Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We know that housing is a key and core focus of this Albanese Labor government, but it has not been without obstacle or obstruction, because what we can see here—gather around, folks—is that there's a new love story being forged in this chamber today—one forged in denying hardworking Australian people the dignity and the right to live in and own their own homes. But, pray tell, who could I be referring to? I ask the members here, there and everywhere: who could I be talking about? Who could forge such a bond—a bond built on misery and despair? Well, we know that it is the Liberal Party of Australia and the Greens political party. I'm a fan of rom-coms. Ask the mentor for Hunter. I really am. But this one is a little bit more like a horror movie. It is absolutely deplorable. The activities of the Liberal Party and the Greens political party in this chamber and in the other place are putting Australia behind. I think it's an absolute disgrace, particularly when it comes to housing. But it's not only limited to housing. It's health, education, wages—you name it.

But, despite the games, the deception and the betrayal of those opposite, including the Greens political party, this government is deploying housing policy that is fit for the Australian context. There are deliberate and targeted measures to ensure more homes are built and more people can get into their own home. This includes more than 10,000 homes built through Labor's housing programs like the Social Housing Accelerator program and new builds under Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme. We have more than 20,000 homes in the pipeline through direct Commonwealth investment, including the 13,700 under round 1 of the HAFF. This is all on top of the more than one million households we have helped with a more than 40 per cent increase to Commonwealth rent assistance and the 120,000 homeowners we have supported into homeownership through the government's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme.

All I want to share with the chamber today is what Labor governments do and how that has an impact on families, working people, low-income earners, women and everyone in our society. On the Central Coast in Lower Hunter, we had multiple dwellings in East Gosford and Telarah that were in danger of being lost, sold off and gone forever, leaving many without a home or a place to stay. This would have been a huge blow not only to those people living in these homes but for our region. Multiple representations were made by me, the federal member, but also the state member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, in order to save these dwellings. In came the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator fund. Over $600 million of that fund was allocated to the great state of New South Wales. With $8 million from the federal government's Social Housing Accelerator fund, via the New South Wales government, our tier 1 community housing provider, Pacific Link Housing, was able to acquire these dwellings. Housing was saved. People have been able to continue to live their lives with the dignity and respect that they deserve. That is what housing provides. This is the power of good policy, and it is only possible under the federal Labor government that we have here today.

What we have witnessed today from the member for Deakin and others is a spray of tommyrot, peppered with incomprehensible, disconnected and inarticulate ramble. What we have come to know and expect from those opposite is for the Liberal Party to fail to understand the importance of housing and to fail to understand providing assistance to those that need it.

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