Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Indi for again bringing the need for affordable and well-located housing in the regions as well as rural and remote Australia to the parliament. This is not the first time the member for Indi or I have spoken on this issue. On several occasions in the last year, I relayed the concerns of my electorate regarding housing affordability and availability. Put simply, we are in the middle of the housing crisis and everybody knows that. That's not an issue that relates just to the suburbs in inner metropolitan areas; it's very much felt in regional Australia. But it is a crisis of our own making.

One of the most fundamental principles in economics is supply and demand. Even people who don't have an economic qualification understand that. I don't think the government is strongly addressing that we've had record migration levels; that, in 2023, net overseas migration contributed to a net 518,000 people; and that, between 2007 and 2020, average net migration was sitting around 226,000 people. We now have double the long-term average with respect to net migration, which is naturally putting huge pressure on housing.

To be very clear, I'm not opposed to migration, but it must be done within the capacity of our country to absorb the net increase. A housing shortage unequivocally demonstrates that we do not have sufficient capacity to house our current population, let alone an ever-increasing population. And, while the impact of this is being experienced in the cities, it is very much being experienced in the regions. We are being crippled by housing shortages in the region. I must say that I think much of the housing policy and the conversations in this place, particularly by the government, have been city centric, and they have not been thinking about the housing challenges in the region.

The Guardian recently estimated that 190,000 households are waiting for social housing. The result of this demand-supply imbalance is what we would expect—fewer houses available with higher housing prices and higher rents. I have generational families in Mayo being priced out of the market in the regions where they grew up, where their parents grew up and where their grandparents grew up. Until recently, these family members had a realistic expectation that they, too, would one day be able to own a home in the region, but not anymore.

More concerningly, this trend is worsening. The Domain June 2024 rental report showed a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.8 per cent for houses and 4.3 per cent for units in Adelaide. The regions fared much worse. The report showed a year-on-year increase of 10.8 per cent and a staggering 52.7 per cent increase over the last five years in Mount Barker, in my electorate. Similarly, another regional centre in my electorate, Victor Harbor, has experienced a rental increase of over 50 per cent over the last five years. The LGA of Alexandrina, encompassing the Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island, has experienced a 20 per cent annual increase in rent and a five-year increase to 76.5 per cent. These figures are absurd, and they're forcing people into poverty.

This motion draws attention to the obvious omission in the government's response to housing—that is, none of the policies or initiatives specifically address or accommodate the housing crisis that is felt in the regions. I very much support the member for Indi's call on the government to commit to providing 30 per cent of all housing funding to regional, rural and remote Australia, which is proportionate with those of us who live there, and the establishment of a dedicated regional housing infrastructure fund. We have a new minister. I hope the new minister listens to this and thinks about the regions when thinking about housing. We need to change the city-centric policy approach and have a sensible discussion about migration intake. Our regions matter, and they are hurting. Our regions deserve a representative share of government investment.

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