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

AROL BROWN (—) (): Anyone listening to this debate here today would have finally realised exactly where the coalition stand on housing in Australia. This is a coalition that has never invested in any real, meaningful way in social housing—not interested, in social housing. If you were to listen to the contributions of the Greens political party here tonight you would realise that this is about the politics. This is about where they can get votes. That is what it is about because the last contribution we just heard talked about the Labor Party and about houses that were built in the forties, fifties and sixties. I grew up in social housing, or government housing as it was known in Tasmania, all my life and my mother lived there all her life. The Labor Party has never lost sight of the need to build social housing, to support affordable housing. We have also never lost sight of the need to support people in various forms of housing, including renters. Over the last few months, the Greens political party have been campaigning for votes, not for homes—not for houses.

In front of us here today—I'm proud to say it's finally here today, and to speak on the Housing Australia Future Fund—is a bill after a decade of inaction from those opposite. They really should hang their heads in shame. This is a bill and a whole raft of measures that are supported by stakeholder housing experts—those opposite know that—by community housing providers, Homelessness Australia, ACOSS and state and territory ministers, including the Tasmanian Liberal government. They support these initiatives.

What we have here is the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade. I'm so proud to be a part of the Albanese Labor government that is delivering these initiatives and this particular bill. I commend the minister, Julie Collins, the member for Franklin in my home state of Tasmania, for the work that she has put in to deliver this bill and also the other raft of initiatives that will deliver homes to vulnerable people. On the Labor side, we know that far too many Australians are struggling to access a safe and affordable place to call home. Secure, safe housing isn't the reality for so many.

Under the former government, as I've already indicated, the situation went from bad to worse. In my home state of Tasmania, there's been a 44.8 per cent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness. I've never experienced homelessness, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be. But I was brought up in an area where, for various reasons, many of my neighbours and friends did experience homelessness. It was only the housing programs of the then Labor government that turned some of that around. But, as I said, there's been a 44.8 per cent increase in the number of people in Tasmania experiencing homelessness and, for some, housing isn't even an option that's accessible to them. With more than 100,000 people, including more than 2,300 Tasmanians, experiencing the rawest form of homelessness—sleeping rough, in tents, in cars or without any shelter at all—the job of tackling the housing crisis is urgent. Because of this bill, in the next five years 30,000 Australians and their families will have a place to call home. That's what the bill seeks to do. And what do we get from other side? We get a contribution talking about counting, 'We're going to do this and we're going to doing to do that.' There's no support for this bill—no support for a bill that will, in the next five years, deliver 30,000 Australians and their families are place to call home. No, not at all. With a commitment of 1,200 homes in each state and territory, many people all over the country will benefit from the fund. Because of this bill in front of us, at least 1,200 new homes will be built right where we need them in Tasmania. The fund will generate returns over the long term, which will provide annual disbursements to deliver a secure pipeline of funding for social and affordable housing in Australia, and that's very important. It's important that we have a secure pipeline of funding.

I thank those senators from the Labor side who have made thoughtful and consistent contributions to the debate on this bill. But it seems the not-so-subtle strategy of the coalition is to say no to everything. It's good to see that the Greens political party, after many months of playing politics with people's lives and building houses, have finally come to their senses and realised the government's plan all along was a policy that will address our housing crisis. The need for housing has been patently obvious, but instead of setting aside politics and focusing on the desperate need for housing across Australia, the Greens have strung it out. It has been a bit rich for the party that consistently called on the former government to increase the supply of housing to stand in the way of the Albanese Labor government's plan for more homes. The Greens political party accept the fact that we are in a housing crisis—a good start. They accept the fact that we need to build more housing—good. The Greens political party seems to have forgotten that it is a simple correlation between increase of the housing supply and the reduction of rent. When there is more supply in the market, there is more competition. It's pretty simple, really. This correlation between housing and supply isn't a complicated equation to understand, and after far too many months it seems the Greens political party have finally understood it. Put simply, the answer to rental stress at the national level is a sustained boost to the supply of homes to rent and a substantial investment in new and affordable homes. Does that make sense? Because it is sense.

The Housing Australia Future Fund is just one policy on the Albanese Labor government's agenda which has been put forward by Minister Julie Collins. We know it's an ambitious housing reform agenda, but it includes: a $3 billion new homes bonus; a $500 million housing support program; a new $2 billion social housing accelerator to deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia; a national housing accord, which includes federal funding to deliver 10,000 homes over five years from 2024, to be matched by up to another 10,000 by states and territories; an increase in the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15 per cent—the largest increase in 30 years; an additional $2 billion in financing for more social and affordable rental housing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation; new incentives to boost supply of rental housing by changing arrangements for investments in build-to-rent accommodation; a $1.5 billion one-year extension of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement with states and territories, including a $67.5 billion boost to homelessness funding over the next year; and a state and territory commitment to introducing a better deal for renters—a nationally consistent policy to require, among other things, genuine reasonable grounds for eviction. The fund will put an end to Australian housing programs that have made problems worse instead of better. The fund will change lives. The Greens political party were willing to hold homes for so many to ransom in the guise of perfection. But really, the record on policy and delivery has been tainted by the unnecessary games they play. Their record is one of pushing back on development in our cities and in many of our suburban areas. It was disappointing that the Greens political party chose politics over building homes and causing unnecessary delays with getting on with the job.

We all agree what needs to happen—building homes. But the coalition, I have heard through these contributions, are still planning to vote against, again, 30,000 new social and affordable homes. I think it is important to remind the coalition of those who are supportive of the Housing Australia Future Fund, the housing experts, you know, the people you used to listen to—community housing providers, housing ministers and, as I've said before, the Tasmanian Liberal Premier. The people working day in and day out on the frontline of the housing crisis, the people see the impact of dwindling housing supply they are the people that support this bill and the other initiatives that I have outlined. They all support the Housing Australia Future Fund, so the coalition are out there by themselves. But still they seem to think they are right.

You wonder: do they ever think that they should perhaps reflect when nobody is with them, when they are out on their own? Do they ever think that perhaps it is time to put the politics aside, perhaps to show the Australian community that this is not all about politics, that they have some policy position that they really want to back in, a principled position that they want to back in? Wouldn't a good principled policy position be about building 30,000 new homes? Wouldn't that be something to say to the Australian people—we supported a wonderful piece of policy that the Albanese government put up, that Minister Julie Collins put up, and that was about supporting the building of 30,000 new homes? But the coalition is a shadow of its former self. Their only position is to say no on every policy position that is brought to this chamber. I hope the Senate will support this bill.