Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macnamara for moving this very important motion and for the opportunity to add my voice to this pressing issue. Is it really too much to ask that every Australian have a home or that every Australian have a roof over their head? Is it too much to ask that every Australian be afforded the right to provide shelter for their family? Safety and shelter are fundamental human rights, yet they have been increasingly commodified. You can have them only if you can afford them, and affording shelter in Australia is becoming more and more expensive.

Australia is in the grip of a national housing crisis. It affects our cities and our regions. In Dodges Ferry, a town in my electorate that used to be an affordable weekend getaway village of shacks, the median price is $460,000. That's a 79.7 per cent increase in five years. In New Norfolk, a town of forestry and factory workers, the median price has risen by 22.8 per cent to now sit above $350,000. On the face of it, this is good news for homeowners. We all get excited when we see our homes rise in value—it increases our equity. But what happens when you want to sell and take advantage of the added value? You still have to buy somewhere else to live, and the place you have your eye on has generally increased in value along the same trajectory, so there's often no more money in your pocket. Of course, if you stay put you can draw on the extra equity in your home to buy a caravan or go on a holiday, but that adds debt. Increasingly, many of us with a mortgage and a rising home value are, I am sure, drawing on our own equity to help our kids afford a deposit, because, increasingly, it is impossible for them to do it alone.

The steeply rising cost of housing is bad news for the young couples searching for their first home. They struggle to keep up with ever-rising deposits. For example, Sydney prices rose $100,000 in just three months recently. Many young homebuyers will have to find another $20,000 for a deposit. How long will it take them to save that? And, by the time they do, prices will have gone up again. It's a never-ending and soul-destroying chase. It now takes Tasmanians, on average, 8.4 years to save the 20 per cent deposit needed for a home loan. A graduate who starts saving at 21 will be close to 30 by the time they get the keys. It's no wonder people are putting off having children and having fewer of them.

And it's not as if the rental market provides any relief. Rents are at record highs—in many cases more expensive than servicing a mortgage—and rentals are increasingly scarce. Good luck trying to save for a mortgage deposit at the same time as you're paying massive rent—especially in Tasmania, where incomes are 13 per cent lower than on the mainland.

What it all boils down to is a failure of government policy and political leadership. The Tasmanian Liberal Premier doesn't even acknowledge that there is a housing crisis in our state. He must exist in a parallel universe of privilege. It is obvious to anyone with eyes to see. There are close to 4,000 people on Tasmania's emergency housing list, and our Premier shrugs his shoulders as if it's not his problem. The answer is simple: Australia needs to build more houses. And a Labor government will make it happen. Labor's Housing Australia Future Fund, announced by the Labor leader in his budget reply speech, has the capacity to even the scales. It is the tool with which a Labor government will tackle this issue. We will build 20,000 social housing properties and 10,000 affordable housing properties for frontline workers. We will invest $200 million in the cost of maintaining and improving housing in remote Indigenous communities. We will invest $100 million in crisis housing options for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and older women on low incomes, who are at greater risk of homelessness. And we will invest $30 million to build more housing and fund specialist services for veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.

Madam Deputy Speaker, as we know, the answer to the housing crisis for young people is not to mortgage their future retirement.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You don't earn a house today by living in poverty in retirement, as some in this place would have us belief. We know that is not the way forward. You don't raid your superannuation in order to get a house deposit. We need to lift wages—that's the key.

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

The Housing Australia Future Fund is Labor's plan to ensure that every Australian has a roof over their head. Under Labor, no Australian, young or old, gets left behind.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For those who weren't in the chamber earlier, I did indicate that I will intervene if people, from either side, have too loud a conversation across the chamber. That perhaps went a bit close to that. I now give the call to the member for Goldstein.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm elated to speak on this motion, because we saw the choice between the coalition and the Labor Party in the recent budget and the budget reply. In the budget reply by the opposition leader we saw a man committed to putting bandaids over our housing system. I agree that there are a number of problems with our housing market. When people can't afford to own their own home, they use private rentals. When they can't afford private rentals, they then have to go and seek assistance from social housing. The focus from the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party is on what we need to do to fix the issues of social housing. It is not to fix the challenges in the private market and higher private ownership, not to fix the problems in terms of private rental, but to fix the problems at the bottom. It's a bandaid that won't deliver long-term solutions for young Australians.

In comparison, the focus of a Liberal government is how we empower young Australians to be able to own their own home: by making sure that this parliament understands that the most important financial decision that any Australian can make is to own their own home. There are, of course, other important financial decisions such as superannuation, but they are not the most important factor. They are the second most important. The current law forces people to put the second-most-important financial decision of their life over their most important financial decision of their life.

And what's been the consequence? The data is clear. In 1980 the average age at which Australians purchased their first home was 24 years old. Today it is 36. We have had young Australians at the time of their life where they have low wages, as they are trying to build up their career, being forced to take 10 per cent of their savings and force it into funds controlled by members of the opposition's mates. And the consequence has been it's harder for them to save up their deposit so they can buy their own home. Of course, if you already own your own home, everything is just peachy because prices keep going up. But young Australians are being betrayed by the opposition, because the opposition are prioritising their own interests and their own control of people's capital ahead of empowering young Australians.

That's fundamentally the choice and the divide between this government and the Labor Party. They want indentured renters; we want empowered owners, and we make no apology about it. That is why we should support home first, super second. The member previously spoke about the problems young Australians have in saving their deposit. I agree with him. Young Australians are finding it hard because their disposable income is being taken from them. It is being forced into funds which they can't then access to buy their own home. An average young Australian couple between the age of 30 and 35 has $76,000 saved up in superannuation which could be utilised towards a deposit to buy their own home. In some areas of the community, they will need more money than that, but savings plus super—and that is what super is: savings—will enable them to bring it forward and buy earlier and cheaper. That means they're not paying forgone rent, they're not paying other costs and they are able to own their own home, which is the foundation of their economic security in their working life and their retirement.

But that, of course, is not what the Labor Party wants. They would rather Australians of any age save for a home after they've prioritised their super rather than putting home first and super second. It is simply a fallacy. Young Australians can save for their retirement once they buy their own home. Australians cannot save for a home in retirement, and that is the absurdity of the model we have now: to put superannuation ahead of homeownership.

Now, I know the Labor Party don't support homeownership. I know in their hearts they actually support an indentured nation of people who are renters. This is not the first time we have had this divide. In 1949, the great political divide between Ben Chifley and Sir Robert Menzies started a watershed of Liberal and coalition governments Ben Chifley argued how we should use federal-state housing agreements to build housing that returned soldiers could rent. Menzies used those agreements and made it crystal clear in his election speeches that those federal-state housing agreements should be used to build houses so that Australians could own. Returned service soldiers could own their own home and then have an investment in the future of the country. They turned little platoons into little capitalists. That's the foundation on which we build the country: from the citizen, the family and community up, not from Canberra and fund managers down.

Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Housing is a human right. Without an address, getting a job is impossible. How can you turn up for an interview and look professional if you are sleeping rough? But too many Australians are currently experiencing rental stress or overcrowding, are couch surfing or have to sleep rough. The cost of renting was already on the rise before the pandemic. The pandemic has made the rising costs more obvious, particularly with the unemployment queue. It's also become more difficult for people that need secure housing unexpectedly. This crisis accommodation is for victims of domestic violence and homelessness. Last year 55 women were killed in the domestic setting. There are more people experiencing homelessness than ever before in Australia, and the forecast is that it's to get worse. This morning on the lawns of Parliament House there was a display of 150 dresses, each one representing a woman who has died at the hands of a current or former partner. This is a stark representation of what happens when there is nowhere safe to go.

There is a lack of affordable rentals in every town and city in Australia and, without affordable housing, you can't be safe. Homelessness services are seeing increased demand in response to the economic impacts of the pandemic. These specialist services provided support for more than 290,000 vulnerable people in the last two years. But, sadly, those same services have turned away nearly 100,000. That's almost 260 people a day. A recent report revealed only a third of people placed in temporary accommodation at the height of the pandemic have moved into permanent accommodation, meaning they've returned to their unacceptable situations from before the pandemic.

The government's answer to this is to cut $56.7 million from the equal remuneration fund, reducing homelessness services. This is a policy failure. The lack of a strong federal government housing policy demonstrates a lack of leadership. The Productivity Commission report revealed there are fewer public housing dwellings in Australia now than there were 10 years ago. Building and repairing social housing is what Australia needs to house people and to stimulate the economy and to provide jobs. By the end of the last year, and continuing into this year, 25 per cent of Australia's social housing needed urgent repairs and maintenance. That's more than 100,000 homes.

Labor bought this issue up during the last budget in October. It was a problem then and, six months later, not much has changed. More importantly, it's a problem that we can fix. Investing in social housing can rebuild our workforce through the pandemic. Investment in social housing would create thousands of jobs for all sorts of tradespeople. Repairs could start almost immediately, providing work for local plumbers, chippies, sparkies plasterers and painters. Our capable manufacturers would also benefit by supplying building materials and delivering resources. This would also provide opportunities for our apprentices and an abundance of work for the construction and manufacturing sectors. For every job created, there is a flow on for jobs in other sectors. That will be work in retail and hospitality and for teachers and nurses.

It's disappointing that the Morrison government continues to ignore Australia's housing and homelessness crisis, knowing the benefits of addressing it to our economy and to our most vulnerable citizens. In my electorate of Werriwa, there is a 20-year wait for social housing. This doesn't include the houses that people are living in right now in urgent need of repair. The GFC taught us that investing in ourselves is the way to break the chains of a recession and unemployment. As the then Treasury secretary Ken Henry said, 'Go hard, go early and go with households.'

The Labor government kept the nation out of recession by investing $5 billion towards 20,000 new social housing dwellings and repairing 80,000 others, keeping unemployment under six per cent, the second lowest in the OECD. Australia was praised on the world stage for our response, and many nations followed our approach. But social housing means much more than economics. It puts a roof over people's heads. It gives people dignity. It improves educational opportunities for their children and themselves. It helps them find jobs and stay in jobs. The pandemic has emphasised the need for everyone to have proper housing. You need that to be thought of well within your community. The government needs to show leadership and refusing to do so puts people at risk, with no safe and secure social housing in Australia.

Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak truth to the richest nation in the world per head. Our older women have been recognised as the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia. Recent research from the Housing for the Aged Action Group found 240,000 women aged 55 or older and another 155,000 women aged 45 to 54 are at risk of homelessness. Older people who live in private rental housing are at even higher risk of becoming homeless. The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that homelessness exists when a dwelling is inadequate, has insecure tenure and does not allow control of access to space for social relations. Increasingly unaffordable housing has added to the concerns about the circumstances and living situations of older people who do not own homes; have limited wealth and savings and, especially for women, low levels of superannuation; and do not have the benefit of living in social housing. Further, we know we have mothers and their children living in cars. What does this say about our priorities? How is a nation as wealthy as Australia even having a discussion on this issue?

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, homelessness has the following effects on children:

Preschool and school-aged children experiencing homelessness are more likely to experience mental health problems than housed children, and some evidence suggests that homeless children are more likely to have physical disability, emotional or behavioural problems than housed children … Homelessness can be disruptive to children's education. It is associated with decreased engagement in the classroom and, when coupled with frequent school moves, is associated with poor academic achievement …

Teachers are reporting how, in the current situation we are facing with COVID, the classroom has become much more stressful for those without a roof over their heads.

How can a woman fleeing domestic violence protect her five-year-old son if she can't put a roof over their heads? How can a parent support their 12-year-old daughter with homework if they can't put a roof over their heads? How can a single mum of four kids stay connected to her much-loved and much-needed community support network if she can't put a roof over their heads? How can you care for a sick or disabled relative if you can't put a roof over their head? How can a middle-aged man with two young adult children engage in the workforce if he can't put a roof over their heads? The difficulty for me here is that I'm actually talking about examples in my electorate. How can you even sleep, shower, wash clothes, cook a meal and stay warm and safe if you don't have a roof over your head? Nations are judged on how they treat the most vulnerable in their societies. So how are we to be judged?

COVID related effects and consequences have caused a combination of Airbnb use domestically; rental property sales because of increased value of the property; relocation to the regions to get out of our capital cities; as we heard from the previous speaker, reduced public housing as compared to 10 years ago; and rental increases. All this combines against those who need a roof over their head.

We know that this government doesn't hold the hammer. Federal governments don't hold the hammer—not even in Indigenous affairs anymore. It's all done by the states. I know the federal government and the previous Labor governments that I've seen have put money into the states for exactly these reasons. Then we have to ask the question: how is it that in this nation today, in 2021, I've got a woman in a small town in my electorate with four boys, closely connected to and supported and cherished by their community, who cannot find a house? Perhaps that's my job.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have held 14 mobile offices in my electorate of Lilley this year, and I have spoken to countless Northsiders, from all walks of life, who have become energised enough about a particular issue that they want to talk to their federal member at, for example, a park on a Saturday morning. We really have rub the gamut of local issues in that time. Amongst the 14 mobile offices that I've done this year alone, there really has been one common theme, a golden thread that connects each suburb on the Northside, and that is that we want security and the opportunity for ourselves and our families to prosper. It's that simple. After almost a decade of flat wages being decimated by our rising cost of living people feel like they just can't get ahead no matter how hard they work. After eight long years in government, the Morrison government's latest budget offers no respite on that front, no respite for Northsiders at all. Instead it guarantees low growth, it guarantees low productivity, it guarantees low wages and it instils $1 trillion worth of debt.

Affordable housing is fundamental to our individual and collective security and our prosperity. Like my colleague the Member for Macnamara said in his report examining Australia's housing sector:

We know that a house is bigger than its four walls—it gives each Australian a stake in the collective success of our economy.

Workers are being told that with some grit and determination the dream of home ownership can become a reality, but the reality is many are struggling to keep up with their weekly rent payments, let alone having any leftover income to tuck away for a housing deposit, particularly one at 20 per cent of the purchase price. Before COVID hit 30 per cent of renters on the north side of Brisbane reported difficulty even keeping up with their rent each week. That is 6,400 households whose budgets were strained just paying the rent each week whilst trying keep up the other necessities like bills, utilities, school expenses and child care.

On top of this, skyrocketing property values means home ownership is becoming increasingly out of reach. Today the journey towards home ownership for ordinary working people is exponentially more difficult than it has been for people in the past. The pathway to home ownership no longer begins and ends with hard work and careful saving, but with an investment property to build capital, a portfolio of shares to offset tax, a timely inheritance, or a generous loan from the 'bank of mum and dad'. In this context, it is not surprising that home ownership rates are plummeting among people under 45 years of age and especially for people between 25 and 40 years of age. Home prices have climbed an inflation adjusted 150 per cent, while inflation adjusted wages have climbed only 30 per cent. This is an issue only compounded by the Morrison government handing out tax incentives to investors, giving owner-occupiers and first home buyers price competition they did not previously have to face.

I was recently contacted by Chris, who is a Zillmere local, who was done over by a greedy developer who negated his contract to buy a block of land to fetch a higher price. Chris is now out-of-pocket five grand as well as losing his right to the first home buyers grant. Chris said: 'We're not investors. We're just a small family trying to buy our own home and we've now been completely priced out of the market by the greed of developers who are trying to chase a quick buck. I'm completely devastated. I have worked hard for over 15 years trying to save that deposit and now, as a 35-year-old, that dream is just continually being pushed further and further back.'

The housing market is not going to fix itself and challenging vested interests won't be easy, but meaningful progress will be impossible as long as we have this federal government that is unwilling to lay down a comprehensive and ambitious vision for housing. The answer to the housing crisis is not weakening lending laws and it's not asking people to raid their superannuation, their future, for a deposit. These measures only lead to property prices being pushed further up.

The key to fixing the housing crisis is to reduce the skyrocketing overvaluation of property, it's to boost wages and it's to reduce household debt. The second step is to build new, affordable housing—and that's why we have an affordable housing deficit of massive proportions, a construction and building industry desperately in need of work, an abundance of housing that could be repaired and renovated and a community housing sector ready for diversity and growth. Only an Albanese Labor government will improve housing affordability and secure better housing outcomes for all hardworking Australians. We are on Chris's side, we are on the Northsiders side and we are hustling— (Time expired)

Gladys Liu (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): Here in Australia we take pride in our aspirations. We believe when we work hard we get the results we want. For many Australians this means reaching their dream of owning a house in our very own backyard. It's a dream that has been passed down through generations. It's never been an easy dream but it is a reality we all have the power to create. This dream to reality is something the Morrison government wholeheartedly supports.

Our suite of housing policies give hardworking Australians a hand up to buy a home to raise their families in. In this term, our government devised and implemented the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, which gives an allocated number of first home buyers the freedom to purchase a home with a deposit of as little as five per cent. As a government, we understand that saving a 20 per cent deposit can be difficult and lengthy. Many first home buyers are in a position where their income could afford the mortgage repayments, but they don't have enough in the bank to pay down their 20 per cent deposit. Under the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, Australians are given the freedom and flexibility to purchase a home.

On top of that, the Morrison government has expanded the first home super saver scheme from $30,000 to $50,000 for voluntary contributions that can be released for a first home. First home buyers are at their highest level since 2009, with more than 155,000 aspirational Australians achieving their dream and buying their first home since March 2021. First home buyers make up 41.5 per cent of new owner-occupier loans. This is considerably higher than the 10-year average of around 30 per cent. First home buyers will always have the support of the Morrison government, and it has been working.

We know not everyone is in a position to afford their first home. Some Australians are in precarious living situations or homeless, just like my colleague mentioned earlier. The Morrison government are there for those people too. We are there to support them as they get back on their feet. While the states and territories are responsible for delivering the services required in their jurisdictions, we have provided significant funding—$8.2 billion—to ensure they are well-equipped to handle homelessness. Within this, we are ensuring that people have access to affordable housing. Around $5.5 billion has been allocated to Commonwealth rent assistance.

The Morrison government is committed to spurring jobs growth while ensuring housing affordability. This is why our government has spearheaded the HomeBuilder policy. We want both to protect and to create jobs in the residential construction industry. We are incentivising Australians to build new homes, increasing the supply of housing available while also priming the construction industry for success in a time where other countries around the globe are lagging. The success of this package has been shown in the numbers. The package has driven more than $103 billion in economic stimulus, which has been benefited all Australians. Housing affordability has always been a priority of this government, and it is leading the way in this. Thank you.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the member for Macnamara, and to thank him for bringing this important motion before us. It's fair to say that the member for Macnamara and I represent vastly different electorates in this place, but the fact that the Morrison government's policy failure affects both our communities shows just how deep the dereliction is. This government's neglect in such an important area of policy cripples the people I represent.

Only last week Choice released data showing the western suburbs of Melbourne is a hotspot for mortgage stress. The postcode 3029, encompassing Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit and Truganina, ranks seventh in the nation and third in Victoria for mortgage stress, with an estimated nearly 8,000 households on the brink. The postcode covering Werribee and Point Cook, 3030, has 6,399 households anxious about how they are going to make their mortgage payments. That's 14,000 households in just two postcodes. In the last census around 26,000 households in my community had a mortgage. I have no doubt that has increased slightly in our growth area. On those figures, roughly 55 per cent of mortgage holders in Lalor are sitting around their kitchen tables, distressed, looking at their bills.

It gets worse. ABS data from 2016 shows that over 800 local residents were homeless—a number which no doubt has grown following the pandemic and the Morrison recession. Over half of those are between 12 and 24 years of age. Let that sink in. This is an increase of 76 per cent in the five years previously. There is no doubt that homelessness is growing across our suburbs across the country, and growing intensively in outer suburban areas. On top of these numbers are the 15,000 locals who are renting and paying an average of $310 a week. This may sound like not a lot to many who live in other suburbs, but when the personal income in Lawlor is $662 a week a rent of $310 is unaffordable.

Women's Health West recently highlighted to me the need for crisis accommodation, which this government has recently neglected to deliver. The scourge that is family and domestic violence also needs to be addressed in the housing debate, with Women's Health West receiving 13,000 referrals from Victoria Police between March 2020 and February 2021. We know many more women won't be reporting domestic violence if the impediment of the lack of crisis accommodation is not overcome.

This nation needs a proper housing policy. My community needs this nation to have a proper housing policy—one that addresses the unaffordable nature of housing, one that addresses homelessness, one that gets to the heart of skyrocketing and unaffordable rental prices for working families, one that addresses the shortage in crisis accommodation for women and their children fleeing domestic violence, one that delivers affordable and reliable housing. This nation needs Labor's plan for housing announced by the opposition leader in the budget reply.

It's on that basis I want to acknowledge and congratulate the Victorian Andrews government for tackling this issue not just across the state but locally in Werribee, with local member Treasurer Tim Pallas delivering $30 million to build a 74-home social and affordable housing development in partnership with Unison. He the first sod on the Cottrell Street site with housing minister Richard Wynne last month. It is also going to create 50 local jobs. That's what Labor does. It's in our DNA. It's what Daniel Andrews is doing in Victoria. It's what Anthony Albanese will do as Prime Minister after the next election.

During this debate I also want to congratulate our local Wyndham City Council for their fair-minded and caring approach to this issue—no ducking, no weaving, no 'Not in our backyard'. Social housing should be across the country. It should be in every community to support the homeless and those people who need it in every community across the country. I look forward to working with Melbourne City Mission, who are also building in my community a crisis accommodation centre for youth homelessness.

All of this is being done without the federal government. The federal government has vacated the space. This government thinks every piece of work in this country can be pushed off to someone else and that homelessness is the responsibility of state governments. This government needs to get out in front of this immediately. I commend this motion to the House and I call on this government to assist in the areas of need in my community.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to the debate on the motion put forward by the member for Macnamara. Home ownership has always been a pillar of coalition governments. It dates to the very beginnings of the Liberal Party, as Sir Robert Menzies outlined in his 'Forgotten People' speech. We now call this the great Australian dream. Menzies said:

The material home represents the concrete expression of the habits of frugality and saving … one of the best instincts in us is that which induces us to have one little piece of earth with a house and a garden which is ours; to which we can withdraw, in which we can be among our friends, into which no stranger may come against our will.

It's like poetry, isn't it? He continues:

The home is the foundation of sanity and sobriety; it is the indispensable condition of continuity; its health determines the health of society as a whole.

So I'm in fundamental agreement with the member for Macnamara. We see eye to eye—both being six foot six—on the initial point that every Australian should have access to safe and secure housing, but that's as far as it goes. Having a job is a crucial factor in being able to break free from the cycle of homelessness. In the growing city that is Toowoomba, this is an issue that we see amongst us every day. It's an issue that is being addressed by good people, like those who run the 2nd Shot cafe who are bringing homeless people into work. It is wonderful work that they are doing, but the fact of our unemployment falling so sharply clearly refutes the claim that the government is not addressing this issue. To suggest that the federal government is not pulling its weight on housing tells me the member for Macnamara is blind to the tradies driving utes through the streets of regional towns and cities—new utes bought under the—

Government Member:

A government member interjecting—

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely—new utes that are filling the streets—and extending homes as a direct result of the Morrison government's first home owner grant and HomeBuilder schemes. These crucial ingredients of the plan of the Morrison government for driving the housing and construction sector are creating a new demographic that I cheekily call 'Sukkar's battlers'—people who are building and people who are taking advantage of the HomeBuilder scheme.

I highlight to the member for Macnamara that it's not the availability of support that is the issue; rather the availability of land is the problem we are facing. In my electorate of Groom, the construction industry is one of the key building blocks of our economy. We like to build. From major national firms to small mum-and-dad operations, the Toowoomba region businesses deliver big at both the residential and commercial level. The sector employs nearly 7,000 people, generating $890 million, making it our region's third most valuable industry. It's an industry that has not only survived but thrived during the challenges of COVID. Our local building boom is being supported by migration to the regions, with young people and families making the tree change coming to Toowoomba. I encourage them all to continue doing so as our great city builds.

This boom is a direct result of the Morrison government's HomeBuilder program which has received over 26,000 applications in Queensland. It continues to support jobs in the construction sector and owner-occupiers with grants of $25,000 to build a new home or to substantially renovate an existing home. Tradies are doing very well. A wise man would invest in hot pies and flavoured milk. Tradies are out there getting out and doing their work. The take-up of this program has turned around the fortunes of developments like The Avenues in Highfields, which sits in my electorate. Project director Stephen Bowers tells us he was feeling pretty sick about the COVID situation last February, but, since HomeBuilder was announced, he has sold 220 lots, with 50 per cent of those being to first home buyers—people coming into the market and getting their first home. It's fantastic news. The Avenues provides a way for people to move to Highfields with more affordable housing. It's a fantastic place. Again I encourage people to come to Toowoomba. I hope I say that enough times. They've now released the next stage of the development four years ahead of schedule. We are bringing more homes onto the market in Toowoomba in response to the government's action.

The Morrison government is truly committed to helping more Australians get into a home of their own sooner, and the Toowoomba region has truly answered the call to renovate, extend and build. Building approval figures are up, with the December data shows that a remarkable turnaround took place in the last three months of 2020 with Darling Downs dwelling approvals skyrocketing by 121 per cent. The Morrison government's programs have provided the incentive for people to build. However, the problem now lies with state governments through planning instruments to provide the land necessary for construction. In city, town and village, we see evidence of this construction taking place. We know people coming to Toowoomba are indeed looking for new houses. They're looking for affordable housing. We're building as much as we can. The work is there, and the skills are coming in. We have apprentices. I haven't mentioned the 50 per cent apprentice wage subsidy. This is bringing new skills into the workforce to provide these homes for the future. We call on the state governments to open up the land to allow new housing projects to take place.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.