Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

There's $24 million available to build or expand crisis and transitional housing, as well as $6 million available for the specialist wraparound services to support our veterans. There's no doubt that this issue of veteran homelessness is urgent, which is why it was so disappointing that the opposition, along with the Greens political party, delayed the Housing Australia Future Fund by six months. By voting against it in this place, they delayed these funds from being made available earlier, just as they are now opposing the build-to-rent scheme in the Senate.

It is absolutely galling, shocking and appalling that we have the opposition and the Greens coming together to oppose further support for housing, after they already opposed support for housing for our veterans. It seems that those opposite are willing to put undisclosed billions of dollars into nuclear reactors, but they are standing in the way of putting together the funding to support our veterans who are experiencing homelessness. We said that we would support veteran housing, and that's exactly what we are doing. That's how you deal with cost-of-living relief, not through pushing up power bills through nuclear reactors. (Time expired)

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