Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government wants more Australians to be able to get into the housing market sooner with smaller deposits and lower repayments. We want the dream of homeownership to be not just a dream but a reality, and that's exactly what this scheme will do. Help to Buy is a transformative proposal which will help tens of thousands of Australians reach that dream of owning their homes for the first time. How incredibly life changing. It will give a hand up to so many working families and take hundreds of dollars off their mortgage each month going forward. Under this scheme around 40,000 Australians—that is no small number—will be able to finally get ahead and buy their first home, with a supporting contribution from the government to make homeownership a reality.

Eligible Australians will be able to apply for the government to provide an equity contribution to their first home of up to 40 per cent of the cost of a new home or 30 per cent of an existing home. A lower deposit threshold will take pressure off their mortgages. They'll be able to secure themselves a home in which to raise their families and settle down. It's not just a quick leg-up for families purchasing their first home; it's a long-term solution, ensuring that Australians can have the security of a roof over their heads. Every Australian should have safe and secure housing, and we want to support them in buying their first home. This government wants to see more nurses, more teachers and more early childhood educators take that step and buy their first home.

Since coming to government two years ago, we've been hard at work building more houses for Australians. We have set an ambitious goal of building 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade and we intend to deliver. We have kickstarted the construction of new houses by freeing up more land for housing and cutting red tape to fast-track the construction of new homes. We can't build all these homes overnight, but we can take meaningful steps to make sure Australians can have roofs over their heads. That includes increasing rent assistance, which the Albanese Labor government has increased by 45 per cent since coming to office, along with the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in over a decade, financing the construction of 40,000 new social and affordable homes across Australia.

As someone who grew up in a housing commission house myself, I'm incredibly proud to be part of a government that is investing a record amount of money in this space. These are meaningful steps which have led to lasting impacts on Australians, and the Help to Buy scheme will only add to our record. As we build more and more homes, we want more working families to get a chance to own their own home. But time and time again the Greens and the coalition have come together to block meaningful action in this place, whether it's the Australia Future Fund or the Help to Buy scheme. They take every opportunity to turn their backs on aspiring Australians to peddle their nonsense.

When push comes to shove, the Greens and the Liberals do not have your back. They'd rather have a cheap stunt and parade around to their supporters than actually get anything done. The coalition does not have a plan, and the Greens are willingly following them into their 'no-alition' mind state. When the coalition were in power, they were a complacent bunch who rung their hands and sat idly by as housing got more and more expensive and wages stayed stagnant—by design, no less. Instead of offering first home buyers a hand up, they turned a pointed the finger at migrants while ordinary Australians struggled to pull together enough for a deposit. This is who the Greens are teaming up with to block our housing plan.

Now look at the opposition. Instead of helping us build more homes, instead of offering Australians a helping hand, their solution is to raid your super. They want to tank your children's future in retirement with what experts have rightly trashed as one of the worst policy proposals in the 21st century. They cannot pull themselves together to support anything this Labor government has put forward, because the details don't matter to them. Before they've even heard the details, they're happy to say no. They've run out of ideas and they've reverted to their basic programming of wanting to rip money out of your super and blame immigrants, when the truth is that they were asleep at the wheel for a decade. They let housing get away from Australians. The coalition has no plan and no future plan for Australians. We have a scheme which can lower the deposit rate to two per cent for eligible Australians and take hundreds off their monthly payments, but that's too much for the coalition's taste. That's too accessible for them. The dream should only be available to the lucky few, according to those opposite, and the Greens are backing them in that ambition. They have taken every opportunity to stand in the way of building more homes or giving Australians a fair go at buying a house.

Then there's the Greens, who care more about building their social media followers than they do about building homes. They spend more time making TikToks about housing than they do actually voting for it—but, tick-tock, the clock is ticking. Every time this Labor government tries to make a positive difference in people's lives, whether it be through building more homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund or now with the Help to Buy scheme, the Greens take the opportunity to grandstand and block action. Housing affordability is a serious problem which requires grown-up solutions. Clearly there are some people in this place who aren't up to the task. What we do not need in this country is more opportunistic Greens who see people suffering as nothing less than an opportunity to take cheap shots at the government rather than sit down and help us pass legislation that will make a real difference to Australians today.

We all want what is best for Australians. It is a fact that a shared equity scheme is not a brand-new idea, but it is certainly a popular one. Former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison himself suggested years ago that a shared equity scheme would help with mortgage stress for first home buyers, before ultimately sticking it to ordinary Australians to get a leg up against Labor. Shared equity is even in the Greens' platform, for all the commentary over here, but they're still going to stand there and vote against it. It's an idea that they had, but they're going to stand here and vote against it, because that's what they do. They're happy to grandstand with the opposition and block meaningful action, because that's what they do. The Greens political party are holding legislation up even if they agree with it. For them, it's not about the outcome; it's about the campaign. Thousands and thousands of Australians will continue to face pressure on their mortgages, unable to access this transformative Help to Buy scheme, all because the Greens political party want to make a political statement. They are literally playing with people's lives.

To the Greens I say that blocking this scheme to help more Australians own a home is certainly a statement, and it's a statement that I'm sure Australians will remember when they go to the polls next year. They'll remember that the Greens political party are not serious about housing. They know that you're a party of protest, not a party of action. Why else would they side with Peter Dutton to block young people from getting into housing if it isn't just about them being a party of protest? Because they are full of it.

As thousands of Australians call out asking for action on housing, the Greens will say one thing on social media and then vote another way in this Senate. They will turn around and vote down action with the Liberals. That is exactly what they are doing with your future, young people of this country. If the Greens or the Liberal Party were serious about getting housing affordability under control, there is one very practical and pragmatic thing they could do: vote for this bill. Instead of grandstanding or being complacent, they should pull themselves together and vote for something that we can all agree on.

The Help to Buy scheme is an opportunity for Australians to get ahead and reach that dream. We want more hardworking Australians to have secure roofs over their heads. We want them to settle down and be supported as they raise families, just as lots of people in this place have had the privilege to do. But they don't want that for other people because they are the type of people that, once they climb the ladder, pull the ladder up after them. What a shame. That is exactly what's on display in this place.

With lower deposit rates and even lower repayments on their mortgage, these families have a chance to own a home for the first time in their lives. Yet here we are today, with the Greens political party teaming up with the Liberals to stop tens of thousands of hardworking Australians from getting into the market with this shared-equity scheme. These Australians have worked hard and deserve to own their own home. Help to Buy would go a long way to helping Australians with the cost of living. We know mortgages and rents are the largest costs hitting working families in Australia, so it's a shame the Liberals and the Greens team up time and time again and choose to prioritise political pointscoring over real-world action. Financial security and putting a roof over the head of every Australian is no laughing matter. Political games should not be played. And that is exactly what's on display in this Senate.

With whatever time I have left, I want to leave the coalition and the Greens with this one simple message: pull yourselves together. Get behind this scheme or get out of the way, and let us deliver meaningful action on housing for Australians, as the country expects us to. They want more affordable homes, they want to buy their first home, and they want lower mortgage rates. Stop standing in the way of Australians' aspirations and get behind what could be the difference between tens of thousands of families getting a home and those families missing out again and again thanks to the Greens and the Liberals teaming up in this place. Shame on you!