Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak on this private members' motion tonight about the Home Guarantee Scheme. I want to say that the Albanese government understands safe and affordable housing is central to the security and dignity of all Australians. I think everyone here in this place would agree with that.

As we approach 25 past seven or thereabouts, I know that many of us have been here since seven o'clock this morning so we're just about to clock over our 12.5 hours. Many Australians work 12-hour shifts, and I know that there's no pleasure like that of being able to go home, kick off your shoes, have a hot shower and a cup of tea, and be in your own home. Whether you're renting or paying off a mortgage, there's nothing like it. But in my electorate, I have approximately 600 people currently who have been declared homeless. Those are the official statistics, but we know that there are a lot more. I just want to start by saying that in 2024 I get so distressed at the thought of Australians not having a place to call their own—not having a safe place to lay down their heads, particularly children.

I have women and children who have been given tents by some of our services—legitimately given tents to provide shelter. I have women and children who are seeking refuge in their cars, and it's just not good enough. Then we have a whole raft of people who are desperate to find rental accommodation, or to afford a home of their own. That's why I think it's so important that, as a government, we have put in place the Home Guarantee Scheme. It's why we want to take action by putting in place short-, medium- and long-term plans to tackle the challenges left behind after a decade of little action by the Liberal-National government. I can't help but think of some of the schemes that the previous government put in place. There was talk about renovating bathrooms and providing thousands upon thousands of dollars for renovations and things. That's not what people who don't have homes need; they need a home to start with.

That's why this government has committed over $25 billion in new housing investments over the next decade. That includes the single-biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade, with the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund now established. This is such an important piece of legislation. It's going to help deliver the government's commitment of 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the fund's first five years, with applications now open. We're working with the states and territories to help them meet their new targets as well, and we want to build upon the Housing Accord, which includes federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes, to be matched by the states and territories.

That's the point of this. We know we can't do this alone. As the federal government, it's something that we must work on with the states and territories, and local government as well, because we also need land to be released for appropriate housing development. We need more infill in areas where people have got big blocks, and we know we can build more homes. We know that we've got a lot of Australians who are currently rattling around on their own in big three- and four-bedroom homes. We need to come up with some new and novel ways of solving this. I remember in years gone past people used to take in boarders. It was quite a regular thing to do. I'm not sure that that is the solution, but we need to be thinking more creatively about how we house Australians.

That's why this Home Guarantee Scheme is really good and novel, because it's going to help people—particularly people in the regions who are younger—who want to buy their first home. With the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, we have helped over 2,047 people already in the Hunter region, excluding Newcastle. Newcastle and Lake Macquarie have had another 2,000 people assisted. Programs like this are absolutely essential. Australians must have a home to call their own, whether they're renting or buying, and this government is hell-bent on helping deliver that. (Time expired)

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

I've been in Adelaide—you were with me, Deputy Speaker Sharkie— when one of those services handed out a tent and some food to a family because they had completely run out of accommodation. This was three years ago now, when we didn't have the crisis we have today. What I'm hearing is that the Home Guarantee Scheme is another scheme from a federal government, when we should be, in my view, getting the money out to the state governments and telling them to get on with the job. They're the ones that are on the ground. The federal government is too far away from the action to be able to do this.

What's happening in my state of Victoria is that one in five of the properties on the market are being sold by landlords because they're sick of the land tax and all the other taxes that they are encumbered with, to the point where they say: 'What's the use of having a rental? This used to be a good investment.' Forty-six per cent of the income of the state government of Victoria comes from property taxes, which the federal government have no control over whatsoever. They have no control over land development. They have no control over land release. They have no control over the opportunities that are there.

Yes, if there is federal land that can be sold off for housing, sell it off, move it. If it's in the right place at the right time, please do that. But, for heaven's sake, all of these plans that I've seen over my 25 years of service in the parliament have all been 'a new plan', 'a new plan', 'a new plan'. Whether it's a revamped plan or a new plan I don't know, because the government don't tell us. They say, 'We've got a new plan.' Whose money are they using? Is it the money that was set aside in this budget, the last budget, the previous budget or the budget before that? I don't know, but it probably goes like this. A public servant walks in and says, 'We need a new name for the same plan'—the same plan that hasn't worked for a long time—'and this will take five years to implement.' You heard the member for Paterson when she said that, faced with this situation, they have a new plan. I think the public servant would have walked in and said, 'Minister, we need a new name for the old plan'—the same plan there was under the Liberals. Do you think that the Liberals, the Nationals and the Independents in this House were not dedicated to doing the best thing with regard to housing on behalf of their constituents? No. Every one of them wanted to do the best thing.

The largest cohort of people becoming homeless are women over 50—in a country like Australia! And it's everywhere. It's in our regions and it's in our cities. Women over 50 are either couch surfing, sleeping in cars or going to agencies for help for overnight accommodation. Housing is a really important issue for people in Australia. In a rich country such as ours, we should be getting the stock out there. We might have to make some innovative and different programs, like dongas on blocks in a row, but just put people in decent housing.

As the member for Paterson said, it's great to come home. I've never suffered homelessness, ever, and my children have never gone without a feed. I can't imagine what it would be like to be in the position that so many Australians are today.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 31