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

I want to share a story of one of my constituents, Rami, who reached out to my office for assistance. Rami sought help to bring his 80-year-old father, Kamel, out of Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing. I'm pleased Kamel is now safe in Melbourne and reunited with his son, and for the very first time he's cherishing precious moments with his grandchildren who he had never met.

During our meeting, Kamel was in good health and high spirits, and it was a profound moment to witness the joy of their reunion. I want to express my gratitude to the foreign minister, Penny Wong, and her office, for their invaluable support and assistance throughout that process. Kamel's journey's highlights the importance of our commitment to aiding those in need, regardless of borders or circumstances. It underscores the need for compassionate policies that prioritise human dignity and safety.

I also recently held a roundtable with Minister Clare O'Neil to hear directly from young people in my electorate about their experiences with housing and renting. Their experiences range from living in poor and dangerous rental properties, to dealing with unethical agent practices and facing arduous and invasive application requirements. This roundtable actually reinforced the urgent need for housing reforms, and the Albanese Labor government is taking action on this. After a decade of neglect from the former coalition government, this government, the Labor government, has committed $32 billion in just two years to build new homes. That's real and tangible action that's making a difference—and it will continue to make a difference.

Our priority is simple: it is to build more homes for more Australians. It's that simple. The government has an ambitious national target of building 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade. The Housing Australia Future Fund will deliver 30,000 new social and affordable homes over the next five years. The Help to Buy Scheme and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee are also crucial in making homeownership more accessible. I urge those opposite to support those bills and those policies. To support those facing rental stress, we've increased Commonwealth rent assistance by 25 per cent, putting $4.6 billion back in the renters' pockets and introducing build-to-rent incentives to support a more stable and secure rental market.

It's clear that the Albanese government is making significant investment into housing, but we recognise there's more to do. We need to do more. It is a crisis, and that's why we're prioritising housing, housing reform and affordable housing. We hope that those opposite—maybe not some of the minor parties who are playing politics with this—might see fit to actually support those policies in the national interest and for their own constituents.

Our new housing minister, Clare O'Neil, is already on the job, working on various new reforms to help every Australian have access to safe, secure and affordable housing. I ask those opposite to support those reforms in good faith, because it will make a difference to Australians looking for housing, wanting affordable housing and wanting the dignity of having a roof over their head.

See this speech in context