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

Thank you, Senator Walsh. The Housing Australia Future Fund will provide regular and reliable capital funds to build new social and affordable homes across Australia in perpetuity. As we heard in the Senate hearing last week from experts, community housing providers, homelessness services and academics, this is urgently needed. National Shelter, the peak body that so many of us deal with on these matters, called it the most critical housing legislation to be brought forward for the past 10 years. In its first five years, this fund will be investing in building 20,000 social housing properties, with 4,000 properties for women and children fleeing domestic violence and for older women who are at risk of homelessness; $100 million for crisis and transitional housing for women and children; and $30 million to build more housing for veterans who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. I hope that everyone in the Senate will consider these statistics when that legislation comes for a vote over this sitting fortnight.