Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

That was a very interesting contribution by the previous speaker. What he failed to acknowledge in that contribution is that, after eight long years of the Liberals being in government, housing affordability right across the country has gotten worse and worse. There are more homeless Australians than ever before. It's harder to rent than ever before, and it's harder to buy a home than ever before. This crisis is hitting Australians from so many different walks of life. In the last year, Tasmanian property prices, outside Hobart, have risen by a staggering 18 per cent. At the same time, across Australia, 10,000 mums and kids trying to escape domestic violence were turned away from refuges because there wasn't a bed.

There is a pathway forward to begin tackling Australia's housing crisis, despite the Morrison government steadfastly refusing to do anything of substance to fix this increasingly dire and desperate situation, and that is through an Albanese Labor government. A Labor government would make real strides towards tackling our nation's housing crisis. An Albanese Labor government would create jobs, build homes and change lives, through initiatives such as our proposed $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. Over the first five years, Labor's fund will build 20,000 new social housing properties, including 4,000 homes for women and children fleeing domestic violence and for older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness. It will build 10,000 affordable homes for frontline workers, like police, nurses and cleaners. It will directly support 21½ thousand full-time jobs per year, over five years, across the construction industry and the broader economy. Importantly, one in 10 direct workers on site will be apprentices. The fund will provide $200 million for the repair, maintenance and improvement of housing in remote Indigenous communities, where some of the worst housing standards in the world are endured by our First Nations people. It will invest $100 million in crisis and transitional housing for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, and it will invest $30 million to build housing and fund specialist services for veterans experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.

This commitment from Labor has been well received. In fact, Labor's policy has received a seemingly endless series of accolades from right across the housing sector. This includes the Australian Council of Social Service, the Community Housing Industry Association, Urban Development Institute of Australia, Homelessness Australia, Everybody's Home, the Property Council, National Shelter, St Vincent de Paul, Master Builders, PowerHousing Australia, Mission Australia and the Real Estate Institute.

Let me quote just a couple of the responses and reactions to Labor's Housing Australia Future Fund commitment. Mr Jack de Groot, the CEO of St Vincent de Paul in New South Wales said:

It will work. We really welcome this announcement of the Housing Australia Future Fund … We have a crisis, we need investment and I think this future fund is about a partnership between federal and state governments, as well as community sector organisations to actually build and then make sure this housing is available for those on low incomes.

Michele Adair, CEO of Housing Trust and chair of the Community Housing Industry Association, said, 'The Housing Trust and the community housing sector, along with all our homelessness peak bodies, are applauding this announcement by Labor federally.' This is just one of the things that Labor has put forward.

Sadly, this government works only in the margins. We've seen that with their Family Home Guarantee program, which was a complete flop until, pressured by the community and Labor, they sought to change the price cap on the guarantee. That was exposed by a reporter at the Launceston Examiner, who had the gumption to expose the fact that there were only two houses in Launceston that would have come under the Liberals' Family Home Guarantee. It's not good enough. (Time expired)