Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I can't think of any issue more pressing to all Australians right now than the cost of living and housing affordability. For years in opposition, across my electorate, people shared their aspirations for good-quality, affordable housing, which was becoming more and more out of reach. That was a story that was reflected across Australia, and it's not a new story. Frankly, it was a problem that deepened, festered and got worse through 10 years of inaction by the previous coalition government. It's an issue that the Albanese Labor government, in our first two years, has been working every day to fix.

As median weekly rents continue to rise, private rentals are becoming increasingly unaffordable for many across Australia, let alone for our most vulnerable. More than 45,000 rental listings across the country were recently examined by Anglicare, and the report found that just 0.6 per cent were considered affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage. Only 0.2 per cent were affordable for people on the age pension, and 0.1 per cent for people on the disability support pension. None were affordable for someone on youth allowance. These are unacceptable statistics. For a decade the coalition, when they were in government and sat on the Treasury benches, allowed this issue of housing supply and affordability to fester. They ignored the pleas of Australians for help.

The Albanese Labor government has actually been answering that call to action in the two years since we got elected. Why? Because, fundamentally and philosophically, we are very different ideologically from those on the other side. For us, safe, affordable and secure housing is a fundamental human right. It's fundamentally the foundational aspect for building a better life and for building a good life. It's not just about the economics and commercial value of property. It is a fundamental human right. It's the base from which people can realise their full potential. That's an issue very close to my heart because I grew up in a housing commission, like the Prime Minister and the Minister for Housing; we're housos. I understood, and my migrant family understood, how important having that roof over our heads was when we were starting out in Australia and trying to build a new life.

My message today is very simple: whether you're looking to rent or buy, this government, the Albanese Labor government, is here to support you. Since coming into government, housing has been front of mind. It's been front and centre in terms of our efforts on affordability and supply. We have taken massive steps to rebalance the scales that have been unbalanced for such a long time. As part of this debate, everyone—well, almost everyone—understands that increasing supply is the main issue. Australia doesn't have enough homes, and we haven't for a while. Our priority is simple: to build more homes for more Australians. We need to do it faster while also providing immediate support for Australians that are currently in need. That's why the Labor government has an ambitious national target of building 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade. This is, of course, a big challenge, but it is a challenge we must meet in order to fix what is a long-term problem.

Our recent budget that was just passed added $6.2 billion in new investment to build more of those new homes more quickly, bringing the total commitment of the Albanese Labor government to new housing initiatives to $32 billion just in the space of two years. We're about supporting the building of new homes by growing our construction workforce as well. It's not just about the investment. There are a lot of different elements to this: $1.5 billion has been provided to the states and territories for housing infrastructure works and for more social housing, and there's been direct support through this funding for tens of thousands of new social and affordable homes through our significant investments, including the Housing Australia Future Fund—a fund which, by the way, was delayed by those opposite, by a minor party and by the Greens political party for months, and which could have been used to start building more houses if it was passed. But they decided to play politics with it.

This year's budget is also helping around a million Australian households with the cost of rent by delivering $1.9 billion over five years to increase Commonwealth rent assistance by a further 10 per cent. That's on top of the 15 per cent increase that we announced back in September 2023. Again, this is meant to provide real support—cost of living support—for Australians in need today and now. This is the first back-to-back increase in Commonwealth rent assistance in more than 30 years.

To support these ongoing efforts, we're also introducing the Capital Works (Build to Rent Misuse Tax) Bill, because this legislation actually incentivises investments in the build-to-rent sector, which will help expand the housing supply in Australia. Build-to-rent housing is multi-unit, purpose-built rental housing, where the units, instead of being sold off, are rented out through a single management entity. As part of this bill, at least 10 per cent of homes in these new developments must be rented out affordably, helping to deliver more long-term affordable homes for more Australians. This means that rent needs to be set at 74.9 per cent or less than the market rent of a comparable home in the same project.

Most importantly, who is eligible for these affordable homes? It applies to tenants whose household income is under the required income limits—set according to household composition. The quality of these homes won't be impacted: the bill has provisions in place to ensure affordable homes and non-affordable homes are of equal quality. These measures apply from 1 July 2024, and eligible projects must have commenced construction after 9 May 2023. It's a practice that has been done in the US and the UK as a way to increase the affordable housing supply in the places where people want to live—not two or three hours away from their place of work, because they can't afford to live near the hospital or medical clinic where they work as a nurse or the kindergarten where they work as a teacher or early education teacher.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:18 to 17:35

As I was saying, this has had a life-changing impact on people overseas, and it also will in Australia. I recently spoke to Michael, a young renter living on his own in Brunswick, in my electorate. He told me what it has been like to experience three rent increases over the last three years, going from paying $2,380 a month in 2022 to paying $2,600 this year. A huge proportion of his wage goes to rent and bills, which doesn't leave much for anything else. Michael, like a lot of others, is struggling to make ends meet. So much of this is linked to housing affordability. Access to good quality, affordable, build-to-rent housing would make balancing the budget so much easier for people like Michael. It would allow him to save up a house deposit of his own, if that were his goal, or to buy a car, travel, or pay off his HECS debt.

By incentivising investment in the build-to-rent sector, the Labor government is increasing supply and bringing housing affordability under control. I know that many Australians are struggling to meet the cost of living at the moment. Rents are rising, and we know that shortages in supply are pushing rents up even higher. That's why this government recognises that more needs to be done to increase rental supply. The government acknowledges that there is a shortage of new rental stock. That's why build to rent is a concept that is already popular overseas and is now going to grow across Australia. It's something that the Albanese government has already introduced to increase the supply of available rental properties. As more build-to-rent sites come to market, this will also help to manage the increases in rental prices.

This legislation we are debating is all about incentivising the construction of those new build-to-rent developments because we want more investment in the build-to-rent sector. We want more of those affordable homes because we want to continue expanding Australia's housing supply. This problem is fundamentally about supply, supply, supply. Everything we are doing is about increasing that supply and addressing the problem. That's why the Albanese government is making a significant investment into housing after a decade of very little or no action from the former coalition government.

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