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:

This Government's failure to deliver the new housing that Australia needs.

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

What an utter embarrassment we are seeing from this government in housing. We've just had the housing minister up talking about the terrible 10 years of the coalition. Yet in those 10 years we built more homes, we had more first home buyers, we had lower rents and we had a migration program that was in touch with the number of houses that were being built. So if the answer is this housing minister, who is not going to come within cooee of their so-called 1.2 million homes promise—Australians don't want that. They are still keeping up this charade, this mistruth, that they are going to get anywhere near 1.2 million homes.

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does anyone believe that, though?

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

No-one really believes it, I must say, to take that interjection. The fact that the government is keeping up the charade is quite outrageous. We have the following quotes in relation to their so-called 1.2 million homes promise that even today they continue to perpetuate. The Master Builders Association's chief economist, Shane Garrett, has said, 'If building continues at the current pace of this government, we'll be in for less than 800,000 new homes.' The Business Council of Australia are a little more generous. They think they're only going to miss it by 300,000, so just a bit closer. The UDIA in New South Wales think they're running about 350,000 homes short. The Property Council of Australia have said, 'Just a few months into the national target window of 1.2 million homes by 2029, we know we will fall short by a third.' Again, just another 400,000 homes short.

The government should not perpetuate this mistruth in this House again. One-point-two million homes will not happen. They will be lucky to reach 800,000 homes. And let's compare their 800,000 homes to those terrible 10 years of the coalition government, where we built nearly 1.1 million homes. Those terrible years! Those terrible years of the coalition where we built more homes than this government will ever hope to achieve.

What else have we heard from this government? We hear about their $32 billion housing pipeline and programs. We're about 2½ years into this government. You can't say it's a brand new government. They're on to their second housing minister—a minister who was shunted out of another portfolio because of her failures. So 2½ years in and a so-called $32 billion housing program, how many homes do you think $32 billion should have delivered for the Australian people? If it's true, if you take them at face value, and that $32 billion has been invested into housing, and we'll take the minister at face value, then $32 billion should get you a few homes. Well 2½ years into this government we have zero homes.

Opposition members: Zero?

Zero! Zero homes delivered under a program outlined by this government. You might wonder why that's the case.

An opposition member interjecting—

Yes, we saw the skills minister had two people who had completed a course. We also heard the minister in question time. It's quite fortuitous that the housing minister had the last question because the minister was talking about skills training, and the other great thing this minister is known for is her distinguished time in the home affairs portfolio.

While we hear about more than a million migrants to this country in two years when we're not building enough homes for the existing Australians who are here, let alone a million new Australians, we also see the fingerprints of the now housing minister on the home affairs portfolio because we hear about the need for more trades to build homes. You would think that the migration program would be directed at the sorts of people who we need to build homes, like bricklayers. Let's use bricklayers as an example. This financial year we've had nine bricklayers brought in. Nine bricklayers! But to everyone who is watching this wondering how they're going to get their home built, I can assure you in the same period of time they brought in 25 fitness instructors. We have a shortage of fitness instructors now. We all need to get a bit fitter, and I will attest to that. However, this idea that we have a shortage of fitness instructors but don't worry about the bricklayers tells you everything you need to know about this government. That's why we're going to deliver fewer homes this year than we have for many years.

The latest round had approvals at 158,000. To put it into some context, the government's targets are saying that they will meet 240,000. They are already 80,000 short in the first year alone. We've seen not a single home built under their so-called $32 billion program. And guess what is the only policy this housing minister can proudly talk about? The only policy this housing minister can proudly talk about is the coalition's home guarantee scheme that's now supporting one-in-three first home buyers—a scheme that the government called socialism when we first announced it and that I delivered as housing minister. That scheme is helping one in three first home buyers buy a home with a five per cent deposit. We know the deposit hurdle for young Australians is so difficult at the moment.

That's why it's also perplexing that the government opposes the ability of Australians to get a portion of their superannuation to help them get a deposit together to buy a home. The big mistruth from this government is their claim that there is a choice between superannuation and owning a home. Under our policy, you get to use your superannuation when you need it for that deposit to buy a home and then you are required to recontribute it after you have sold that home down the track. So guess what? You enter retirement with retirement savings and owning your own home. We know if you enter retirement without owning your own home, your outcomes on every single form of financial and social measurement are worse. We know why they opposed that. It's because the rivers of gold from the union super funds and the CFMEU are continuing. They don't want that money leaving the system because apparently they know how to control your money better.

To go through the greatest hits of the housing minister, in an earlier question we asked the housing minister about the impact of the CFMEU, who are big donors to the Labor Party and presumably big donors to all of their campaigns over there. Why are they supporting the CFMEU, who increased the cost of homes by 30 per cent? For young Australians who are trying to get that deposit together, the contract price is 30 per cent more because of the rorts, rackets, rip-offs and mafia tactics of the CFMEU on our building sites. The housing minister said, 'There are some economists who don't believe that the CFMEU puts up prices in the construction industry.' So we invited the housing minister to provide an example. Who is this mythical economist? Name them. Provide their name. We are yet to hear a response from the housing minister. The housing minister has very studiously avoided answering that question. Well, I hope in this MPI the housing minister can finally demystify for us on this side of the House who this mythical economist or economists are who say that the CFMEU has not driven up costs in the construction and residential building industry in this country.

The truth is that the Labor Party have a vision for corporate ownership in this country. They want Blackstone, Vanguard and any other foreign corporate fund that is willing to invest here to put their money into Australia and have corporate landlords owning tens of thousands of homes. Meanwhile, if the housing minister had her way, we would abolish negative gearing and double capital gains tax. But they would only do that for Australian mum-and-dad investors, not foreign corporates. For foreign corporates they want to reduce their tax rates. They want them to have the most competitive tax rate possible, while for mum-and-dad investors, who provide the housing and rental stock for the third of people who rent in this country, they want to drive them out of the market and replace them with large corporate fund holders, presumably people who, just like the CFMEU, will become really trusty friends and trusty donors in future elections. We know that's what is driving policy at the moment. This government on every measure has failed Australians on housing and it should be ashamed. (Time expired)

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a real pleasure to be able to make a contribution to a debate as important as this, because housing is an issue which is affecting the lives of millions of people around our country. What I wish and what I think most Australians wish is that we could come into the chamber from different sides of politics as colleagues and respect each other and have a real debate about the issues here. What I find so regrettable about the issues that the member for Deakin engages with is the sense of nastiness and personalness about every possible policy area he debates. I am not going to fire back at that because I don't want to get down in the gutter because that kind of politics is not taking us anywhere. It is not taking us anywhere on housing. It is not taking us anywhere on the cost of living. Attacking each other personally is not taking the country forward, and so I am not going to engage in it. I'm actually going to take the chance to do something quite radical and talk about housing policy, a very important issue that affects my constituents and the constituents of all of us here in this chamber. If we play politics as usual, where we just beat each other up and try to tear each other's ideas down, we're not going to make a difference to the lives of the people who elected us to this parliament, and I'm just not willing to engage in that.

Let me talk to you a little bit about the things that our government is doing. I spoke in question time about the very regrettable fact that we arrived in office to find the cupboard bare on housing policy. That is just a fact. I also spoke to the parliament about the fact that, in the decade before we came to office, for most of that decade there was no Commonwealth housing minister. I'm not making it up. The Commonwealth made a deliberate decision to withdraw itself from this area that is so important to the lives of our constituents. That is why, when we arrived in office, we didn't have a set of policy solutions ready to go that would help us make a difference to this problem. So what have we done? We've rolled up our sleeves, like you would expect a big-thinking Labor government to do, and we set out to make a difference to this. That's where our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan is taking us.

This is important to us for many different reasons. It's important to us because we speak to people in our electorates who are profoundly affected by this problem. We talk to young people who describe the sense of despair in the pit of their stomach when they get yet another rejection for a rental application. It might be their 10th or 11th. They are living a life where a lot of young people around this country don't know when they will have secure, affordable housing over their heads. That does not reflect well on the work that's been done in this parliament. We talk to people who have got kids who are having to move their children from one school to another because they're being moved on from a rental property. Families like this, middle-income families with children, a generation ago in our country in all likelihood would have had the opportunity to buy their own home. Today, they are being denied that opportunity, and this is affecting their lives in very profound ways.

I'm very lucky to be a homeowner. I've got three kids. I never want to face a situation where I can't say to my kids, 'We're going to get to stay in this house, and you're not going to have to move schools and find a new GP,' and all of the other things that come with that sense of uncertainty of having to shift location, but a lot of people around our country are facing that, and that's why this is so much core business for us.

The $32 billion Homes for Australia package is about building more homes. We're trying to build 1.2 million homes, working with the states, and I want to say a little bit about this target. The shadow minister who spoke earlier derided this target, and he talked about quotes from the Property Council and the BCA and the Master Builders Association. What he neglected to say is that these three groups—who, let's be frank, are not always great friends of the Labor Party—are fiercely in favour of the target. What they are saying to this parliament is that nothing is going to be achieved if we don't aspire to achieve something. And yet what we hear from those opposite is that not only will they walk back the Commonwealth from housing just like they did when they were last in government, but they have said they're not going to have a housing target at all. What they're saying is, 'Lower the ambition, lower the strive, lower the drive, and let's see where we get to.' No. The Master Builders Association and the Property Council and the BCA are all saying that the 1.2 million homes is an important and big thing for us to do because it is galvanising action from the states and the Commonwealth to try to help us build more homes. It is bold and ambitious, because boldness and ambition are exactly what we need if we want to make a difference to this problem for the lives of our constituents.

How are we getting there? We're working with the states and territories to do the gritty work of unlocking land, improving zoning and building the infrastructure we need to support more homes. We are training more tradies, something we now find the opposition is stridently opposed to for reasons that I cannot possibly imagine. Of course, we are building more social and affordable housing through the Housing Australia Future Fund. This is a $10 billion investment in social and affordable housing. We announced the first round of HAFF funding, 13,700 social and affordable homes. That will be more social and affordable homes than the coalition built in their entire almost decade in office. That's what aspiration and boldness and ambition get you—it gets you results.

We're also looking after renters, because we absolutely recognise that building more homes takes time, and our constituents can't wait for too long before getting that assistance. We are using that national cabinet process to make sure that we work with the states to improve renters' rights. We are helping renters pay the rent. We have delivered the biggest increase to Commonwealth rent assistance in more than 30 years and we are providing more Australians with assistance to own their own homes through an expanded Home Guarantee Scheme.

Speaker, I want to speak to you about some of the facts because we heard—frankly—blatant lies be told by the shadow minister when he raised some matters before. I talked about $32 billion for our ambitious housing agenda; those opposite have said they will cut $19 billion of that spending. I mean, what sort of person would cut housing funding in the middle of an acute housing crisis? We have helped 128,000 individuals with lower mortgage deposits. In our 2½ years in office, that is twice as many people as were assisted than in the decade the coalition were in office. We have invested in 55,000 social and affordable homes—again, more than the entirety of the coalition government combined. We have helped 35,000 tradies with fee-free TAFE; they have called fee-free TAFE 'wasteful spending'. We have granted more than 10,000 visas to construction workers, more than any other year those opposite were in office. We are trying to legislate to build 100,000 rental homes through a build-to-rent scheme and helped 40,000 Australians get into home ownership. The barrier to those things happening is those opposite, who stand in the path of almost everything our government tries to do about housing. We have helped more than a million households, who have received 45 per cent more Commonwealth rent assistance because of the work of our government; they never increased Commonwealth rent assistance above CPI not one year that they were in office. We have a housing minister—what a revelation; for most of the time they were in office, they didn't have one. We have convened nine ministerial councils with state and territory housing ministers; they didn't meet with state housing ministers in the last five years they were in office. Can you believe that? When the states control so much about this problem, they could not even be bothered organising a meeting so they could sit down and talk about it. Alan Kohler has said that Labor's Housing Australia Future Fund is 'one of the best policies he has ever seen'. Saul Eslake says the coalition's super for housing policy would be 'one of the worst policy decisions of the 21st century'—wow!

Labor is taking a very different approach for this issue. We recognise this issue is absolutely critical to the lives of our constituents. In the time we have been in office, we have pushed through a lot of really important things on housing. We have pushed through a lot of really important things on the cost of living. But as we come into the election straight, I really want Australians to see that they have a really clear choice between two approaches. We have a party that sits opposite me that has opposed virtually everything that we have tried to do to relieve pressure on Australians. Almost all the time, we have been able to battle through and deliver that support to the people we were elected to represent against their opposition, and the same goes for housing. I want Australians to understand what is at risk here. We have a reckless, aggressive opposition that knows one word—no—that says no to everything that matters to our constituents and certainly no to everything that matters on housing. These things that we have built up as a government, these big bold ideas about how we're going to help Australians with what is, for many people, the most important problem in their lives, will go away if you elect Peter Dutton as your prime minister.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the government's failure to deliver the new housing that Australia needs. I think it's unfortunate now that the Minister for Housing is leaving the chamber and will not be around to hear what we have to say about her failed housing policy. What we have heard from the minister are the same things we have heard for 2½ years from the former minister for housing: 1.2 million new homes over five years, $10 billion invested in housing. They said, 'We have a bold and ambitious housing agenda. We have a bold and ambitious plan on housing.' Well, I would say that, rather than being called the 'Minister for Housing', perhaps the minister should be called the 'minister for housing announcements but the minister that cannot deliver housing'. The latest Bureau of Statistics numbers show that building activity has confirmed there is no end in sight to Labor's housing crisis. They know it on that side. They are saying the same things in those electorates. They are saying the same things in Eden-Monaro that they are saying and Hughes: this government has failed on housing, whether it is mortgages or whether it is rent—

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You did nothing, though, for nine years. You did nothing on housing, which is why there's a crisis.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really glad to be getting these interjections from the member for Eden-Monaro, because I bet that down there in Eden-Monaro they are worried, and they know you have not delivered. Your government has not delivered. What the Minister for Housing failed—

Honourable members interjecting—

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

There have been a number of interjections, and I don't want to hear them anymore.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's promise is, 'We're going to build 1.2 million homes over five years.' I ask this: who is going to build those homes? Trade apprenticeship numbers have declined over the past 2½ years. They've declined at alarming rates. I think it's important that the Minister for Housing understands that it is tradespeople that build homes. It is electricians. It's builders. It's plumbers. It's roofers. It's tilers. What is this government doing for those apprenticeships? We've heard of the 100,000 fee-free TAFE positions from the minister today that are apparently going to the construction industry. I would really hope that the minister has the numbers as to how many of those places are going to builders, how many are going to plumbers and how many are going to electricians.

This morning I spoke to NECA, the National Electrical and Communications Association. At the moment, on those figures of 1.2 million homes, a new home has to be built every 2.2 minutes to keep up with Labor's promises. Let's start, first of all, with electrical trades. NECA has around 500 to 600 apprentices at their Chullora RTO, registered training organisation, campus. This is a campus that teaches the apprentices. It's a not-for-profit led charity. It has received nothing from the federal government's supposed 100,000 free TAFE spaces because this government is committed to TAFE only. It is not committed to any sort of private education for our trades sector. Under TAFE, around 50 per cent of electrical apprentices complete their training. Under NECA, the number is closer to 90 per cent.

Then we turn to plumbers. I'm really proud because my son, James—he's going to love the shout out; 18-year-olds love that!—has just received a plumbing apprenticeship to start next year. I'm really, really proud of him. The Master Plumbers association has run a similar program. This provides apprenticeships with skills and training as well as pastoral care. This is, similarly, something that the Labor government does not want to fund because of their commitment only to TAFE products.

I want to mention briefly that the Labor government has made a bit of noise about trying to clean up the CFMEU. Let's look at the relationship of the Labor government in my home state of New South Wales with the USU, another prized union organisation. I'm reading from a media release by the NSW shadow minister for skills, TAFE and tertiary education:

In the last three months, NSW has experienced a worrying 21% decline in apprenticeship and traineeship commencements. Now more than ever is not the time to restrict the partnerships that make apprenticeship programs accessible …

What that is the relationship between the USU and local government, which I look forward to speaking on at a different time.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've often talked about my experience running homelessness services and as the co-chair of the internationally renowned Adelaide Zero Project. I've seen homelessness and housing policy across the world, and I've sat and listened to the experiences of people experiencing homelessness and housing stress. Unfortunately, I also saw firsthand the impact of the South Australian state Liberal government, which cost shifted administrative burden out of the department and into the homelessness sector, resulting in a system that is more expensive and has worse outcomes for clients. It turns out that shuffling costs around the system doesn't work.

Here we have the federal Liberal and Nationals parties in opposition, which did nothing positive for housing in the past decade, trying to pretend the housing crisis has miraculously occurred in the last two years. This housing shortage—and it is a shortage in all parts of the sector, including crisis accommodation, social housing, affordable rent, affordable to buy, family homes and retirement living—has been about 40 years coming.

We often talk about Finland as the shining example for housing and homelessness policy. When the rest of the world, Australia included, stopped building social housing and instead started selling it off, Finland kept building. That's why they are in such a good position and other Western countries are facing a homelessness and housing crisis.

We have a housing shortage, and the solution to the housing shortage is to build more housing, so that's what we're doing. The best time to build more housing was any time in the last decade. It didn't happen, so the next best time is now, and that's what we're doing, with $32 billion worth of housing and housing infrastructure. After inheriting record-low rates of building approvals and new builds at a near-decade low from those opposite, under Labor nearly 400,000 homes have already been built across Australia, and there are more in the pipeline thanks to the HAFF, the Social Housing Accelerator program, Safe Places, the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme and more.

They can't be built fast enough, at least in part because of another area neglected by those opposite. We need skilled labour, tradies, to build the homes—brickies, sparkies, chippies, plumbers, tilers, roofers—and we can't get enough of them fast enough. Those opposite and their state counterparts undermined and neglected TAFEs. They cut $3 billion from TAFE, and now they oppose our fee-free TAFE policies that are attracting more people to train to fill the skilled labour shortages. Forty-five thousand Australians have already taken up construction courses in fee-free TAFE.

But that's not the only thing they've tried to oppose to stop us addressing the housing shortage. A coalition of the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens political party held up the Housing Australia Future Fund. My colleagues in the community housing sector said that they specifically told the Greens that the sector does not back their position of delaying housing measures. They told them that any benefits they gain are more than swallowed up by the impact of the delay. That delay is time in which they could have started building, but instead we're sitting watching cynical political operatives play games with people's lives for campaign opportunities. Now they're doing the same with the shared-equity legislation stuck in the Senate.

While Australians are waiting to get their hands on secure housing thanks to a shared-equity mortgage, they are held captive by cynical political games being played by those opposite and their Greens coalition partners. The fact that shared equity was a Greens policy platform at the last election doesn't seem to hold them back from their hypocritical strategy of delaying, wherever they can, meaningful strategies to assist Australians in housing stress. All the while they're telling Australians they care about the housing crisis and its impact on young Australians, while also campaigning against developments in their own electorates and providing advice to others on how to block developments.

Given the topic of today's MPI proposed by those opposite, that cynicism clearly shows no bounds. As someone who has worked up close with people experiencing homelessness, as a mother of three adult sons trying to get into the housing market and as somebody who has worked closely with the community housing sector that is trying its hardest to build, build, build, this MPI leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and a few sour words: hypocritical, cynical, political opportunists. They're not working for Australia, not working for Australians and only working for themselves and their political gain. Do better.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once upon a time, Australia was the place of the great Australian dream—that is, to own your own home. I've been involved in the construction sector all of my adult life, apart from the time since I came into this place eight years ago, whether as a chippy, a carpenter, a builder or a construction lawyer. Australians want to be able to own their own home, but under this government that dream has become a nightmare. I was reading this morning in the paper that CoreLogic data has revealed—listen to this—that, if you want to buy a house in Sydney, you need to have an average income of $238,000. If you want to own a home in Brisbane, you need to have an average income of $175,000. That's under this government. Mortgages, rents—everything has gone sky high under this government for so many people. Homelessness used to be a thing that, thankfully, was virtually unheard of on the Sunshine Coast. Now, sadly, we have many people living in their cars. It is heartbreaking.

Let's have a look at some of the promises that Labor have made. Labor have promised to build 1.2 million homes in just five years. We've heard that the Property Council of Australia, MBA—Master Builders Australia—and the HIA have all said that, on current trends, this government is going to fall short by somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 homes. That's falling short by at least a quarter of what they said they were going to manage.

Under this government's signature housing policy, the so-called Housing Australia Future Fund, how many homes have been built? I'll give you a hint: it's zero. I've built more homes than this federal government has built. Isn't that hard to believe? A small regional builder has built more homes than has this federal government, and it wants to spend billions—$32 billion. Zero, crickets, doughnuts—that's what this government is all about. It's all about the promises and never about the delivery. Home starts for detached homes over the last 12 months have plummeted by 10 per cent.

Labor also promised to build up our skilled workforce, and that was the subject of much of the discussion in question time this afternoon. But, under this government, the number of commencements for apprenticeships has fallen by 12 per cent. The number of completions of apprenticeships has fallen by eight per cent. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that, if you want more homes to be built in the future, you need to be training more apprentices today, yet, under this government, we're seeing fewer young people being attracted to the trades and we're certainly seeing fewer young people complete their trade apprenticeships. Why? Because this government and former Labor governments have had a fascination with ensuring that all young people go to university. If you want to go to uni, great. Knock your socks off. But this government and its predecessor Labor governments have made doing a trade almost a crime. This is the Labor Party. This is the party of the working people, yet they have set up this idea that you're a second-class citizen if you do a trade. I know, because I've been in the industry all of my working life, and the hypocrisy that drips from this Labor government about the importance of trades is disgraceful.

If you look at why Australians are paying so much for housing today, it's supply, it's supply and it's supply. Under us, under the coalition, if we're elected, we'll invest $5 billion to build another 500,000 homes by investing— (Time expired)

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that housing is a key and core focus of this Albanese Labor government, but it has not been without obstacle or obstruction, because what we can see here—gather around, folks—is that there's a new love story being forged in this chamber today—one forged in denying hardworking Australian people the dignity and the right to live in and own their own homes. But, pray tell, who could I be referring to? I ask the members here, there and everywhere: who could I be talking about? Who could forge such a bond—a bond built on misery and despair? Well, we know that it is the Liberal Party of Australia and the Greens political party. I'm a fan of rom-coms. Ask the mentor for Hunter. I really am. But this one is a little bit more like a horror movie. It is absolutely deplorable. The activities of the Liberal Party and the Greens political party in this chamber and in the other place are putting Australia behind. I think it's an absolute disgrace, particularly when it comes to housing. But it's not only limited to housing. It's health, education, wages—you name it.

But, despite the games, the deception and the betrayal of those opposite, including the Greens political party, this government is deploying housing policy that is fit for the Australian context. There are deliberate and targeted measures to ensure more homes are built and more people can get into their own home. This includes more than 10,000 homes built through Labor's housing programs like the Social Housing Accelerator program and new builds under Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme. We have more than 20,000 homes in the pipeline through direct Commonwealth investment, including the 13,700 under round 1 of the HAFF. This is all on top of the more than one million households we have helped with a more than 40 per cent increase to Commonwealth rent assistance and the 120,000 homeowners we have supported into homeownership through the government's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme.

All I want to share with the chamber today is what Labor governments do and how that has an impact on families, working people, low-income earners, women and everyone in our society. On the Central Coast in Lower Hunter, we had multiple dwellings in East Gosford and Telarah that were in danger of being lost, sold off and gone forever, leaving many without a home or a place to stay. This would have been a huge blow not only to those people living in these homes but for our region. Multiple representations were made by me, the federal member, but also the state member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, in order to save these dwellings. In came the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator fund. Over $600 million of that fund was allocated to the great state of New South Wales. With $8 million from the federal government's Social Housing Accelerator fund, via the New South Wales government, our tier 1 community housing provider, Pacific Link Housing, was able to acquire these dwellings. Housing was saved. People have been able to continue to live their lives with the dignity and respect that they deserve. That is what housing provides. This is the power of good policy, and it is only possible under the federal Labor government that we have here today.

What we have witnessed today from the member for Deakin and others is a spray of tommyrot, peppered with incomprehensible, disconnected and inarticulate ramble. What we have come to know and expect from those opposite is for the Liberal Party to fail to understand the importance of housing and to fail to understand providing assistance to those that need it.

Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Right now Middle Australia is breaking under a housing crisis. Rents are up 23 per cent. Home prices around my electorate are up 20 per cent also. Yet all the while Labor are in here filibustering about housing they're yet to deliver a single home from their housing package. After 2½ years in government, they're behaving like they're in opposition. Their promise to build 1.2 million homes over five years has ground to a halt. Industry leaders now confirm the coalition's earlier prediction that they would fall short of up to 400,000 homes. The number of loans provided for the purchase or construction of new homes remains at a 15-year low, almost going back to before the time the coalition was last in government. In 2023-24 we saw the lowest home-building commencements in over a decade. In this last year we have had the lowest number of starts in over a decade. There has been a lot of talk, with $32 billion being promised as a package—a lot of announcements, a lot of media and a lot of fanfare—but there have been the lowest home-building commencements in over a decade in the middle of a housing crisis. I would invite the next government speaker to address that. How can you preside over a government in the middle of a housing crisis and have the lowest home-building commencements in over a decade?

Do you know what wasn't the lowest in over a decade? Net migration. Net migration was at 463,000 people last year, with only 158,000 new housing commencements. This massive imbalance between immigration and housing has seen prices soar. Home prices are soaring. They're unaffordable. Rent prices are soaring. They're unaffordable. This government is overseeing a reckless immigration boom directly at the time they've made housing unaffordable.

And, yes, we are not bringing in, amongst this immigration boom, migrants who can actually help with this construction crisis. Nine bricklayers—there have been well over a million immigrants, but there have been nine bricklayers. We're bringing in more than a Canberra, the city we're talking in here now, every single year, but there are only 158,000 more dwellings.

While Labor is fuelling housing demand with runaway migration, they are not addressing housing supply at all. The Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion funding mechanism, sounds good, doesn't it? There is $10 billion providing availability payments over a 25-year period, but it has still failed to construct a single dwelling. We're gearing up for the next election, and a signature announcement—

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's just not true.

Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, if it's not true, I'd invite the next member to address that directly and tell me how many homes you've built in the last 2½ years on this. Over this same time, net immigration has increased by 1.15 million people. There is the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator Fund—a fund for states to expand housing stock. Well, even the largest recipient of money from that, the New South Wales state government, are less than impressed, with their official social housing implementation report stating that the impact of the 1,500 additional homes from this program is small given the level of unmet need for the 57,000 people on the social housing waiting list.

Again, there have been more than a total of 1.1 million immigrants over this time but no houses built as a factor of their $32 billion of announcements. It's important to contextualise this number. I read an industry expert estimate that maybe they'll complete 40,000 by the end of their time in government. Actually, there were granny flat reforms in New South Wales in 2019 that actually led to a bigger improvement than that. That created 49,000 extra dwellings from granny fat reforms that cost the taxpayer zero—not $32 billion but zero.

What would the Liberal Party do differently? Firstly, we'd ensure that infrastructure funding was prioritised, meaning that state governments, councils and local communities aren't left footing the bill of a runaway migration program and population growth. Further, our plan will look to reduce housing pressures by freezing red tape, reducing migration and banning foreign investment. (Time expired)

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

The Albanese Labor government knows that Australians are having a tough time at the moment with housing, whether it be in trying to buy or trying to rent. That's why we are getting on with the job of building more homes for Australians. Since I've been in this role, I've heard on the doors while I've been out in the community and on the phones that housing is a big issue for our people, from single mothers to families of four to those in low-paid work. There is a devastating feeling that comes with yet another rent increase or losing out on another rental application. There is a chronic housing shortage in Australia which has been decades in the making. The core of the problem is that Australia has not been building enough houses for far too long.

Those opposite, when they were in government for nearly 10 years, did absolutely nothing to help this crisis. A growing number of young adults and families with a dream of owning their own home are having to come to terms with the fact that it will take much longer to buy than it did for their parents. That's why our government is just getting on with the job of building, instead of blocking like those opposite. Our Homes for Australia plan 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. Nearly 400,000 homes have already been built across Australia since Labor took office.

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Did you hear that? Four hundred thousand.

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

Four hundred thousand, Dan. This is a massive number, assisted by our fee-free TAFE program, which has supported nearly one million people to study and address the failure of the opposition. These homes have been built through programs like our $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator or the Housing Australia Future Fund. This has resulted in more than 20,000 homes in the pipeline through direct Commonwealth investment. On top of this is our $2.7 billion increase in Commonwealth rent assistance, which has given more than one million households more than a 40 per cent increase, providing much-needed rent relief.

This government has invested more in building homes than the opposition did in almost an entire decade in office. The opposition have accused the Labor government of failure, but, as the opposition well know, homes cannot be built in a day. Nine years in office is more than enough time to build the homes Australians need, and they have failed. Even now, they raise MPIs like this yet continue to block 40,000 people from owning a home by teaming up with the Greens to block Help to Buy in the Senate and through their choice to delay the Housing Australia Future Fund. There are so many other important housing reforms on the go, including the $9.3 billion five-year National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness, which will combat homelessness, provide crisis support and build and repair social housing.

Over the past few months, I have met with the Mornington Peninsula Shire, SWAN and a range of local community organisations that support people who are homeless, and I understand the acute need for social and affordable housing in the electorate of Dunkley. With 59.9 per cent of Dunkley on low or very low incomes and homelessness at an all-time high, we need more homes and we need more construction workers, which is how our investment in fee-free TAFE works hand in glove to achieve our goals of ensuring more homes can be built. I am committed to supporting the building and construction of more housing, particularly social and affordable homes, in our community so that all locals, no matter what their financial or personal circumstances, have a roof over their heads.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this very important subject raised by the member for Deakin: 'This government's failure to deliver the new housing that Australia needs'. Housing is a basic human right, and, in a country like Australia, the only way anyone should be homeless is by choice. I note that there are people who, for various reasons, choose to be homeless, and in this democratic nation that is their right. But this cohort is very much in the minority. The majority of homeless people would much rather not be in this situation.

Homelessness takes many forms. We have those who live in tents. Some live in cars. Some go from refuge to refuge. Others couch-surf with friends and family. The bottom line is that anyone who doesn't have a permanent address is homeless. The electorate of Longman, which I serve, is part of the City of Moreton Bay. The latest data shows that around 2½ thousand people in this one LGA alone are homeless. Many of these people have full- or part-time jobs. Some have families, including small children.

There are many reasons why people are homeless, but it all stems back to one core issue, and that is the law of supply and demand. There is simply not enough supply to meet the demand. A quick look at the facts paints a bleak picture. The year 2023-24 recorded the lowest number of new home-building commencements in over a decade, despite record demand for housing. All three levels of government have a part to play in solving the issue of supply and demand. The local government's role is around more streamlined, faster and more affordable approvals processes on land releases and infrastructure processes. State governments also play a part in the approval processes and the overall planning schemes, but they have the responsibility of ensuring that government or social and community housing is part of the solution to supply. Sadly, in my home state of Queensland, this has been neglected with very few dwellings being built or acquired by the previous state Labor government, despite record funding provided by the former coalition federal government to the states.

What about the federal government's role in this? Federally the impact is more around the demand issue. Our housing stock increases each year by enough to house around 280,000 people. Our population grows within our country by about 100,000 each year, which is why the immigration level has been traditionally around 165,000. In the last financial year alone, our population has grown by 656,000. Since Labor came to government, the population has increased by a bewildering 1,426,000 in just 2½ years. Everyone can see that this reckless policy has disadvantaged Australians, particularly those low-income workers who simply can't compete with those who have more income. The federal government can and should restrict, or ban altogether, foreign ownership while we are in this crisis. Our first responsibility is to the Australian people, and every home that is purchased by a foreigner is one that an Australian misses out on either to rent to another Australian or to purchase for themselves. This would decrease demand and, therefore, see an easing of the overheated housing market that we are currently experiencing.

Another problem we have is this Labor government's obsession with everyone getting a university degree. If a student's best pathway is university, I'll always fully support that. However, when I speak to students, many tell me they are being encouraged to get, and almost embarrassed into getting, a university degree when they have simply no interest in this pathway. These are the people who want to work with their hands or who simply don't learn best in a structured classroom setting. They're not wired this way. But, so that this Labor government can brag that they have increased university enrolment rates, they practically force these young people into a pathway that will ultimately depress them when, in most cases, they will fail.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, we need to ensure these people are encouraged to take up vocations like trades because, even if we get the funding, the land release settings and the infrastructure settings right and even if the result is plenty of affordable land ready to build on, there won't be much point if we don't have the tradespeople to build houses. We need incentives for employers and prospective apprentices to encourage an uptake in these vital trade vocations, but the results show, in the past two years, a decline of 11.8 per cent in people taking up apprenticeships, even though demand has never been higher. That is because this government's fee-free TAFE policy has failed, and they have been focused on the wrong priorities, like the failed Voice referendum.

It's time for a change and to get Australia back on track because the Australian people and our future generations deserve it.

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

While the Greens and Liberals try to block progress, Labor is getting on with the job of building new housing. It's fascinating to hear the Liberals lecture us on housing, considering their history on this issue. Let's take a look back at that. Australia has seen 20 ministers for housing since Federation. The first was appointed by the Chifley government in 1945, but just six years later the Menzies government abolished the role. This back and forth continued, with Prime Minister Fraser abolishing the position in 1980. Labor then reinstated it under Bob Hawke in 1983, only for the Howard government to cut it once more in 1996. When Kevin Rudd was elected Prime Minister, he reappointed the role. Under Liberal leader Tony Abbott, once again, it was abolished. I don't know if anyone else sees the pattern here, but it is clear to me that, every time the Liberal Party takes power, they abandon the federal government's role in housing, just as they did during their last nine years in government.

Labor has a plan for housing, and it's a plan we're putting into action. We are set to deliver 1.2 million homes over the next five years, and the impact is already visible in my electorate. The city of Casey, which Holt covers, has the highest number of new housing approvals in this country. Our $1.5 billion partnership with state and territory governments has fast-tracked infrastructure projects to support new housing by clearing bottlenecks in infrastructure. While building sewers may not be glamorous, it is essential for places like Clyde and Cranbourne West, where infrastructure has lagged behind. This plan is effective—so effective, in fact, that the member for Deakin has decided to copy it.

But our plan doesn't stop there. Labor is investing $10 billion to build 30,000 new social homes and affordable homes. We're addressing the labour shortage with funding to train 20,000 new construction workers, and our commitment to 100,000 fee-free TAFE places per year means we're preparing a skilled workforce, despite the Liberals dismissing all these initiatives as a waste. Through our Home Guarantee Scheme, we've helped 100,000 people buy a home with a five per cent deposit, without needing lenders mortgage insurance. Our $32 billion housing plan addresses every part of the housing pipeline, from infrastructure to affordable ownership. We also want to help Australians to buy homes through our shared-equity scheme, reducing costs for 40,000 Australians.

Why, then, is the frankenstein coalition of the Liberals and the Greens trying to block this plan? Well, the Liberals claimed they have their own plan. What is the first part? It's to copy ours and fund local infrastructure bottlenecks. What is the second part? It's to drain Australians' retirement funds and push up house prices by allowing people to withdraw $50,000 from their superannuation, at a huge cost to their own future. A 35-year-old drawing $50,000 could lose $400,000 in retirement savings. The Super Members Council estimates that the coalition's plan would create a budget black hole costing billions of dollars and be economically reckless. So, before listening to the coalition's plan for housing, ask the member for Deakin who will fill the $400,000 hole in your retirement and who will foot the bill to support you in old age.

I guess the member for Deakin and the coalition do not care. The coalition always wanted to destroy the superannuation system—one of the best retirement schemes in the world—and this is their plan to do it. The Liberals are focused on building homes. We are helping young Australians to buy their own homes. We are building 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade, and we will do this without asking you to drain your retirement savings. This is our commitment to the Australian people.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has concluded.