Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very keen to speak on the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 and the related bills. I wish I had got a chance to speak on this earlier but, unfortunately, the Greens, as we know, pulled a stunt this morning to try to prevent us debating this really important legislation. Here we are. We are finally getting to this bill. I am sure that there will be more stunts during the week, but I'm really proud to be talking about the Housing Australia Future Fund and the significance of this bill in addressing the housing affordability crisis in our country.

This is a critical issue facing Australians. It is something that people talk to me about all the time, in regional Australia particularly. For far too long, we have witnessed inaction and delay under the former government when it comes to addressing the housing affordability crisis. We've had a decade of delay and now it is time to get on with fixing this problem. Under the previous government, we saw denial and neglect that exacerbated this crisis, leaving many Australians struggling to find a safe and secure place to call home, but our government has a plan to tackle this issue head-on. The Housing Australia Future Fund is the single most significant investment in social and affordable housing in a decade. The $10 billion fund to invest in 30,000 new social and affordable homes over the next five years is just the beginning. The fund also pledges $200 million for repairs to remote Indigenous housing, $100 million for crisis accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness, and $30 million for veterans' housing. These are essential commitments that would benefit some of our most vulnerable Australians.

The debate on this bill is a test for the Greens political party. It is a test because we need to know where they truly stand. Are they going to line up with the Liberal Party, as they are claiming they will do, to block this bill? Are they prepared to vote with the Liberal and National parties, who did nothing on housing affordability for a decade, and vote this bill down? It's a test for the Greens because they need to decide whether they will stop investment in housing or whether they will block this bill and the investment that this bill contains. Do they care more about politics or about actually getting things done?

On this side of the chamber, that is what we are here for. We are here to get things done. We took this policy to the election and we got people to vote on it. People in the regions that I am from were incredibly excited about this proposition and about a government that says we need to tackle this issue and we need to get things done. This is the start of that action. Perhaps I'm cynical, but seeking to block funding for affordable and social housing for vulnerable Australians seems to serve only one purpose, and that is politics. I can't see another reason why you would stand in the way of 30,000 new social and affordable homes over the next five years, $200 million for Indigenous housing repairs, $100 million for housing for those experiencing domestic violence and $30 million for veterans' housing. I cannot see a reason other than politics for the Greens political party to block this bill.

This is a test for the Greens on housing and whether they'll decide to line up with the Liberal and National parties, whether they choose to vote with the Liberal and National parties, and sit next to them to block this will. The Greens don't have the moral high ground on housing. I won't sit here and be lectured about how desperately people need housing. That is exactly why we are getting on with this bill. Somehow, the Greens seem to believe that because they held a doorknock on Saturday they have the moral high ground on housing. We have been doorknocking too, I can tell you, and the people in Griffith are pretty surprised about who is standing up for housing and who is seeking to block it.

The Housing Australia Future Fund Bill is urgent legislation. Despite all of the adjectives used by the Greens to describe this bill, they left one really important description out. That is that housing and homelessness peak bodies around the country want this bill passed. Those are the words that they leave out of every description of this bill—that the peak bodies on housing and homelessness want this bill passed. This includes National Shelter. It includes Homelessness Australia. These are the stakeholders that are supporting this bill. It includes the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association, the Community Housing Industry Association and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Those are just some of the peak bodies who wrote a statement around the time of the last sitting calling on the Senate to support this legislation. These are the voices that the Greens are choosing to ignore when they threaten to block this bill.

It's not just national peak bodies; it's also local service providers that are calling on us to pass this legislation. Before this legislation came to the Senate, I visited the Cairns Homelessness Services Hub to talk to them about this bill. They wanted us to pass this bill. That's because they are at the coalface of this housing and homelessness crisis and they want to see action taken.

It is unremarkable, I think, for the Liberal and National parties to oppose this bill. I think we can agree that they have opposed everything that we have brought to this chamber. They have opposed every single new idea and every policy that the government took to the election. They say, 'No, no, no,' to everything. That's up to them. They don't want to be a constructive opposition. They are just going to ignore everything the voters told them at the election and vote against everything that we bring to this chamber. So it is no surprise that they have opposed everything that we have brought forward to improve Australians' lives. However, the fact that the Greens are deciding to sit with the Liberals and block this bill is particularly concerning, given the magnitude of the housing affordability crisis in this country. The Greens really do need to decide if they are willing to work with the Liberal and National parties to sink this bill or whether they want to start action and get things done.

On this side of the chamber, we are ready to deliver housing relief for Australians. The regions that I visit in Queensland are crying out for investment in housing. They have been for years. It is particularly poignant that many members of the Greens are refusing to listen to these regional voices. I'm not surprised that members of the Liberal and National parties are refusing to listen to people in regional Australia. They wear the badge and say that they actually stand up for regional Australians, but they fail to support them when they walk in here. But I am surprised that the Greens are joining with them to ignore the voices of regional Australians who are so desperate for housing. We should be working together to ensure all Australians can have access to safe and affordable housing and we should be doing what we can to show national leadership. That is something our government is doing and has been doing on housing since we were elected. The Greens have called for national leadership. We are showing that national leadership. We don't need the Greens to call on it; we're doing it. We said before the election that we would do it, and we are doing it.

Most recently, at the national cabinet, we got all the states and territories to agree to develop reforms to increase housing supply and affordability and to put rental rights front and centre. All states and territories agreed to strengthen renting rights. That's what happens when you have a government committed to this action. That's what happens when you have a government committed to national leadership. That is what happens when you have a government that is listening to peak bodies on housing and homelessness instead of ignoring them. That's exactly what happens.

But the Housing Australia Future Fund is not the only thing that our government is doing to address the housing affordability crisis. I know that the parties around this chamber would have you believe that this bill is the only thing the government is doing. We know how important it is to address this housing affordability crisis. Stability and security are essential for the happiness and health of our community. That's why we have an ambitious housing reform agenda to ensure that more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home. We said that we won't waste a day in delivering on this agenda, and we haven't.

The housing legislation package is a comprehensive suite of measures to get more social and affordable homes on the ground. The legislation implements our government's commitments to establish the Housing Australia Future Fund, to transform the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation and to establish the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council. This is on top of: our government's commitment to the National Housing Accord, a shared agenda ambition to build one million well-located homes over the next five years; our $350 million of additional Commonwealth funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes over the next five years from 2024, which has been matched by the states and the territories; our commitment to widening the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, made up of $575 million, which we've already done; and our National Housing and Homelessness Plan to set short-, medium- and long-term goals to improve housing outcomes across Australia. We've also delivered the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which has already helped more than 2,700 Australians into homeownership, with the majority of those in my home state of Queensland. We are taking action on housing on top of this bill. This is not the only thing that we are doing, but it is a key piece of our reform.

This is an important piece of legislation and it's an important test, as I said, for the Greens political party. What's important for people to understand is that you have a government committed to addressing the housing and affordability crisis. We have shown national leadership when it comes to rental reforms. We are working with the states and territories, as you must do in this space, because we can't do it on our own, and we are showing national leadership and delivering on those reforms. We are delivering more investment for social and affordable housing than we have seen for the past decade.

The Greens need to understand that sitting with the Liberals, as they plan to do, and blocking this bill won't build any new houses. It will actually stop homes from being built. Moving motions to suspend standing orders won't build more houses for women fleeing domestic violence. It won't build more homes; it will only stop houses being built. Every time the member for Griffith and the member for Melbourne hold a press conference in Parliament House to defend their miserable position, it won't build any more houses. It might get them more hits on social media and it might give them a chance to have in the newspaper, but it won't build a single new house and it won't help a single vulnerable Australian facing homelessness.

Maybe that's exactly what the Greens party want: more social media hits, more names in the newspapers, more media conferences, more chances to make their name stand out in the sun. But that doesn't do anything for people facing a housing affordability crisis. This is all about politics for the Greens political party. It has been from the very beginning of our discussion about housing. And no matter the number of press conferences that the member for Griffith or the member for Melbourne attend, no matter the number of times that they try to defend their position, one thing is really simple. Eventually this house will vote on this bill. Eventually the Senate will come to a position of voting on this legislation, no matter the suspension of standing orders, no matter the attempts from the Greens political party to put this off. When we vote on this legislation—