Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a remarkable matter of importance presented to the House today by the member for Hume. I say 'remarkable' because those opposite are actively blocking housing supply and cost-of-living relief in this country when it is needed most, as we're seeing right now in their opposition to Help to Buy and as we saw in their heel-dragging over Labor's tax cuts for all Australians, and then they stand up in this place not to help Australian families doing it tough, not to bring any actual solutions to the table, but instead to weaponise people doing their best to deal with the cost of living. Like a tool in the shed, the coalition will only bring up housing when it's politically useful to them, not to help everyday Australians.

In my electorate of Spence this is especially disappointing because as the local member I know that my community is one of the hardest hit by this cost-of-living crisis. I know it not just from the stats but firsthand, on the ground. There are families in tough circumstances, living week to week, watching their costs going up, doing all they can to pay their bills and put food on the table, across Elizabeth, Salisbury and Gawler. I see it every single day in this job, and every single action that I take in this job is to help them. That is to help bring their rents down and make houses more affordable. That's to help get their income up and get their wages where they need to be for them to live and thrive well into the future. I'm proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that feels exactly the same as me. I'm even prouder to hold the Liberals to account when they do their best to block that help.

Across the long nine years on their watch, the previous Liberal government never helped those families in Davoren Park, Munno Para and Craigmore as the housing crisis in this nation got worse and worse. Those families were tightening their belts more and more as their rents went up exponentially, whilst those opposite sat on their hands and did nothing. They not only continue to do so now; their insistence on sheer inaction is only making this crisis worse. It's part of a strategy to promote fear and division to help themselves instead of actually helping people, as this MPI makes clear.

But Australians in my community and across the country see through it. They know that this government has a clear policy on housing, and it does not include a change to negative gearing. That policy is to build, build, build. The Liberals don't like it, because their policy is to block, block, block. Regardless, this Labor government has set a target to build 1.2 million homes in this country by the end of the decade. That's because, unlike those opposite, we are tackling the housing crisis. A part of that is the federal government's work with our state counterparts nationwide to ensure these houses are constructed quickly.

I watched this happen in real time just last week in Virginia, alongside the Minister for Housing in this place and the minister for housing in SA, Nick Champion. As we speak, more than 3,000 metres of new trunk water main are being laid underneath Angle Vale Road in my electorate. This project alone will support up to 40,000 new dwellings in the north, delivered in a collaboration between this federal Labor government and South Australia's Malinauskas Labor government. That is government addressing the housing crisis, government helping everyday Australians who are doing it tough. It is not launching scare campaigns on negative gearing or blocking cost-of-living assistance to score points; it is taking real action for real Australians. The member for Hume and his Liberal colleagues should take note.

This Labor government isn't stopping there, either. We're training more tradies, to grow the workforce and help build those unlocked houses. We're delivering the biggest investment in social housing in more than a decade to directly make houses more affordable where they are needed most. That's all part of our plan, in creating supply to meet demand. But we want to do more. With our Help to Buy Bill we want to support 40,000 Australians to purchase their own home. We want to give tens of thousands of families in this country the means to break into the housing market. But, just like with the tax cuts and so many other policies to directly improve the circumstances of everyday Australians, the Liberals say no. They would prefer to block this opportunity to help 40,000 Australians own a home. Those actions say more than this offensive waste of an MPI discussion ever could.

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