Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Why are the Albanese Labor government's housing policies important for delivering a stronger economy? And what is blocking further progress?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Holt for her question, and to her community for the opportunity to work with her on housing affordability and cost-of-living pressures and a whole range of other economic issues. Housing affordability is one of a number of economic challenges which we inherited from those opposite, which had been left to fester over a long and wasted decade. We take responsibility for reforming and renewing our economy and for making our communities more resilient—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin, if he interjects one more time, will be warned.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and that is why it's so important under the leadership of this Prime Minister and this terrific housing minister that we have a broad and ambitious agenda when it comes to housing. The $2 billion social housing accelerator announced on the weekend, the National Housing Accord that we are working on with the states and territories, the biggest increase in Commonwealth rent assistance in 30 years, changes to the First Home Guarantee and to the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, all of these are important parts of our agenda.

I will have an opportunity on Friday when I convene the state and territory treasurers to advance our agenda on housing, including with two very welcome new faces in that group, Treasurer Saffioti and Treasurer Mookhey as well. This will be an opportunity, consistent with the way this Prime Minister leads our team and our country, to bring people together to solve some of the big economic challenges that we confront together. In doing this, we bring together the super funds and the investors, local government, the Master Builders, the community housing providers and others to try and solve this problem, which has been neglected for too long.

The same approach applies to the Housing Australia Future Fund. As the Prime Minister said, community housing providers, advocates, are all calling for the fund to be passed. National Shelter, Community Housing Industry Association, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association are all calling for the Housing Australia Future Fund to be passed.

When the Greens teamed up with the coalition in the Senate, they turned their backs on all of those organisations and they turned their backs on vulnerable Australians, who desperately need this government to build tens of thousands of new social and affordable homes. And what the Greens showed in the Senate is that they care more about retweets than renters. They care more about TikTok than housing stock. With all of the flowery speeches and all of the rhetoric in this place, when it actually came to the crunch, when the Greens had the opportunity to work with Labor to build a more social and affordable homes or to side with the coalition of cookers which sit opposite, they chose the coalition of cookers. It will show, in the Hansard, for all time, that when the Greens were given—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will pause. I'll just get him to withdraw that last remark.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw. When they were given the opportunity to vote for more social housing, they squibbed it and they left people hanging.