Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we've seen in the debate here this afternoon is the Greens, who live in utopia, wanting to solve every problem that every person is facing. It is very noble, but the reality is that we're a party of government. The Greens never have to deliver. They can have their wish list and they can go out there and slam the government as often as they do. They play games all the time. They come in now and move a resolution in relation to renters. But when we were debating our Housing Future fund—$10 billion that the Albanese Labor government had put together to help alleviate the housing problems and the rental problems, which we are very aware of, but we are trying to find real solutions—what did they do? They stalled and they wouldn't support that legislation until they finally got a little bit more so that they could go out and do all their social media.

The reality is that we know we need more affordable and social housing in this country. We know there's a housing crisis. We actually know there's stress on people who are trying to make ends meet because of the difficulties we're facing with higher mortgages, rising interest rates and inflation. But what we're doing as a government, at the National Cabinet level—what we did back in August—is work with the states and territories to get a commitment to a better deal for renters, to harmonise and strengthen renters' rights across Australia.

But if we tried to adopt the solutions the Greens keep talking about, people outside of governments would not invest in real estate to provide that extra home stock from private investors, because they need to have a return. So, the Greens live in utopia. And unfortunately, as I've said many times in this chamber, when they could actually address some of these very serious issues, as we've seen on climate change over the years, if they don't get exactly what they want then they don't vote in support of the government of the day, which we saw when we were in government last time. As a government we're acknowledging how difficult it is out there. People of all ages are facing a crisis in relation to being able to afford a mortgage, to afford rent. And we know that homelessness is a serious issue in this country.

We want to address that. That's why we've done things like making sure we give more support to women and children who are fleeing domestic violence, because women cannot leave a situation if they don't have somewhere to go. So we need more housing stock so that women don't have to stay in those very dangerous circumstances. At the end of the day, every mother will put their child first each and every day of the week. That's what they do. So if they don't have social housing or affordable housing, they cannot leave that environment. It's those mothers and those children who risk their lives. That is really the issue here today. So we need affordable housing. We need social housing.

Instead of working with the government of the day and supporting us so we can get better outcomes, the Greens move these motions so they can get their clicks on social media, beat up on the Labor government, when in fact if they work with us we will get better outcomes, because at the end of the day we're a Labor government who actually relates to people who need our help. We believe in giving people a helping hand—a hand up, not a handout—because that's what people want; that's what Australians want. And there is no bigger threat to any individual than the threat of being homeless—young people ending up on the streets. I was in Melbourne not so very long ago, and you could not walk half a block in the city of Melbourne without seeing homeless people. There were young people, women—young women—and people that obviously have some mental health issues. They don't belong on the street. They deserve to be cared for and to have a safe, secure home. That's what we're working to provide: more social and affordable housing. So I ask the Greens to reconsider. Instead of just knocking this government, work with us.