Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Over the parliamentary break, myself as well as other members of this place, have had the opportunity to visit many new, federally funded housing projects right across the country.

In Western Sydney.

In Melbourne.

In Brisbane.

And in regional Tasmania, just to name a few.

These projects are not just construction projects, they are new, safe, secure and affordable places to call home for Australians who need them most.

Before coming back to parliament, I revisited a site in Shorewell Park, in the electorate of Braddon, where new tenants have moved in.

These new tenants told me how life-changing it is to now have the security of a roof over their head.

'I'm going back to school,' one of the residents said to me.

That's what it means to have a safe, affordable place to call home.

Housing Choices Tasmania told me how important the Shorewell Park project is for vulnerable Tasmanians, and how it wants to do more.

This is why we cannot afford any more delays to the Housing Australia Future Fund.

Vulnerable Australians need the thousands of homes that the Housing Australia Future Fund will deliver.

This is why today I am reintroducing the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023, and related bills, into the House of Representatives.

When I stood in this place, many months ago, to first introduce these bills I said, 'The Housing Australia Future Fund will be the start of an enduring promise from the Australian government—that more Australians will have a safe, affordable place to call home.'

Our government has not forgotten that promise.

The government will use every opportunity to deliver the social and affordable rental housing that this fund will deliver. We need more homes.

The government will use every process available to us to make the case for this important legislation.

Again, as I said previously in this place, this fund will deliver that crucial, protected, ongoing pipeline of funding to provide certainty to community housing providers.

That will provide scale and invite new contributions to social and affordable housing from institutional investors.

That will be the end of the Australian government housing programs that make problems worse instead of better.

And, importantly, the structure of the Housing Australia Future Fund is protected from the whims of future governments.

This fund, of course, is not the totality of the Australian government's ambitious housing agenda.

But it is an important cornerstone—a cornerstone supported by community housing providers, frontline homelessness services, state and territory housing ministers and of course tenants of social and affordable housing.

I will now outline the functions of this bill. The Housing Australia Future Fund is one aspect of the government's commitment to improving housing supply and affordability. Central to this is the aim of increasing the supply of social and affordable homes and investing in more acute housing needs.

As announced in the October 2022-23 budget, disbursements from the Housing Australia Future Fund will be used to fund social and affordable homes and other acute housing needs. In the first five years of operation, the government intends to use the disbursements from the Housing Australia Future Fund to help build:

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, which will be renamed as Housing Australia, will be responsible for administering the majority of the disbursements from the Housing Australia Future Fund to help build the 30,000 social and affordable homes in the fund's first five years.

Over the same time period, the fund will also provide:

The bill establishes the Housing Australia Future Fund and provides an initial credit of $10 billion. Disbursements from the fund will be made available for the purposes of funding social and affordable homes and other acute housing needs.

Under this bill, annual disbursements will be capped at $500 million per year to protect the balance of the fund and ensure a sustainable source of funding into the future. The legislation will require five-yearly reviews of the operation of the act, which will assess the extent to which the fund is meeting the social, affordable and acute housing needs of Australians.

The Housing Australia Future Fund will be managed by the Future Fund Board of Guardians, which has a proven track record of managing investment funds on behalf of the people of Australia and maximising returns over the long term.

The bill requires the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance to issue directions setting out the government's expectations as to how the fund will be managed and invested by the board, including setting a benchmark rate of return for the fund.

Any disbursements from the fund will require formal government approval.

As part of the annual budget process, the housing minister, in consultation with the Treasurer and the finance minister, will be responsible for bringing forward proposals for the government's consideration of the allocation of disbursements to deliver on the government's targets for social and affordable homes and acute housing needs.

The bulk of the annual disbursements from the fund will be allocated to Housing Australia to deliver on the government's social and affordable housing commitments. Allocations to Housing Australia will recognise that a minimum annual amount over the long term is likely to be required to deliver on those commitments.

In relation to the acute housing needs, the housing minister will also consult the other designated ministers—the Minister for Social Services, the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs.

The housing minister will also consider advice from the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council before bringing forward spending proposals. The government established the interim council by administrative arrangement from 1 January 2023. The council will be established in primary legislation as part of this housing package.

The council will be an independent and expert advisory body to the government, to inform the spending from the Housing Australia Future Fund and provide policy advice on housing supply and affordability. It has already begun building a strong evidence base to support the Commonwealth in developing housing policy and position the government to provide an important leadership role in increasing housing supply and improving housing affordability in close collaboration with the states and the territories.

The bill will also establish the Housing Australia Future Fund Payments Special Account to make grants in relation to acute housing needs. Following a decision of the government to allocate disbursements from the fund, the designated ministers will request that the agreed amounts be debited from the Housing Australia Future Fund Special Account and credited to the Housing Australia Future Fund Payments Special Account for the purpose of making grants.

The designated ministers and the housing minister will also be able to request that a grant to a state or territory be channelled through the COAG Reform Fund. Payments to Housing Australia will be transferred to the Housing Australia Special Account for the purposes of making grants and loans for social and affordable homes and acute housing needs.

All funding decisions will comply with the Commonwealth's established rules and guidelines for grants. Detailed information on grants under the Housing Australia Future Fund will be published online.

Too many Australians struggle to secure safe and affordable housing, which is why we're committed to establishing the Housing Australia Future Fund along with other significant housing reforms such as the new National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, a National Housing and Homelessness Plan and the Help to Buy scheme.

The introduction of this legislation builds on the work we have already begun to address Australia's housing challenges:

The new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator to deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia. This investment that will build more homes, for more Australians, in more parts of our nation;

A National Housing Accord which includes federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes over five years from 2024, will be matched by another 10,000 homes by the state and territories;

Increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15 per cent, the largest increase in more than 30 years;

An additional $2 billion in financing for more social and affordable rental housing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation;

Immediately unlocking up to $575 million from the National Housing Infrastructure Facility for social and affordable homes;

A $1.7 billion one-year extension to the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement with states and territories, including a $67.5 million boost to homelessness funding over the next year;

States and territories committing to improve renters' rights through the National Cabinet and the Housing and Homelessness Ministerial Council;

Our decision to bring forward the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee by three months, which has already helped thousands of Australians into homeownership;

The formation of the interim National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, which has already begun its work to deliver independent advice to government; and

National Cabinet's decision to re-establish the Housing and Homelessness Ministerial Council and the four meetings I have already held with my state and territory colleagues.

Delivering on the establishment of the Housing Australia Future Fund along with the other housing reforms will mean more Australians will have a safe and affordable place to call home.

The government once again invites this parliament to show its support to deliver more housing for all Australians.

We invite those who stood opposite us in this place—or stood outside—to stand with us now to deliver that safety and security a home provides; to stand with the states and territories and community housing providers who are ready to hit the ground running with the funding this bill will provide for more homes; to stand with the homelessness service providers who are seeing more people come through their doors in need of homes. Because the only way we're going to tackle the housing challenges we face is if we stand together.

Full details of the bill are contained in the explanatory memorandum.

Debate adjourned.