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

COLLINS (—) (): I want to thank the wonderful member for Macarthur. He has been a long-time supporter of making sure we get more homes on the ground. He understands that Australia doesn't have enough homes, and we haven't had enough homes for a long time. He knows how important it is that we build more homes. Indeed, we need to build more homes more quickly in more parts of the country.

That's why, of course, we have our Homes for Australia Plan, and it's backed with tens of billions of dollars. We've committed now $32 billion in new housing initiatives since we came to office, including more than $6 billion in our most recent budget. There are homes already on the ground today and under construction because of the decisions we have taken as a government in places like Western Sydney, where the Prime Minister and the Treasurer and I were last week, where we were hearing about the progress and seeing the progress of more than 400 new homes in Westmead—new affordable rental homes for key workers. In Ulverstone in my home state of Tasmania—

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