Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I also would like to thank the member for Kooyong for bringing this matter of public importance to the House. Having a roof over our heads is something that most of us take for granted. I say 'most' because there are Australians who do know what it's like to be homeless. Having been homeless myself by the ravages of war, I spent many years as a refugee, never knowing any sense of a permanent or stable home environment. Like the Prime Minister, I also grew up in public housing after our resettlement here in Australia. We were incredibly lucky, privileged and grateful that Australia had the right economic circumstances for us to rebuild our lives and the opportunities to work for a stable and prosperous future.

As we've been hearing today in the House, the economic conditions are becoming more challenging for many working Australians, also making it harder for our young people and those on low income to save to buy a home or even to rent. It doesn't take a PhD in economics to understand that high prices are driven by a shortage in housing supply. Whilst population increase is measured across the whole of Australia, it is not evenly distributed. Australia has relied more and more on immigration to boost population growth as birth rates have decreased, and the major cities have inevitably seen populations boom because that's where the jobs and infrastructure are. My electorate of Fowler has felt the increase particularly sharply, especially in the past decade, where we have seen almost 20,000 refugees and asylum seekers resettled in my electorate. These new arrivals require a roof over their heads and also create demand for services.

With over 50 per cent of Fowler's population born overseas, compared to 30 per cent of Australia, many come here to make a new life, seeking opportunities. Homeownership is a pipe dream for anybody other than the super-rich as the incredible cost of building new homes means that it's becoming nearly impossible even to find a home to rent. In Fowler, almost 44 per cent of the population rent. With a high population on low incomes, how on earth can these individuals afford the increase in rents as well? This is a terrible situation.

Homeownership is about more than just financial security for those who live in them; homeownership inculcates a commitment to a local community. It strengthens the ties that bind us to our neighbours and to our country. Many of the great buildings of Australia such as the New South Wales parliament building and the Queen Victoria Building were built before government regulation had reached its tentacles into the finest details of the planning and building processes. Yes, we have seen a sea change in the safety and welfare provisions for workers in that span of time, and many of those regulations are good and in the best interests of us all, but the taxation and regulation of the building industry is another example of the ability to legislate going out of control.

I know that the Prime Minister had faced attacks from his own New South Wales state premier on the lack of housing, so, in the spirit of the House of Representatives's cooperation and solidarity, I want to help him. The fact is that New South Wales's state taxation and planning restrictions play a significant role in the cost of building houses in our great state. The zoning tax, for example, is the price you pay for the legal right to put a dwelling on a piece of land. This rate obviously increases the value. In Sydney, zoning tax accountant for 42 per cent of the cost of a house in 68 per cent of the cost of an apartment in 2016. That's before we even begin talking about increasing costs of Labor and building material. The Prime Minister could do something at the federal level to pressure his state and territory colleagues to increase the housing supply. He could remind Premier Minns that he stood beside him at the announcement of the National Housing Accord. Instead of the Premier asking for more money from the federal government, he could be reminded that New South Wales has been given a lot of money for infrastructure already. Every opportunity should be taken, when federal infrastructure funds go out to the states and territories, to make it conditional on building a specific number of new homes. Writing cheques for Sydney Metro's Beaches Link and the Aerotropolis project should be accompanied by the demand to build them.

Unless the nettle is grasped on increasing housing supply, we are going to see profound change for the worse in our societal values and standard of living. We don't need to wait for things to get worse; I think we're already there.

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