Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Four hundred thousand, Dan. This is a massive number, assisted by our fee-free TAFE program, which has supported nearly one million people to study and address the failure of the opposition. These homes have been built through programs like our $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator or the Housing Australia Future Fund. This has resulted in more than 20,000 homes in the pipeline through direct Commonwealth investment. On top of this is our $2.7 billion increase in Commonwealth rent assistance, which has given more than one million households more than a 40 per cent increase, providing much-needed rent relief.

This government has invested more in building homes than the opposition did in almost an entire decade in office. The opposition have accused the Labor government of failure, but, as the opposition well know, homes cannot be built in a day. Nine years in office is more than enough time to build the homes Australians need, and they have failed. Even now, they raise MPIs like this yet continue to block 40,000 people from owning a home by teaming up with the Greens to block Help to Buy in the Senate and through their choice to delay the Housing Australia Future Fund. There are so many other important housing reforms on the go, including the $9.3 billion five-year National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness, which will combat homelessness, provide crisis support and build and repair social housing.

Over the past few months, I have met with the Mornington Peninsula Shire, SWAN and a range of local community organisations that support people who are homeless, and I understand the acute need for social and affordable housing in the electorate of Dunkley. With 59.9 per cent of Dunkley on low or very low incomes and homelessness at an all-time high, we need more homes and we need more construction workers, which is how our investment in fee-free TAFE works hand in glove to achieve our goals of ensuring more homes can be built. I am committed to supporting the building and construction of more housing, particularly social and affordable homes, in our community so that all locals, no matter what their financial or personal circumstances, have a roof over their heads.

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