Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we're seeing today in this chamber again is another impasse when it comes to housing in this country. Let's be very clear. It is my generation of Australians and those younger than us who feel locked out of the housing market and let down by leaders in this chamber and across the aisle when it comes to housing policy, and is it any wonder? If they tune into the Senate today they would see another impasse here, where the government has brought a policy to do something about housing and those opposite want to contain their aspiration to own a house. Those opposite want young Australians to choose between superannuation and a secure retirement and owning a home. Well, Labor believes young Australians deserve to have both. We do not believe that young Australians should have to choose between homeownership and superannuation. Their parents didn't have to make that choice. Their grandparents didn't have to make that choice.

Those opposite don't care about solutions here. They care about a political outcome which lets young people down. They are limiting their aspirations, and that is an outrageous breach of a social contract with those young Australians. And the Greens aren't any better. They're more interested in social media engagement than social outcomes and social change. They're more interested in securing the clicks of young people than securing the future of young people. There is an opportunity to do something on housing today. You can come in here and say no and draft your memes, or we can do something about it.