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

I welcome the question. I thank Senator Bragg for giving me the opportunity to talk about the Homes for Australia Plan. It may have passed him by as he was developing, hand in hand with the Leader of the Opposition, a rehash of the super raid that he'd like to see young people forced to do to get into homeownership, which we expect we will see tonight—a rehash of an old idea that will do nothing to enable younger Australians to get into homeownership. I can talk to you about all of the initiatives.

Over the next six years, we will be investing around $32 billion in a range of programs, including programs that support people into homeownership, like the shared equity Help to Buy scheme, like the regional homeownership scheme—which I think has been so successful. In addition to that, we're driving supply of new housing across the country, working with states and territories. Maybe Senator Bragg didn't see that we put more money in to get more homes built sooner, working with states and territories. I know it's something that those opposite never did in government. They always liked to divide and have fights with states and territories, but we find that it's much more productive for the Australian people if we are able to work with those that make decisions about planning to build more houses.

There is no government in the history of the Federation that has done more and is doing more to drive housing supply in this country. We have our eye on this—this is a major challenge, one that we inherited after a decade of absolutely no action from those opposite—whether it be supportive accommodation, whether it be accommodation for women, whether it be looking at ways to support the provision of rental accommodation, whether it be assistance through Commonwealth Rent Assistance and more. (Time expired)