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

I want to thank our wonderful member for Robertson. The member for Robertson understands the housing challenges in his electorate and, indeed, around the country. He also knows that, after a wasted decade of those opposite, we haven't got enough homes in Australia, and we haven't had enough homes for quite some time. Indeed, we need to build more homes, more quickly, in more parts of the country. That's why we have an ambitious national target to build 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade, from 1 July, through our Homes for Australia plan. We want to slash the red tape and train more tradies who want to ensure that more Australians have a safe, affordable place to call home. That's why we're backing Homes for Australia with tens of billions of dollars.

There has been $32 billion in new housing initiatives since we've come to office. They include a new $9.3 billion five-year agreement with the states and territories to help combat homelessness, provide crisis support and build and repair social housing. This includes, importantly, a doubling of Commonwealth homelessness funding every year, to be matched by the states and territories. Homes for Australia also includes a billion dollars in new funding for the states and territories for additional social housing supply and, importantly, for infrastructure needed to deliver more homes, more quickly. We're targeting another billion dollars, of course, in crisis and transitional accommodation for women and children fleeing family violence and for young people.

This new funding comes on top of the announcement in the middle of last week, by the Minister for Skills and Training and me, of the $90 million to train more tradies. We need to boost the number of tradies in this country. We need more tradies to build more homes for Australia. This, of course, is part of our plan that includes our Housing Australia Future Fund, our National Housing Accord, our social housing accelerator, our new homes bonus and the Housing Support Program, all designed and targeted so that we can meet the ambitious target of 1.2 million homes right across Australia through our Homes for Australia plan.

I say to those opposite: what is their plan? How many homes do they intend to build, and how are they going to fund it? That's the question.

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