Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor government knows that Australians are having a tough time finding housing to buy and rent, and it's getting on with the job of building homes for Australia. The new financial year marks the next phase of our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan. This is huge. Homes for Australia will build more homes more quickly in more parts of the country, fulfilling an ambitious goal of building 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade. Whilst the Liberals and the Greens team up to block more housing, the Labor government is trying to boost supply.

In Dunkley, 59.5 per cent of household families are low-income families. Each week, I hear from my constituents that this is a big issue. As a new MP, there are people you meet that you remember and cannot forget. Tony from Frankston spoke to me about the reality. He and his wife are both working. They are renting in the local area, having moved from Mornington Peninsula due to rental increases. He mentioned that, despite both he and his wife working, he is likely to have to move, again, out of the area in the next 12 months. He is nervous about homelessness due to the increasing cost of rent and the lack of housing supply. I am also aware of locals forsaking food and selling household items because there are not enough funds to afford the rent.

There are a number of incentives that the states and territories are undertaking to support the reforms to boost supply of housing. The government has committed $3 billion under the New Homes Bonus for states and territories to help meet this target. There are so many other important housing reforms on the go, such as the new $9.3 billion five-year National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness to combat homelessness, provide crisis support, and build and prepare social housing. This new agreement includes a doubling of Commonwealth funding for homelessness, to be matched by states and territories.

Money from the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund will start to spend. In its first five years, the fund will support 30,000 social and affordable rental homes. The $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator will be used to deliver 4,000 new social homes across Australia, and $5.5 billion is being invested in the Help to Buy scheme to help more Australians buy new homes. The Help to Buy scheme will support 40,000 Australian households to purchase a new or existing home with an equity contribution from the government. Then there is $2.7 billion to increase Commonwealth rent assistance. To support this, we're putting in $90.6 million to boost the number of construction workers, including 20,000 new fee-free TAFE places, and we're supporting apprentices through a $5,000 apprenticeship allowance so that they can complete their apprenticeship. We are also supporting employers of apprentices, with a $5,000 incentive.

To work to address housing supply, this government has invested significant funding in the construction of new homes. The policies and funding are focused on increasing supply. The package is ensuring more Australians have a roof over their head and aren't sleeping rough, particularly women impacted by domestic and family violence, and young people. More Australians will have access to affordable housing. These initiatives by the Labor government are the most significant investment in housing. This package of $32 billion is more than the opposition delivered in nearly nine years of government. It is a substantial and outstanding investment in housing which is much needed in this country.