Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness. How is the Albanese Labor government working to get more Australians into housing, and what obstacles stand in the way?

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

I really want to thank the member for Bennelong for this question. He is an absolutely staunch advocate for housing in his community, and he has runs on the board. While the member for Bennelong was a local councillor, he approved 17,000 new homes in his local area and 11,000 as mayor, and it's fantastic to see him here, bringing that advocacy to the national stage.

Today is a good day for aspiring homeowners on low and middle incomes right across the country—

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

The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

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

I'm really pleased to inform the House that our government's Help to Buy Bill has just passed the Senate. I want to acknowledge the work of my predecessor, Minister Collins, who developed this policy and set the stage for its passage through the parliament.

This is good policy in a proud Labor tradition. The Help to Buy legislation will help 40,000 low- and middle-income Australians get into homeownership. We're talking about cleaners, childcare workers, nurses and disability workers—hardworking Australians who are right in the guts of our economy, who we in the Labor Party believe should get the keys to their own home. And that's what Help to Buy will do.

We appreciate the support of those who have voted in favour of this bill, including the Australian Greens. I've had a little bit of constructive criticism to offer the Greens in recent days, but let's all agree: at least the Greens are showing a modicum of interest in housing policy in this country.

The people who have really tapped out of this debate—the people who have gone completely missing—are those opposite. We see barely a flicker of interest from those opposite in housing policy. Now, this is not a new approach. I want the parliament to remember that, for the almost-decade that those opposite were in power, for most of that time they didn't even have a Commonwealth housing minister—that's how much they had retreated from this discussion.

We have made a number of attempts to brief the shadow housing minister on the policy offerings that we've brought before this parliament. It's not that he can't find the time to come to the briefings; he won't even respond to our requests for a discussion. Those opposite—

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

I don't need to be briefed on your disastrous policy!

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

Order! The minister is going to pause. The member for Deakin, I thought, was turning the corner, so we're just going to cease interjecting.

Order! The minister doesn't need to comment when I'm addressing the House—and that includes now; otherwise, I'll sit her down. The member for Deakin was interjecting on you, so I was trying to bring the House to order so that we can hear your answer.

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

Unfortunately, those opposite have blocked every initiative that we have brought forward to address the issues that Australians are experiencing with housing, but I'm particularly upset about what has happened with Help to Buy, because the coalition have said for a long time that they care about homeownership but just an hour ago in the Senate they came forward and voted against tens of thousands of cleaners, carers, nurses and teachers being able to own their own home. There is going to be a really clear choice at the next election on housing between a reckless, arrogant opposition of pessimism and a party of progress that is making a real difference to Australians' housing opportunities.