Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Homeownership is one of those issues that speaks to the very heart of the Australian dream—the dream of having a place to call your own. It's a source of pride. It provides safety and security for individuals and families and acts as the primary asset for family wealth creation. Under the Albanese government, that dream has now slipped out of reach. The minister gave us lots of poetry but not much policy. Labor's inaction and policy failures have created a housing crisis that's punishing young Australians. It's punishing low- and middle-income families, and it's punishing hardworking Australians who are striving to get ahead.

The statistics speak for themselves. Analysis from CoreLogic reveals that under the Albanese government, in my home city of Sydney, it now takes a year longer to save for a first home deposit than under the former coalition government. New dwelling numbers have also gone backwards under this government. In 2018, over 210,000 new dwellings were built in a single year. To reach that level again, we need to increase construction by 20 per cent. Labor's target of 1.2 million homes in five years has been criticised by housing experts, who agree with the coalition's predictions of a shortfall of at least 400,000 homes, and by Labor Premier Chris Minns, who says they just won't get there. This number highlights the complete failure of the Albanese government.

Under the former coalition government, there were more than one million commencements during the last five calendar years, from 2017 to 2021. At the same time, Labor's reckless policies on migration have further strained our already struggling housing market. Over the past two years, we've seen a net increase of almost one million new arrivals, with 446,000 additional migrants arriving in Australia in the 2023-24 financial year alone. Now, I'm for migration. We all know that migrants have enriched Australia and enriched our culture, but we can't keep bringing people into this country that we can't house. Labor has overshot its migration target, this time by an additional 50,600 migrants, and it has failed to keep the housing supply up. Not only does the Prime Minister have to explain where these people will live; the migration increase has significantly driven up the cost of housing and rent, further increasing inflation as Australians endure cost-of-living pain.

This government has no real plan to support homeownership, no real plan to help renters and no real plan to build the homes Australia desperately needs. But the housing crisis shouldn't just be viewed as statistics or an abstract policy failure. For millions of Australians who find themselves locked out of homeownership or trapped in rental stress, it's a daily struggle. That's why the coalition will act immediately to fix the housing crisis.

Over the past two years the coalition has been consulting with hundreds of local councils across Australia on the current housing constraints and practical ways to overcome these challenges. We know that one of the major obstacles for housing projects is the lack of funding for critical enabling infrastructure. Therefore we will, on a time limited basis, unlock necessary new housing supply and keep the Australian dream alive. We'll do this by investing in shovel-ready infrastructure, committing $5 billion to get these projects moving, and unlocking more than half a million homes delivered through a mixture of concessional loans and grants. We'll further rebalance the migration scheme in Australia by reducing the permanent migration program by 25 per cent over this period and implementing a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes. Migration and foreign ownership outpacing the construction of new homes can no longer continue if we want to give Australians a chance of owning their own home.

The coalition has recommitted to assisting first home buyers, allowing them to access up to $50,000 of their superannuation through the Super Home Buyer Scheme. This would allow a first home buyer's super to work for them, achieving the best of both worlds—homeownership and retirement security. It's real solutions like this that have the ability to give Australians back the dream of homeownership.

In my electorate of Berowra, the coalition's policy will provide individuals with the opportunity to purchase a $515,000 unit in Epping or a $540,000 apartment in Hornsby that otherwise may be out of reach as they try to juggle the increasing rents and energy prices seen under this government. Countless times I've heard from families in my community who are worried about homeownership, including parents watching their children moving out of the area and, in some cases, out of Sydney due to being locked out of the housing market. This isn't acceptable. As I've said, only the coalition has a plan to bring the Australian dream back into reach. It's only the coalition that will stand up for families in Berowra and across Australia who dream of homeownership but feel like it's slipping out of reach, and it's only the coalition who will take action where Labor has failed. Only the coalition government will allow people to realise their dreams of homeownership.

See this speech in context