordability.

I would like to remind the House that this is a government completely committed to housing in this country. This bill is only one part of a whole range of steps we have taken to improve housing affordability and to get more Australians into their own homes. We have already introduced the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, the $3 billion Social Housing Accelerator scheme and the largest increase to Commonwealth rental assistance in 30 years.

The difference between us and some of the others in this place is that when we say we care about an issue like housing, we actually do and we actually want to address it and we are addressing it. Others say they care, yet they stand in the way, blocking progress from being made in areas where they have the chance to make a difference.

The Greens have shown time and time again they are willing to let the perfect get in the way of the possible when it comes to housing policy, and with their lack of support of this bill it is clear that their attitudes have not changed. The Greens will find any reason to have a sook, and this is one that they are sooking about now. It's like they think that rather than actually helping to follow through on what they said was one of their priorities—helping renters and making housing more affordable—having a cry will win them more votes.

I can see right through their rubbish. They aren't genuine, they don't care about housing and all they care about is votes. That's all the Greens party is about. And because they will never be a party of government, the best way they can achieve this is by playing political games and lying through their teeth. You only have to look at the rot that comes out of the member for Griffith to come to this conclusion. The member for Griffith tweeted, 'The Housing Australia Future Fund will do nothing for renters.' I am not sure if he is ill-informed or whether it is a straight out lie, but either way, he is wrong.

The fact is that Labor policies will deliver tens of thousands of affordable rental properties. As the Minister for Housing said:

Of the 30,000 social and affordable homes, we're talking 20,000 social rentals and 10,000 affordable rental homes. We are adding to the supply.

That is what we can do and that is what we are doing.

The member for Griffith and the Greens don't care about housing. If they did, they would support our policies, which have made a real impact for real people looking for a house or a rental. But instead they spread misinformation and make it harder for progress to be made, all while voters who are relying on us to fix the mess that is our housing market are literally left out in the cold. So the next time you hear any of this rubbish coming out of their mouths, do as Darryl Kerrigan would do and tell them they're dreaming.

In the Hunter we are fed-up with the Greens stopping houses from being built—all for their own selfish and petty political games. I'm here on behalf of my electorate to tell them to get stuffed. Get out of the way and let us build houses. Let us make sure that people who want to buy their own house are able to actually afford it, and let us make sure that the housing market is set up for our future generations to benefit from it.

If the Greens don't support this bill, they will be the ones responsible for preventing 10,000 people every year from being able to own or buy their own house. They will be blocking help from going to those who need it and they'll be going against what they say and against what their own values are, apparently. I have no doubt they're considering voting no to this bill, yet still they wonder why they will never be taken seriously as a political party in this country, and we all know why in this place right now, but we'll talk about that another time. They will have to live with the guilt of having weak morals. But I'm proud to be part of the only party in this place that really cares about housing and about making sure that as many people as possible can achieve the great Australian dream of owning their own house.

Not only do we say we care, but this bill shows that we do care. Owning your own house is an amazing thing. I am lucky enough to do this, my parents were lucky enough to do this and many other Australians are, but there are so many other Australians that aren't lucky enough to have this happening for them. It's such a sad thing that there are so many people in the Hunter, so many people in Bennelong and so many people in so many different areas of Australia that unfortunately can't afford to buy their own house right now, and this bill will really help that.

So we need to make sure that we keep this bill going. We need to make sure that we shut the Greens down and stop their petty, pathetic little games that they're trying to play over there on their side just to try to win more votes. That's an absolute disgrace by them. I don't know how they can continue to come into this place day in, day out, saying they care about Australians, everyday Australians, when all they do is try to block every single bill that we put forward. I'm sure that those on the other side of this building will back us up in saying how pathetic the Greens have been and how disappointing they really are as a party.

I'm the member for Hunter, and I know I have a lot of people in my electorate who do like the Greens. I'm happy for them to have their vote however they like, but they need to understand that the Greens party is standing in the way of people owning their own home—and just because they want to have something that they think is an ideal. Ideal isn't always what happens in this country or this world, unfortunately. Look at what is happening in the world right now. There are not many people that would say it's an ideal world right now, that's for sure.

We need to make sure we all get on top of the Greens party and really make sure that they come to their senses, get on board with us and pass this bill. I'm sure the opposition would love to get on board and pass this bill as well, because I'm sure they're nice people on that side, too. I reckon we could all work together here with a bit of bipartisanship and make sure this bill passes through the House. We need to get it through us and get it through the upper house with no changes. It'd be lovely to see it get through.

We also need to make sure that we continue to work together in this place. I'm a new member to the parliament, and we need to make sure that we have a lot of things that we do together on both sides of this place. I do ask of those opposite that we make sure that we can see some more bipartisan work going forward. I know that we won't always see that from the Greens, but I'm sure that us on this side, in government, and those opposite can put some of our moral differences aside. I'm sure that we can put some of our differences aside and make sure we're doing the best thing for Australians. I know that Australians in my electorate want to see us working together to make Australia a better place. I commend this bill to the House and I look forward to seeing what the Greens have to say in response.

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