Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing and Homelessness. How is the Albanese government alleviating housing stress for more Australians, helping first homebuyers by making it easier to save for a deposit, and getting people into their own homes sooner? What are the alternatives?

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 Wills for that question. Housing is an absolutely massive issue in his electorate. We've met together with some of his young constituents, and they've talked to me about the difficulties that they're facing with this urgent national problem. It's partly due to the advocacy of the member for Wills that we are part of the boldest and most ambitious Australian government on housing in more than a generation.

When it comes to housing, there's going to be a really clear choice ahead for the Australian people. On this side of the parliament we have a Labor government that's investing $32 billion to build more homes for Australians, to help renters and to support Australians into home ownership. On that side, we have an opposition that wants to cut $19 billion out of housing funding in the middle of a housing crisis. On this side of the parliament, we're working with the states to build 1.2 million homes around the country. On that side, they want to lower the national ambition and scrap the housing target altogether.

On this side of the parliament, we're investing $10 billion to build tens of thousands of social and affordable homes through the Housing Australia Future Fund. On that side, they want to scrap the Housing Australia Future Fund, rip up the $10 billion and instead start a $10 billion long-lunch tab for corporate bosses. Are you serious? On this side of the parliament, we're investing in building 55,000 social and affordable homes. On that side, they produced 9,000 social and affordable homes in their entire decade in office.

On this side of the parliament, we've invested $1.2 billion in crisis housing in three years. In three years we've invested 20 times as much as the coalition did in their nine years in office—20 times as much. On this side of the parliament, we've helped 140,000 Australians get into the property market with lower mortgage deposits. That's more than double those on the other side of the parliament, who only helped 60,000. On this side of the parliament, we've helped a million Australian households struggling to pay their rent with a 45 per cent increase in Commonwealth rent assistance. On that side, they didn't increase Commonwealth rent assistance once beyond CPI in the entire nine years they were in office. On our side of the parliament, we're training 55,000 tradies that we need to help us build more homes for the country. Over there they call fee-free TAFE 'wasteful spending'.

We have a really clear contrast here between a bold and ambitious government and a coalition that has absolutely no plan for housing. Remember that when they were last in government, they were so checked out of housing that for most of the time they were in government they didn't even have a Commonwealth housing minister. They've spent the last three years trying to block and delay critical housing measures. There's a choice here between going back to the bad old days with a negative opposition that ignored the problem for a decade, or letting the Albanese government get on with the job of dealing with housing challenges faced by Australians.

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, there was far too much noise during that answer. I appreciate there will be interjections, but not continual interjections. Moving forward, to assist the House, I'd like you to cease interjecting.