Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian dream is on life support. The promise that every Australian had a real opportunity of homeownership formed the foundations of our Commonwealth in 1901. Now, if you are under 40, you are less likely to own a home than at any time since 1947. When updated census data becomes available, it is likely to be any time since 1901. Let us be clear: this is a fundamental betrayal of one generation by the previous one. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue is in the midst of an inquiry to establish whether this dream should be condemned as an ideal of another century.

I want to raise this today because our children and our families must immediately stand up now. Harrison Jones, from Fitzroy North in Victoria, who is transitioning from university to full-time work and is starting to save for a home deposit says, 'I am dismayed at the housing market.' He simply wants the realistic opportunity to live somewhere he can call home, where he can leave home half an hour before work and make it on time, preferably on public transport. The opposition from local and state governments in Victoria to building medium-density housing, to infill in their suburbs, is frustrating and unfair. It's having a profound impact on our middle-aged demographic.

David Reiling and his wife, Sarah, are in their 30s. They live in an apartment in Woy Woy on the Central Coast of New South Wales. They've diligently saved thousands of dollars every month; however, they still can't afford a two- to three-bedroom home with a functioning bathroom and start their family. As he says:

Considering the rising cost of raising children, if we start a family will we ever be able to afford a home to raise the family in?

It's the fact that we don't offer any hope to those who are willing to sacrifice the most. Sarah Nelson became homeless at the age of 14, following a tumultuous upbringing. She has shown incredible strength and resilience since to build her life, including resitting her HSC and going on to reputable roles with full-time salaries. She's now a single mother with children and says the lack of opportunity to own her own home means she is always carrying the tension of being in fight-or-flight mode.

It's not often that a member of the Liberal Party will quote a French socialist economist; however, I feel compelled to quote Thomas Piketty, because he talks about wealth inequality across Western societies. He says that, without doubt, the inequality in our world is determined by homeownership. If you want to reduce inequality—and everyone in this place says they want to—you need to increase the number of people who own their own home. This issue is having a generational impact on the wellbeing of every single young Australian and not only the future of our economy but the very future of our nation.

We have the highest average weekly earnings in the world and we have the highest minimum wage in the world, by almost 50 per cent, yet we have the least affordable housing in the world. Across the nation, Sydney has the third most unaffordable houses on the planet. Melbourne has the sixth, Adelaide the 13th, Brisbane the 18th and Perth the 23rd—and the trend is not our friend. Some will say it's a lack of social and affordable housing, and, indeed, we need to address this matter. Some will say it's low interests rates, stamp duty, macroprudential regulation, government incentives, immigration, capital gains tax and, of course, negative gearing. All hold strong merit; all are worth looking at. Others will say the main cause of high prices is land use restrictions, often called 'planning' or 'zoning', and we have let the states and councils get away with overregulation, high contribution measures and high taxes for far too long. The New South Wales Productivity Commission says we are short by 100,000 houses. What is at stake here is the future of our nation.