Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My electorate of Fraser has the honour of being the nation's seat of government. Despite this government having cut 17,000 Public Service jobs, around one in three Canberrans works for the Australian Public Service. Despite attempts to pork-barrel with Canberra public servants' jobs, this remains the centre of administrative government for Australia as well as the legislative capital.

Here in Canberra many of my constituents are struggling to get a toehold in our property market. Like hundreds of thousands of young Australians across the country, they are finding that homeownership is an increasingly distant dream. Australia is now ranked as the third worst country for housing affordability in the OECD on the measure of prices to incomes. Here in the ACT the median house price has risen rapidly, faster than inflation. If the government's desultory wage offers to public servants are to continue then housing in the ACT will become even more unaffordable.

The lack of affordable housing for Canberrans to buy flows through to higher costs in the rental market as well. Despite unprecedented investment and the National Rental Affordability Scheme during Labor's last term in government, the ACT Council of Social Service estimates in its annual rental affordability snapshot that only one in 300 rental properties is affordable for people on low incomes. The council found that some Canberrans are paying up to two-thirds of their income in rent, just to have a secure roof over their heads—a situation that places them in extreme financial stress.

Housing affordability is one of the biggest challenges facing Australia. It undermines the ability of young Australians to build a secure financial future. Yet the Abbott government has suggested that it cares little about the problem of housing affordability for everyday Australians—from the Treasurer's comment that if housing were unaffordable people would not be buying it to the Prime Minister's faux empathy and tales of his own mortgage stress on a cabinet minister's salary. It suggests the government does not get the housing affordability challenge.

Labor has been hosting roundtables with experts and community groups to look for solutions. We have not been striking things off the table, but we are willing to look at a range of options. We have had a discussion paper out for public consultation. All of that stands in contrast to the government's suggestion that Australians should simply go and get a good job. We need a focused response to housing affordability that addresses issues like supply. We need to make sure that the 50 per cent of young people who are still renting into their early 30s have a government that is willing to act on housing affordability, to acknowledge the problem and to consult with experts to find a solution.