Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

enator GALLAGHER (—) (): I thank Senator Polley for the supplementary question. We know that too many people are paying the price for a former government that didn't believe that the Commonwealth had a role in addressing the housing needs of all Australians. However, in the Senate last week housing experts working at the coalface of Australia's housing challenges gave their view of the Housing Australia Future Fund. National Shelter called it 'the most critical housing legislation to be brought forward in the last 10 years'. The City Futures institute said it's a 'timely reassertion of national leadership on housing'. And PowerHousing described it as a 'transformative reform that will enable the housing needs of more Australians to be met'.

There was near-unanimous support for the bills by representatives and stakeholders of this sector and acknowledgement that any delay in their passage would greatly impact those Australians who most need the housing it would provide. I urge those senators in this place who are considering their position on this bill to listen to the views of those who work in the sector about what needs to be done. (Time expired)