Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This debate has rolled on for hours. We've also seen the debate roll on in previous weeks and months. I'm not going to stand here and reiterate all of the issues, but we are once again in a situation where the Liberal Party don't want anything at all, the Greens party want absolutely everything, the Nationals want a left-handed dandelion, and we are standing here trying to deliver what is a very, very reasonable, desperately needed injection into the housing market.

When I visited Uniting Country SA in Port Pirie last year, they told me they were providing homeless people with sleeping bags and tents because there was no housing. And, just to be clear, that was before the election of a Labor government. That was while we had a Liberal-National government. I have heard from the South Australian Council of Social Services and various regional employers that the availability of affordable accommodation in our regions is one of the biggest barriers to attracting workers, therefore impacting our economic future. Again, just to be clear, this type of housing shortage does not occur overnight. This is not something that just miraculously occurred on 22 May last year. This is the result of year on year of neglect—absolutely disgraceful neglect.

That decade of inaction that we've seen from those opposite has resulted in significant challenges in our housing market in Australia. With them having turned a blind eye to devastating stories for so many years, it's only once they're in opposition that they jump up and down and start paying attention and saying that it's a problem. While they were in government, they didn't care and they didn't do anything. Unlike those opposite, I do believe that we should always offer people a hand up when they need it most. There are many on our side who have relied upon social and affordable housing in our lifetimes—and I am one of them. There are those of us who haven't known quite where our housing was going to come from next. Being uncertain and being in that situation where you didn't know what was going to happen next, that need for secure housing is the baseline for everything else. So listening to this debate is a disgrace. The care that is being shown now that has not been shown for the preceding 10 years is a disgrace.

I am delighted to stand here and support these bills, these bills that are going to fundamentally make a difference. Is a gambling? No. We have a range of this type of funding across government that has been running well for many years, thank you very much. All of the scaremongering and the hoo-ha is just a disgrace. This is just political grandstanding. We are standing here with a series of bills and a policy that are going to make a fundamental difference to housing in this country, and that is something we should all get behind. Try to put some of that political spin, and muck and bother, away and think about those people out there tonight who cannot find affordable housing—single parents, key workers, families who are struggling. This is, critically, about the good and the wellbeing of the people of Australia. I commend these bills to this chamber.

Debate interrupted.

Senate adjourned at 21 : 59