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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Deakin proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

  The housing crisis facing Australians and this Government's failure to respond effectively.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the litany of failures of this government, the biggest failure and the biggest area of neglect and misunderstanding is in relation to housing. The government has no agenda in housing. If you want to be generous and say that their failed Housing Australia Future Fund, the Ponzi scheme money-go-round, is an agenda, then that agenda is in absolute tatters.

The hapless housing minister gets up and tries to say that, somehow, housing has improved under the Labor government. I think it's pretty clear to Australians that that's not the truth. If you look at every single measure since this government has been in office, housing has gone backwards for Australians. New home starts between the March quarter of 2022 and 2023 are down by nearly seven per cent. New home approvals are down by nearly 16 per cent compared to this time last year. New home sales are down by nearly 40 per cent. First home buyers are at their lowest levels since the Gillard government, and, of course, people who are renting are paying on average 11½ per cent more this year than last year. On every single measure for ordinary Australians, housing is going backwards.

What do we hear from the government? As I said, if we want to be generous and call their Ponzi scheme money-go-round, the Housing Australia Future Fund, an agenda, they only want to discuss the fact that they want to build 30,000 homes over five years. There are a couple of caveats to that promise from the government. Firstly, if you look at the fund, they're saying that they can build each house for $83,000—$83,000 per home—so 30,000 homes at the princely sum of $83,000 a home. I will go to my electorate and I can assure members opposite that people in my electorate would say, 'We would love one of those'—an $83,000 home. Secondly, even if we accept this promise of 30,000 homes over five years—that's 6,000 homes a year; it's hardly an agenda that would get too many people excited; it certainly hasn't got the Senate very excited—over that same period, the government wants to bring in 1½ million. Do you remember Kevin Rudd's 'big Australia'? Well, Kevin Rudd's 'big Australia' is back, and it's real under this government. Their great answer to their 'big Australia' is: 'Don't fear Australians that 1½ million people are coming. We've got a plan to house them. We're going to build 30,000 homes for those 1½ million people.'

It is quite comical that, if you want to call it an agenda, that is the housing agenda of this government. For renters out there who are paying 11½ per cent on average more—it's 12.9 per cent for people in Sydney; it's 13 per cent for people in my home city of Melbourne; it's 16 per cent for people in Perth—they don't laugh. They see those additional 1½ million migrants, with no plan to build more housing, as further increases in their rent.

The other thing we don't hear from this government is anything about first home buyers. You do not hear a word out of this hapless housing minister about first home buyers. There's no surprise that first home buyers are now down to levels we have not seen since the Gillard government. New home purchases are down nearly 40 per cent. So the sad thing for Australians is that, because new home starts and new home purchases are down, we haven't actually seen the worst of it. The Prime Minister has the gall to talk about supply at that despatch box, and yet supply is dropping. Supply has dropped off the edge of a cliff and we're seeing nothing from this government—no action whatsoever!

It would be remiss of us to have an MPI on housing and not discuss what I think are the forgotten Australians at the moment. The forgotten Australians are people with a mortgage. Under this government, people with a mortgage are paying nearly $1,900 a month more in interest repayments.

An opposition member: How much?

Nearly $1,900 a month more in interest repayments. The Prime Minister promised before the election that he would deliver cheaper mortgages. Where are those cheaper mortgages? Who's got one of those cheaper mortgages? Do any of the members opposite have one of those cheaper mortgages that they could tell us about? I invite those members of the government who are going to speak on this MPI to outline who on earth has one of those cheaper mortgages that the Prime Minister promised before the election.

When I say there's no agenda from this government, unless you want to be very generous and call the Ponzi-scheme money-go-round an agenda, I'm probably being a bit hard, because the government did promise before the election their help-to-buy scheme. I can't say I was particularly excited about it, and I don't think many Australians were excited at the prospect of having the Australian government owning a portion of their home and having the Prime Minister, figuratively, at the kitchen table with them. But they did take it to an election.

I'm looking at my phone now; it's 8 August. It was promised that the help-to-buy scheme would start on 1 January 2023. Every time the Prime Minister is asked about his so-called promise around cheaper mortgages, he says, 'Well, no, I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about our help-to-buy scheme.' Where is it? It's eight months late. What on earth has this Minister for Housing been doing? This hapless housing minister can't even show up in the chamber for this MPI and defend her woeful legacy. I can understand why the minister wouldn't want to show her face in this chamber, with the record she's got, but she should at least front up and try and put up some sort of paltry defence.

What we see from this government is priorities that are not aligned with Australians. I can assure the House and the members of the government that we are absolutely committed to making sure that every single Australian has a realistic prospect of owning their own home. The government has waved the white flag. The government has given up. The government has said, 'We'll build 6,000 homes over five years while we bring in 1.5 million people,' as their great answer. We on this side of the House are saying to every single Australian: we will be doing everything we possibly can to give you the greatest opportunity to own your home. We cannot, as a generation, accept younger Australians looking forward to their career and their life and getting married and having children but giving up on the opportunity that every generation before them has had to own a home. This government has sold you out. This government has forgotten about you. But I assure those Australians that the Liberal and National parties are just as committed to homeownership now as we ever have been.

The help-to-buy scheme was supposed to start on 1 July. I want to give the government some credit. In recent times they have tried to take some credit for the coalition's Home Guarantee Scheme. Congratulations for continuing the vastly successful Home Guarantee Scheme, which helps people buy a home with a deposit of as little as five per cent. It helps single parents, 85 per cent of whom are single mothers, to purchase a home with a two per cent deposit. But guess what. You can't run off the fumes of the former government forever. You've got to come up with some policy and deal with the challenges in front of Australians. If you're renting, you're worse off. If you're saving for a new home, you're worse off. If you've got a mortgage now, you're worse off. Every single Australian is suffering because of the neglect and lack of planning from this government. I can assure those Australians that the Liberal and National parties have not given up on you.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin mentioned 'comical', and you could not get a more comical topic—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask those members opposite to leave the chamber quietly. You were heard in silence. I appreciate the same favour being returned.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Quietly because they are in disgrace! You couldn't get a more comical topic for an MPI than the one that we have just heard today. This week is Homelessness Week. The theme for homelessness week this year is 'It's time to end homelessness'. We reintroduced last week, the week before Homelessness Week, our Housing Australia Future Fund Bill and its related housing bills into the House of Representatives. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a $10 billion commitment to provide the safe and affordable housing that Australians need. It's for victims of family and domestic violence. It's for First Nations communities. It's for veterans. Reintroducing these bills demonstrates our government's commitment to using every process available for this important legislation, which will ensure that we can build tens of thousands of new homes for Australians, because we are actually committed to this task, unlike those opposite.

The reintroduction, of course, provides the opportunity, after the speech we've just heard, for the coalition and the Greens to stop playing politics and to support our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. This isn't about politics; it's about putting roofs over people's heads. Our government is committed to making sure that Australians have a safe, affordable place to call home—those Australians that are fleeing family and domestic violence or need transitional housing, and those frontline workers that helped us so much during the pandemic, like our police and our nurses. We are committed to improving and repairing housing in remote Aboriginal communities. And, of course, $30 million is to come from this fund to support veterans that are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. In addition to this, we've already announced the new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator to deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia.

The member for Deakin likes to make fun of the Help to Buy Scheme, yet we see that the state equivalents of this scheme, like that operating in Western Australia through Keystart, have been wildly successful in getting tens of thousands of people into a home that they would never dream of being able to become an owner of, because of the situation they find themselves in. Government support like this Help to Buy Scheme is what is enabling that to occur.

As part of last year's budget we expanded the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme, with a $46.2 million investment that not only supports our serving personnel but our ex-serving personnel to get access to buying their own home as well. We committed to and are delivering $3.6 million for the Scott Palmer Services Centre in Darwin to support our veterans that find themselves homeless in the Top End, because we have an obligation to support our veterans. Too many veterans across this country are experiencing homelessness. Combating veteran homelessness is a key priority for the Albanese government. Nearly 6,000 contemporary veterans can experience homelessness in any one year. The Department of Veterans' Affairs has worked with the community housing sector, including through a partnership with the Community Housing Industry Association and ex-service organisations, to develop veteran-specific resources to assist community housing providers in supporting veterans who are experiencing homelessness. These resources also include an industry standard for providing housing services to veterans.

On census night, more than 1,500 Australian veterans were homeless. In addition to those veterans who were homeless on census night, we also know there were many who were experiencing marginal housing, that are at risk of homelessness: those who are couch surfing, staying with family or friends, in temporary accommodation or in a caravan park. Many veterans are at risk of homelessness in these circumstances. So, I say to any veterans who may be listening or watching today that if you find yourself homeless or at risk of homelessness, please contact the Department of Veterans' Affairs, on 1800838372 or Open Arms on 1800011046.

Yesterday I convened the first of a number of consultation sessions that will contribute towards the development of our new Defence and Veteran Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Housing is a fundamental prerequisite in helping veterans who suffer from mental ill health. The risk of suicide in the Australian population is double if someone does not have access to safe and secure housing. So we know that, in trying to tackle the issues that the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide is grappling with, housing is going to be fundamental to that effort.

We also know that one of the issues that many veterans grapple with when they leave service is social connection, which is fundamental to wellbeing. It's very hard to grow social connection if you don't have secure housing in a location where you can grow those networks and build community. So I find it interesting that we have seen members of the opposition meeting with organisations like the RAAF Association in Western Australia that have proposals on the table right now for how they could support our veterans who are experiencing homelessness and would really love to have the opportunity to apply to the government to access the funds that we want to make available through the Housing Australia Future Fund and that senators from the Liberal Party are championing, like Senator Matt O'Sullivan. I'm glad to see him supporting that, but why doesn't he then vote for the legislation to enable the Housing Australia Future Fund? Instead of having silly debates like this one on the topic that has been put forward by the opposition today, they could be actually supporting the legislation that we were trying to get through the Senate and that we've now had to reintroduce into the House.

I've been very pleased to meet with Vasey RSL Care from Victoria with the member for Jagajaga, who brought to my attention the important work they are trying to do in establishing new services to support veterans experiencing homelessness. They also want to be able to come forward and apply for funds from government, but we can't enable that right now, because the Housing Australia Future Fund is being blocked by the coalition and the Greens. We are serious about trying to resolve this homelessness issue that Australia confronts. We're serious about resolving it for all Australians. We are trying to improve this situation for people who are fleeing family and domestic violence, for our remote Aboriginal communities, for our frontline workers and for our veterans.

Housing All Australians' report was handed down in May this year, called Give me shelter: leave no veteran behind. The report says:

Australia is in a housing crisis. We don't have enough social, affordable and public housing for the people who need it most, including our veterans and other key workers. This has long-term implications for Australian society as we know it today.

Doing nothing is just not an option.

Let those words ring throughout the chambers of our parliament. And RSL Australia says, 'The time for action is now.' So many housing services, whether they are veteran-specific or otherwise, who wish to support our veterans, wish to support our broader community and wish to work with government in providing better housing options and opportunities for Australians are being thwarted because of the opposition coming from the coalition and the Greens.

Instead of seeing the opportunity to get on with the job of providing this much-needed funding and support for housing in Australia, we have an opposition that is trying to politicise these issues for its own political purposes, instead of standing with women and children fleeing domestic violence, standing with our First Nations communities, standing with our frontline workers and standing with our veterans. So, in this Homelessness Week, it is time to end homelessness, and it's time for those opposite to get on with supporting the HAFF.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our housing crisis deepens day after day and will continue to do so under this Labor government. In my home state of Queensland the housing crisis is set to worsen to a worrying 20,000-home shortfall by 2027 unless swift and decisive action is taken. Rockhampton's vacancy rate is one of the lowest in Australia, sitting at a tight 0.9 per cent. This has left dozens of locals battling against each other to secure a roof over their head.

At a recent Homeless Connect program held in Rockhampton, over 300 attendees presented for help. The actual number of those sleeping rough is much higher. Over 1,200 locals in the Rockhampton region are registered with the Department of Housing seeking accommodation. Unfortunately, experts in the field of housing believe the figure for those sleeping rough is double this amount. One attendee to the Homelessness Connect day, a young mum sleeping rough in her car with her 20-month-old, eagerly awaits the day she receives a call to say they will have a place to call home after months living in her car. Rental prices throughout Capricornia are on the climb, with the average rental asking price increasing right across Central Queensland. An increase by $53 or 12.6 per cent was seen this quarter compared to this time last year in Rockhampton, with locals in the suburb of West Rockhampton now paying an average of $420 a week. On the Capricorn Coast, renting a house in Taranganba has jumped to an eye-watering $585 per week. In comparison, the cost was $500 last year.

First home buyers are now at the lowest levels. Only 7,646 first home buyers took out a loan in December last year. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported first home buyer loans were at a record five-year low this year. New house starts dropped by 6.6 per cent and new house approvals saw a drop of about 13 per cent compared to this time last year. The last time such loan commitments were this low was in June 2017, where it hit only 7,642 loans. This government is treading water while standing by a housing policy that provides no certainty that their investment of $10 billion will secure returns and no guaranteed revenue stream. The $10 billion borrowed will cost the government approximately $400 million per annum in interest, servicing costs on the debt at the current rate of four per cent. I am a numbers person, and the numbers just do not add up. Had the Housing Australia Future Fund been established last financial year, the Commonwealth would have lost approximately $370 million in addition to around $400 million in interest on what was borrowed. This brings a total combined loss of $740 million, and means not one dollar would have been available for social or affordable housing projects.

After over a year in government, Labor's housing policies are falling to pieces. The minister for housing has walked away from Labor's key election commitment of building 30,000 social and affordable homes over the next five years, and will instead make a minimum of 1,200 dwellings available in each state and territory in the same period. This is significantly less housing in the same period to what was promised. Following the government's failed budget, a brash decision was called to pour $2 billion dollars into the states and territories coffers for social housing. The hurried nature of this announcement means there are no details of which new housing projects will be supported by this funding. Where was the detail of where these houses will be located, when they will be built and who will build them? This $2 billion splash of cash was smoke and mirrors to attempt to distract the Greens from the Housing Australia Future Fund.

In stark contrast, the coalition had a strong record for supporting over 300,000 Australians achieve the great Australian dream by assisting them to get their own home, while more than 21,000 social and affordable homes were built through the establishment of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. The NHFIC unlocked $2.9 billion in low-cost loans to assist community housing providers to support 15,000 social and affordable dwellings. The former coalition government's commitment to Australians in crisis is one of a strong track record, with policies that were proven to lift up those in need.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A little bit of housekeeping for those people listening in: this is what is called a matter of public importance, which occurs after question time. Normally, we sit here for question time and it goes for about an hour, or an hour and a half. After question time some of us duck out to refresh ourselves and get a drink, or something like that. I went out, and when I came back I thought I had walked into a meeting of hypocrites anonymous. I heard those opposite trying to lecture this side about housing. We saw the member for Deakin—I really thought I was in a surreal, bizarro world—trying to lecture us, saying it was a matter of public importance. But they forgot to mention the 10 years of neglect under them.

We all remember that 'I don't hold a hose' prime minister. The member for Deakin misread it. He thought it was 'I don't hold a house,' so he followed suit. I've seen some crazy things in my decade and a half in politics, but I've never seen a minister run from his own portfolio so often and so hard as the member for Deakin did when he was the housing minister. He was the housing minister and he turned housing matters into on-water matters, so he wouldn't talk about it.

Thankfully, the Albanese government, with its long history of cleaning up the mess left by the coalition, is taking immediate action. The member for Deakin did actually mention something that he is doing about housing. He's blocking our Housing Australia Future Fund. Getting into bed with the Greens and One Nation to stop people who are fleeing domestic violence and veterans from looking for housing—that's what the member for Deakin is proud of doing.

What did we do? We have taken immediate action with the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator program, delivering new social rental homes across the country. We increased the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent, and it was not mentioned by any of them. It was the largest increase in 30 years, and it was not mentioned by the member for Deakin. We supported that extra $2 billion in financing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation because we do take it seriously. I've an 18-year-old son and a 14-year-old son. I talk to them about the possibility of them and their friends getting into housing, and unless it's through the bank of mum and dad they almost have no chance. We are failing that generation. That's why we need to do more.

That's why I cannot believe that the Liberal Party and the National Party would get into bed with the Greens on something as crucial as housing—something that puts jobs back into the regions, an area that seems to be forgotten by the Nationals. I remember when the Nationals were represented by farmers and spoke up for the bush. What are they now? Bankers, accountants and economists. They don't have any farmers anymore and they've forgotten about the bush.

Obviously our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which we've reintroduced to the House, is something we care passionately about. All sensible Australians would. Anyone with children would know that we have to give that next generation a chance. We know that growth in our economy is linked to being a growing economy by having people come from overseas. I note they got the old dog trumpet out again. It's not enough to go with the Voice; they've also got the 'foreigners coming over the hill' line. They trotted that out again today in this MPI. We know that Australia grows when we have people come from overseas. So much of our economic growth is linked to that. So we do need to do more, and that's why I thought the sensible people in the coalition would get on board with that.

There is a guy in the electorate next to me who flies down to Canberra to talk about housing and then blocks it when he's in his electorate. He campaigns against housing in his own electorate. But that's coming from the Greens political party. I know we've got the ridiculous Senator Hanson and her party. They're never a party of government; they're a party of objecting to everything. But I thought parties of government like the Liberal Party and the National Party would get on board with pumping some money into housing on this occasion. That's what we need to do. It's not about campaigning on something for clickbait for Facebook or whatever it is. We need to actually help people. I joined the Labor Party to help people.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Housing and the shortage of housing is a matter of public importance, and I'm happy to rise to speak about it today. The cost of houses has doubled in my electorate over the past couple of years, as has rent. As we approach National Homelessness Week, most of us would see that there are more people on the streets and more people living in cars than there were two or three years ago. I note the Social Housing Accelerator Fund of $2 billion that Labor have announced. Whilst well-intended, it doesn't tether any of the states or territories to any outcomes. I think most in this place would be surprised—and I don't care what colour the state government is—

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All red, or mauve.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take the interjection, that it's all red, because over the past three years Queensland have sold hundreds of social and affordable houses. In New South Wales, they've sold $3.5 billion worth over the past decade, which equates to about 4,000 social and affordable homes. Victoria, to their credit, built 74 homes in two years. South Australia has sold 20,000 social and affordable homes over the past 20 years. That's a thousand homes a year. The Western Australian government sold off more than they built, and Tasmania sold off $50 million between 2014 and 2018.

We're asking ourselves why there is a shortage of homes and why there is a 10-year waiting list. If I could ask the Labor government to do anything it would be to tether that money, to have outcomes that the states and territories must follow and, if they don't, cut their funding. We cannot continue to make the same mistake time and time again, where we're pushing money out the door—$5 billion a year to the states and territories plus another $1.5 billion for rental assistance—when the states and territories aren't using the money that we are giving them for the purpose of building homes. It is simply not good enough. I said that I didn't care what colour that government, state or territory was—and I don't. They should be held to account.

Regarding the HAFF, I have to agree that it is a Ponzi scheme. It is $10 billion with the expectation that investment into equities will achieve a profit. There's always a risk. It was forecast that the interest alone in the first year would cost over $300 million. If we're going to make a difference to housing then we need to work together on all levels: local, state and federal.

I'll give two examples in my electorate over the past term. The first one was in Kempsey. The local government worked with me and the state member then, Melinda Pavey, to convert a disused ambulance station into 26 one- and two-bedroom units for people facing domestic and family violence. That is currently being built. It was that collaboration between local, state and federal governments that made that happen. In Bellingen, with the Freemason society, the local government and the state government converted an old aged-care facility into 48 units for women over 55, a group that we know are the most vulnerable to homelessness.

Those small steps, working together, are how we solve housing crisis. But we have to do it together and we have to do it now.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I heard the sincerity in the member for Cowper's voice. He wants to be a part of a better option. I heard his sincerity in caring about housing and caring about his community, who are clearly struggling. The member for Cowper would be so much more credible if he came into this place and actually supported, with his vote, the facilitation and construction of not only more housing each and every year but also a fund that will be there long into the future to construct thousands and thousands of homes.

If you go and speak to any of the community housing organisations that the member for Cowper was referring to, you know that they are pulling their hair out because the model that they have asked for—to give them certainty around long-term investments to get projects started in areas like Macnamara as well as in areas like Cowper—is here before the parliament. Those opposite come into this place and pretend that they have no ability to make change. Well, they do. They can come into this place and vote for a bill that will literally construct thousands of homes right across the country, and they can do it today. Instead, what they're doing is coming in here and complaining about the state of housing across the country, complaining about the fact that we're not building enough homes. Yet they're the ones working with the Greens and Pauline Hanson in order to block the facilitation of a government bill that literally legislates a fund to go each and every year into construction of social homes.

Historically in this country it has been Labor governments who have used the federal government to invest in social housing, and the coalition have used every single opportunity that they have been in government to turn their back on the construction of social housing. In government it has been their ideological bent to prevent the federal government from investing in federal social housing programs. That is to the detriment of our country. Yet we come into this place offering them an opportunity, saying that we are in an unprecedented situation where we need to build more homes, and they turn their back on the Australians who need a home—Australians who are fleeing domestic violence as well as veterans. For goodness sake.

I was in my electorate with an organisation called South Port Community Housing, an organisation that does great work. They're based in South Melbourne, an area where there is a really high percentage of social housing. I am so proud to be the representative of an area like South Melbourne, which does have a very large social and public housing community. They are great people. For many of them, South Melbourne has been their home for a generation; their families have been there. It is really important that they maintain their connection with our local community. South Port Community Housing have a number of places. The particular one I visited is a building that they own, but it is not fit for purpose. It needs an upgrade; it needs to be redeveloped. The Housing Australia Future Fund is exactly the mechanism that South Port Housing need in order to get their finances right to turn this into a major new social housing hub in my electorate. It is in an amazing location, right next to public transport, right next to infrastructure, right in the heart of Melbourne—exactly where housing and social housing should be, integrated with our local community.

Yet the people opposite come in here and complain that we're not doing enough. It's ridiculous. You can't come in here and not vote for the construction of social housing and then complain that the government's not doing enough. Why don't they turn around and actually do something constructive, instead of making it a political issue at each and every opportunity? It's exactly the same as what they're doing in energy. They come in here and complain about the cost of energy facing the people we represent, and then they go and literally vote for higher energy prices. It's absurd. They come in here and complain about the cost of living, yet each and every time we try to make industrial relations changes or try to lift the wages of hardworking Australians they oppose it. Instead of just looking for the baseline political issue, those opposite could come into this place and actually vote for the construction of housing. They could vote for lower energy bills. They could vote for an increase in the wages of hardworking people.

Then of course there's the Greens, who are calling for the federal government to legislate on rent caps. Well, even if we did, it wouldn't have an effect. We don't have the constitutional power to do so. What we do have the constitutional power to do is invest in the construction of social housing homes. That's what we can do. That's the power that we do have. And the Greens are choosing to deny the construction of social housing homes because they want us to do something that we don't have the power to do. Instead of these political games by this merry gang of coalition over there, why don't we come in here and actually make the change that the Australian people deserve and the Australian people are asking us to make?

Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the usually delightful member for Macnamara has just demonstrated, this is a government that likes to talk a lot about all the help it's providing to Australians, but when push comes to shove they haven't got much to show when it comes to addressing Australia's housing crisis. In Flinders we have hundreds if not thousands of people who live rough along our foreshore. In 2021 the Salvation Army's Social Justice Stocktake suggested that some 2,600 people are homeless.

I meet pretty regularly now with those who provide emergency accommodation for the homeless in my electorate. I single out for commendation and gratitude two of the most extraordinary and tireless community leaders, Ben Smith of the Mornington Community Support Centre and Jeremy Maxwell of the Southern Peninsula Community Support and Information Centre, who, together with their teams, do the most amazing job looking after those in need and especially those sleeping rough in our foreshore precincts. They tell me that the peninsula is now the sixth-largest rough sleeping area in the state of Victoria. Emergency, public and low-cost housing is desperately needed in my electorate, now more than ever. Funding for emergency relief is also needed more than ever, yet this Labor government has reduced funding to CISVic, resulting in a 20 per cent cut in funding to these two services while they face a 50 per cent increase in demand for help.

The peninsula is also in desperate need of affordable worker accommodation. My shire recently told me that the median rent for a home on the peninsula surpassed the median rent for Greater Melbourne last year. For those who work in our hospitals, schools, the local TAFE, aged care, restaurants and hotels, affordable accommodation is almost impossible to find. During the break in sittings, I convened an aged-care and retirement-living roundtable, and the representatives of The Bays in Mornington, Western Port Bay Care Community and Village Glen told me that roughly a third of their workforce now come from beyond our LGA boundaries. At the same time, we have many dependent on benefits. More than 22,000 of my constituents are pensioners. Some are being forced from their low-rent homes because the landlord has to find extra cash to pay the mortgage, the land tax and surging rates. Over the weekend, the evening news reported that around 30 per cent of properties up for auction that weekend in Victoria were investor owned.

Why would investors providing much-needed rental stock be selling out? I can tell you why. It's nine to 10 per cent interest rates. Investor interest only rates today are at 9.39 per cent with CommBank and 9.32 per cent with the NAB. This is smashing landlords and renters alike and has caused immense financial pain on the peninsula. Back in 2016, it cost $330 a week to rent an entry-level house, and the median house price on the peninsula was $380 a week. In the 12 months to December 2022, an entry-level house cost $480 to rent, and the median house rental was $575 a week. Those who have already got into the market to own their own homes are also doing it tough. A third of the dwellings in my electorate are mortgaged. At the last census, 15 per cent of them were already spending more than 30 per cent of their income on their interest repayments. But today the average Australian family mortgage is $750,000. It's now costing them about $1,800 or $1,900 more each month. That's roughly $22,000 extra a year after tax. That's the price of a new Hyundai Venue or Toyota Yaris. They've got to come up with the money for a new car just in interest repayments every year.

Why is this happening? It's happening because Labor can't tame inflation and doesn't have a plan to address it, leaving all the heavy lifting to the RBA. We still have one of the highest core inflation rates amongst advanced economies—higher than France, Germany, Italy, the USA, Japan and Canada. Our economic growth is half the OECD average. We have seen a record collapse in labour productivity, flatlining GDP per capita, the highest collapse in real wages on record and, to top it off, $185 in new spending to keep stoking the inflation fire. What is the result of this mismanagement of the Australian economy? A further degradation in confidence and investment, further constraining the supply in housing.

Building approvals have halved in Mornington, from over 260 in the 2016-17 year to 130 last year. Building approvals are down by a third in Rosebud, Capel Sound and McCrae. In Somerville, one of the fastest growing areas in my electorate, building approvals are down by 40 per cent. Labor has concocted the most bizarre plan to address the housing crisis: a giant Ponzi scheme to create new homes on the never-never. It's so bad that even the Greens hate it, and they're hardly fine friends of good policy. This government is reintroducing its failed housing bill, which would have it borrow $10 billion on the nation's credit card to put in a fund with no certain return, no guaranteed revenue, no brick laid and no door hung.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are a lot of people around the country right now with football fever. The Matildas have captured the imagination of the nation, and we are right behind them in their quest for glory at the FIFA Women's World Cup. It is brilliant, it is exciting, and I am loving the passion and enthusiasm for women's sport. Yet here we have the coalition with two right feet and kicking their own goal. This MPI from the member for Deakin is the football equivalent of forgetting which way you're going on the field, tearing the wrong way down the wing, sending a sweet cross into the box and slotting a divine header right past your own keeper. If it weren't such a serious national issue, it might actually be funny.

Housing is a very important issue in Hasluck, and my electorate in Western Australia has 53 per cent of householders paying a mortgage and a further 18 per cent renting. In some parts of the electorate, the percentage is much higher. The suburbs of Brabham and Henley Brook are Perth's most mortgaged suburbs, with over 73 per cent of residents paying off their homes. Hasluck changed hands at the election last year, and one of the reasons that Hasluck changed hands was housing. Mortgage and rental stress are real. Social and affordable housing is a real issue. People are concerned to see that everyone has a roof over their head. When voters went to the polls in Hasluck on 21 May last year, they went to the polls knowing that the Albanese government would be making serious investments in housing. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a significant part of that package of housing affordability measures.

This morning, Senator David Pocock hosted a briefing by Everybody's Home. Everybody's Home is backed by organisations across a wide range of housing support interests. They presented their report Brutal reality: the human cost of Australia's housing crisis. The report is essential reading, and members here who read that report and understand the stress that people are under must surely vote for any and every measure the Minister for Housing brings before this parliament. Senator Pocock is on the record as saying that he wants more, but he's also smart enough to know that the bill is a great start. He's backing the Housing Australia Future Fund. Likewise, the Jacqui Lambie Network is supporting passage of the bill, and I commend Senators Lambie and Tyrrell for their support. There's a housing crisis, and those senators are doing the right thing.

The last time the bill came before the parliament, we had the Greens and the coalition in bed with each other on this bill—tossing and turning I bet. It's got to be an uncomfortable relationship. I wonder what they think when they roll over during the night and their eyes lock. What do their constituents think?

We heard earlier from the member for Capricornia. She spoke of 1,200 residents attending a town hall in Rockhampton, talking about housing affordability. Double that number, she reports, are potentially sleeping rough. There are rent increases of 12.6 per cent. The average rent is $585 per week. Clearly, she is not talking to those deeply concerned and stressed individuals, so I will. To those residents of Rockhampton, know this: the Albanese Labor government is delivering immediate action through the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator, which will deliver new social rental homes across the country, in partnership with the states and territories, including in your town.

We're working with the states and territories. We're working to create action for renters by expanding opportunities for home ownership and bolstering frontline homelessness services. For those experiencing that 12.6 per cent increase in your rent: if you are eligible, you'll be a beneficiary of the increase in the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent. This was the largest increase in more than 30 years. We are hearing you, we are responding and we are acting, but we can do more. We can do more with the Housing Australia Future Fund. This is a $10 billion commitment. But we need you to get onto your phone and contact your local members, like the member for Capricornia, and ask her to support this bill.

The Greens have to stop pretending that they have a mandate and pass the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill. The Liberals and the Nationals, who have opposed this legislation, have to come forward, listen to what you're telling them and pass this bill because every housing body in this— (Time expired)

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

I don't doubt for a second the intentions of Labor in addressing housing. There's not a single person I've spoken to under the age of 35 who doesn't raise this as an issue. It wasn't that long ago—there are several members of the Economics Committee here—that we heard from the heads of the banks that the most vulnerable people in this current economic environment are 25- to 29-year-olds. Their disposable income is absolutely gone on rent, their ability to save is almost zero, and the banks don't want to know them. Their opportunity to get onto the housing ladder is disappearing fast. We saw a report recently saying that if you're not on the property ladder by the age of 34, you're unlikely to get onto it after that age. So we've got a whole generation stuck at the moment. Addressing how they get into housing is a huge issue.

When you jump on social media you see this great promise from the Greens about rent caps and how they're going to solve everything. They don't say how. We can dismiss it. We can laugh at it. It's not a credible solution. The member for Macnamara asked us to come here and work and provide credible evidence that we're willing to talk about this. I'm going to try and do that because I think it's important that we do hold the government to account.

I want to talk about the Housing Australia Future Fund and be really clear: when we're addressing this, when we're criticising this, it's worth interrogating what that fund actually is. This is $10 billion that is borrowed, and there's a cost to that borrowing. It's then invested, and the difference between the returns on the investment and the costs will go into housing; it's not $10 billion. Last year we would have a been behind by $300 million in repayments before we got to the point of trying to get a return. This is not a strong, credible economic position to be starting from. I know the Treasurer has been at pains to try to establish the economic credibility for his new government, but that is exactly what this fund is. It is not a credible fund.

Let's go further into some details—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

I do like interjections. That's what fills me up with a bit of joy at the end of a long MPI. We have a commitment from the government of $500 million a year to build 6,000 houses. Forgive me, but the engineer in me does love to hear these sorts of numbers every now and then. The member for Deakin was right; that's about $83,000 a home. Let's get a view as to what the great Australian dream looks like under this housing fund, at $83,000 a home. At $4,000 a square metre, which is the going rate at the moment, that's a house four by five metres wide—just a little bit bigger than a single bay shed. That is the great Australian dream being pushed forward by this Labor government under this commitment. It is laughable. It is laughable and not defensible. It has no economic credibility whatsoever.

That is what you are selling to the Greens and to the people they're talking to—and you wonder why the Greens aren't with you on this one! Not even the Greens want to live in these tiny homes. Not even the Greens support this. What you have put on the table does not work—neither the mechanism nor the outcomes. They are laughable. That is why Australia is turning its back on this. That is why the Libs and the Nats are standing together. Under any scrutiny whatsoever, this falls apart like wet cake on a turntable. There is nothing to it that holds up.

We've heard it described over and again as a Ponzi scheme, and the criticism sticks. This does not work. The idea that you're going to borrow money and that the great economic brains trust that we see before us is going to work out how to invest that money and get a greater return than what it's paying is laughable. If someone emailed that to you like a Nigerian prince saying, 'I've got a great way to invest,' you would delete it and hopefully report it. That's the level of scam this is. This is not a credible solution, and it deserves scrutiny.

You opposite have all been arguing for it without thinking it through and without acknowledging that those are exactly the details you're putting in place. At best, if you are able to confirm $500 million a year, what you're providing for Australians is 30,000 homes that are four metres by five metres wide. What a fantastic solution you're putting on the table for those 25- to 29-year-olds. No wonder they are turning to the Greens! At least their idea is fanciful; yours is without any economic credibility. It deserves to be rejected outright, and I will continue to do so with every breath I have in this House, because that's our job—to hold you to account.

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

Housing shouldn't be about politics; it's about people—people who need a roof over their heads, people who need the comfort of shelter and all that it can provide. Centacare Evolve is a housing provider in Tasmania. They have a campaign for Homelessness Week, with artist David Adams, called Portraits of Centacare Evolve Housing, of tenants, that's Homes for All. It articulates some of the real stories of real people. Di says, 'Having a home means everything to me. I feel safe, cherished and so very grateful. I'm almost 80 years old and I feel 25. A home has done that for me.' Brian says, 'A home means a lot to me. I love the peace and quiet and a place to call my own.' I encourage all members to get onto the Centacare Evolve Facebook page and have a look at this wonderful campaign.

What the government has been doing already is a $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator. We have Commonwealth rent assistance going up by 15 per cent—a record in 30 years. We have another $2 billion in financing through the National Housing Finance and Investments Corporation. We have new incentives with build to rent. We're expanding eligibility for the Home Guarantee Scheme. We have a $67.5 million boost to homelessness funding. We have $1.7 billion going to a national housing and homelessness agreement with the states. We have a $10 billion fund before the parliament, right now, that will no doubt go through this chamber with the support of this side and most of the crossbench—clearly, perhaps, at this stage, not the Greens and certainly not the opposition—which will then go to the Senate. It will be up to the senators to decide whether they pass this Housing Australia Future Fund.

This is a Housing Australia Future Fund that has been called for by just about every single housing and homelessness agency in the country—National Shelter, Mission Australia, Homelessness Australia, Community Housing Industry Association, Everybody's Home. We even have the Liberal housing minister in Tasmania calling for the passage of this legislation. We had the Liberal member for Bass, Ms Bridget Archer, calling for the passage of this legislation, because she understands, in her electorate up there in Launceston, in northern Tasmania, how dire and diabolical the situation for homelessness is in northern Tasmania. So we are doing a lot. We are being stymied by the Greens and the coalition. We can't expect much from those opposite, but the Greens we expect more from. We expect them to get behind people who need a roof over their head.

The housing spokesperson for the Greens has belled the cat with his article in that magazine, where he has said, in writing, that he regards the Greens' opposition to the HAFF as a great doorknocking campaign opportunity to mobilise their base. It's not about the people who need a roof over their head; it's about the Greens increasing their vote in the inner cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It's a disgraceful proposition. They are holding vulnerable people—women and children escaping domestic violence, veterans, people who need a roof over their head—hostage to this letterboxing campaign by the Greens. I urge them to get behind this legislation when it goes before the Senate. And we have the housing shadow minister—who was a hopeless housing minister. He never met with homelessness groups when he was minister. He was a housing and homelessness minister who refused to meet with the homeless. He said that the homelessness situation wasn't his job, that it was up to the states. That's a position we reject.

We are in Homelessness Week right now. We have 122,500 Australians tonight who won't have somewhere to sleep other than maybe couch surfing with a mate, sleeping in a car or sleeping under a bridge somewhere. It's not good enough and we are desperate to attend to this. We have plans before the parliament. We know the shadow minister's not interested. We are. We have Tasmanian figures. We have 4½ thousand people on our housing waiting list, which we want to bring down. Six thousand homes will be built in Tasmania over the next five years, if the HAFF goes ahead, and 30,000 homes across the country over the next five years. It will be a perpetual fund that will build homes, each and every year, into perpetuity.

What this MPI is really all about is a dog whistle to mortgage holders. What we know is that interest rates and inflation started going up under those opposite, and they refused to do anything about it in their last budget. They had the chance to bring down the pressure on inflation and interest rates. They didn't do it. Only this government is posting budget surpluses and can provide the careful economic management that's needed to increase supply in this country.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion is now concluded.