Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin, the member for Dickson and the member for Cook must all think Australian voters were born yesterday. They come into this place and expect Australians to completely forget their complicity in the creation of all the policy mess that this Albanese Labor government has been working steadfastly to fix. In housing there was a decade of lost opportunity. If Labor had been in office in those lost years, we might not have any housing crisis today. In 2013 we had a housing and homelessness minister—a full minister in cabinet. Then the Liberals and Nationals came into the office and, unfortunately, demonstrated their absolute, utter lack of commitment to housing and their lack of commitment to addressing homelessness. They demonstrated how little they actually cared by not even having a minister—not even an assistant minister, not even an envoy. No-one held on to housing in the Liberal and National parties while they were in government from 2013. They did not even in 2014. In 2015, no, they still didn't think it was important. They didn't even in 2016. Not even in 2017 did they think we needed to have regard to housing and homelessness. They didn't even in 2018.

Only towards the end did they actually start having regard to it, because the research was confronting. But they still didn't care. Had the coalition thought, in 2019, when the member for Deakin assumed that portfolio, that something akin to having a housing Australia future fund, a help-to-buy scheme or efforts to train more tradies would actually help to address the construction workflows to build more houses—perhaps if he had actually thought about it then and done something—we wouldn't be in the position that we are today. But he didn't. They didn't give it any regard or thought. Consequently, they ripped out $3 billion from TAFE, from the educational institutions that actually create the skill pathways to housing—the trades and skills needed to ensure people have a roof over their head. They ripped $3 billion from TAFE. Imagine how long it takes to build a house today because of the lack of skilled workers in the workplace.

Labor recognised that, and we acted on it very early on. We have yet again passed more legislation to put that investment into TAFE to ensure that we have the trades that are needed to build our homes for the future. Already 32,000 people have signed up for the free TAFE places, and there has been a 32 per cent increase in people working to complete their apprenticeships. But houses take time. I don't know where the member for Cook or the member for Deakin lives, but I know that where I live, in Hasluck, it can take three years to build a home.

We passed the Housing Australia Future Fund Act in the middle of 2023. Unfortunately, the Liberals cared so little about this matter that they continued to block it, but we finally got it passed. I don't think we're going to get a house built in six months, sadly, but investments are coming through from that. We have $32 billion locked away in order to make sure there's a housing future for all. There's $19 billion specifically for housing in the middle of a housing crisis. We've helped 140,000 people with lower mortgage deposits, double what the former government was ever able to achieve. We are investing in 55,000 social and affordable homes, including in an area of Bassendean right opposite the train station. It's going to be super accessible, mixed-residential housing.

These are the kinds of investments and opportunities that we see for everyone, not just the few that are focused on investment portfolios. I note that the member for Dixon is quickly selling off his private portfolio and shoving it into a trust instead, so he can avoid scrutiny. He's not about first home buyers. That's why they're telling people to call on their super. Young people taking $50,000 out of their super? You show me a 20-year-old who's got $50,000 in superannuation, and then we can start talking about what a serious policy looks like. It's absolute nonsense to ask young people to pinch from Peter to pay Paul, robbing their future prospects to be able to get a roof over their heads today.

We're not about that. This party is about fairness. We're about accessibility and affordability in these areas of policy, working to ensure housing is available to all Australians, not just a few. To this end, because of the importance of building homes, we are granting visas for construction workers. Unlike the member for Cook, we know that this is going to take a collaborative effort, thanks to the mess that they left this country with.

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