Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. What impacts are the Albanese Labor government's back-to-back increases to the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance having on rents? What alternative approaches are there?

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Macquarie for her question. Of course, our government recognises that Australians are doing it tough, with Australia's housing challenges having been decades in the making. That is why our government is responding with a $32 billion housing plan, which is building more homes, helping people to buy homes and getting more social and affordable homes into the system.

As part of this plan, we've acted immediately to deliver significant increases to Commonwealth rent assistance, providing more support to manage rental pressures. We have delivered substantial back-to-back increases to the maximum rates of rent assistance for the first time in more than 30 years. When combined with indexation, this means that our rent assistance has increased by 45 per cent since the Albanese government was elected. Importantly, our rent assistance increases have had a positive impact on moderating rents across the board, with the ABS data showing that rents would have been higher without our measures.

Our increases to rent assistance are making a real difference to people on the ground. Take Debbie from Tasmania, who said that her rent assistance increases were making her rent more affordable for her as a single pensioner, allowing her to spend less on rent and be better off, or Belinda, a carer from Seaford in South Australia, who told me that the extra rent assistance had come at a very good time to help her with her rent increases. She said it was making a big difference, along with everything else our government was doing.

I've been asked about alternative approaches. While our government is investing in rent assistance to help with cost of living, those opposite have no plan to help with the cost of rent and housing. Of course, those opposite had almost 10 years in government and made no substantive increase to rent assistance and took no action on housing in this country. Now we have the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer declaring that our government spending on rent assistance is reckless and wasteful spending. Well, I'll tell you what's reckless and wasteful: it's this Leader of the Opposition, who has a plan for $315 billion of cuts. That's cuts to rent assistance and cuts to housing. This Leader of the Opposition is a risk to living standards in this country. When it comes to housing, we are building and they are blocking. Only Labor—and they don't like to hear this—has a plan to build a better future for this country.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Member for Hume, I'm just going to ask you to cease interjecting, as you are responsible for the MPI proceeding. We're going to make sure that there are no more interjections because I'm sure the parliament does want the MPI today.