Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberal Party's descent into deceit knows no bounds—fabrication after falsification. Putting aside even the dubious grammar of this particular MPI, there very well may be genuine criticism or a difference in policy approach worth raising as a matter of public importance. But you would never know it from the utter nonsense the Liberal Party opposition put up in these debates.

Do the opposition truly believe, as they bring this motion, that there is anyone anywhere in Australia, from Leichhardt to Forrest, who believes that the housing crisis which the country is facing today and which this government, the Albanese government, is addressing in concert with the states somehow started yesterday? Housing doesn't happen overnight, nor does a housing crisis. The crisis that we now face was caused by the serial failure of successive coalition ministers over the nine too-long years of a coalition government. Where was the Abbott government on housing? Where was the Turnbull government? Where was the Morrison government on housing? In truth, none of these coalition governments could ever get their own house in order, so it's no wonder they weren't able to manage housing policy and left us with the issues that we now face.

Given that abject failure, you would think that a reasonable opposition would be just a little contrite and concerned for the people who need housing and would perhaps fall in behind the government's efforts. Instead we find the opposition trying to block this government's housing agenda at every turn. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a magnificent piece of legacy legislation. It was opposed by those opposite. They voted against it. The opposition voted against billions of dollars of investment in perpetuity for social and affordable housing. The Greens initially voted against it because they saw that they could get some political mileage out of doing so. That has meant that every dollar that comes out of the fund will be delayed by six months. That's the Greens' contribution: delay in affordable housing—disappointing. But the coalition's position is much worse. The opposition voted against the Housing Australia Future Fund. We took it to the election. We had a mandate for it. Those opposite love talking about mandates when it suits them. They voted against it. They voted against affordable housing in perpetuity. In other words, when people who need housing access it through programs funded under the Housing Australia Future Fund, they will not be able to thank the coalition. They'll be able to thank the Greens for the delay and they'll be able to trace the existence of that housing policy back to Labor policy, but they won't be able to thank the opposition for it—not a bit. Thanks for nothing in perpetuity.

I think that was a mistake. I don't just mean a policy mistake. Of course they got the policy wrong. I mean I think it was a big political mistake. I think people are going to judge the coalition quite harshly on it, especially those who need housing. You'd hope that, having made that mistake, the coalition would actually learn from it. They've had some time—we passed the Housing Australia Future Fund legislation in September last year. But, no, they've learnt nothing, because now we have the coalition opposing the Help to Buy legislation. The states are all waiting on it. It is abundantly clear that those on the opposition benches feel particularly uncomfortable in budget week. They should feel even more uncomfortable when speaking on housing policy. Who voted against the Housing Australia Future Fund? Who opposes the Help to Buy scheme? When we've got funds out to the states through the Social Housing Accelerator, who is complaining? Only the coalition. Time and time again, they have voted against our efforts to implement sensible housing policy aimed at increasing supply and affordability. They have obstructed progress at every turn, choosing instead to prioritise their own narrow interests over the needs of the community. And what do we see them doing now? They're talking up the raiding of super accounts for housing, a policy which they all said was a bad idea just a few years ago. The member for Dickson said it was a bad idea in 2017. Senator Hume, then too, said it would push up prices. The raiding of super accounts was roundly criticised by the West Australian last week as a 'really dumb idea'. We are grateful and fortunate to have an Albanese government to fix the housing crisis.

See this speech in context