Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

The first thing that we're doing is building more homes, which is what Australians want and need. Under the previous government, investment in social and affordable housing stalled, while a number of state Liberal governments were actually selling off public and affordable housing. This government is committed to, firstly, ensuring that we're increasing the housing supply by building more social and affordable housing through policies such as the Housing Australia Future Fund, through our Social Housing Accelerator, through the co-investments with the state and territory governments. We've also got schemes that ensure that we're assisting renters with the cost of increasing rents.

At the same time, we're investing in the skills development of Australians to meet that future demand through policies such as fee-free TAFE. We're also ensuring that, where there is a requirement for employers for additional labour, they get access to that skilled labour, particularly in the building trades, as quickly as possible. And it's reflected in the figures; it's reflected in the fact that we've had a doubling of the number of skilled trade workers for approved skilled visas over the last 12 months, compared to the final year of the coalition. It's the highest that it's been in the last 10 years. So the claim that the government is not responding to the demands of industry is a fallacy. We've doubled the numbers, and we're putting in place a new system that will ensure it's more responsive to the needs of employers, particularly in the construction trades.

Question unresolved.

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