Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, during my visit to the Young Liberal Convention in Kiama, I had the opportunity to speak to various young people. The conversation should have been filled with optimism and excitement about their future. Instead, we spent over an hour and a half discussing the harsh reality of what it is like to be a young person in an economy like what we have today and the harsh reality that many young Australians have lost the hope of ever being able to own their own home.

Hence, I would like to thank Senator McGrath for voicing the frustrations of so many Australians, especially young Australians.

Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, which Labor has so poorly tackled, a larger problem has arisen. The Australian dream of owning your own home has been destroyed. Under this Albanese government living standards have fallen more than any other OECD country. The blow to Aussie households is now worse than almost all comparable developed nations. Not only is it virtually impossible to own your own home but once someone actually finally gets their foot in the door, they have to struggle to keep their home. So many people have had to do so over the last couple of years as they've faced a dozen interest rate rises.

Earlier this year, the RBA revealed that real disposable income has declined by 5.5 per cent since early 2022. The fall in disposable income has surpassed the past four major recessions, including the 1970s inflation crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Australians can no longer afford to sustain themselves, with rising costs for essentials like food, energy and housing making it increasingly difficult to make ends meet week after week. The government's failure to address these issues has left families and individuals feeling financially squeezed and uncertain about their future. Labor's response has been nothing but out of touch. Minister Gallagher says that record business failures are proportionate and that it's okay. Let's not forget that earlier this year the Treasurer also suggested that Australians should have more children. How can families and young people be expected to take on the responsibility of raising children when they are already struggling to meet their own basic needs due to the cost of living in this country under this government?

What we have continually heard from Labor is a never-ending barrage of unrealistic and detached responses to a crisis that requires immediate thoughtful action to improve affordability, to improve job security and to improve overall economic stability for all Australians. Moreover, the intergenerational bargain has been broken for young people. For most of it, the bargain has been generous and hopeful, with the belief that each generation would leave the world better for the next. Almost all Australians picture themselves owning a home, just like their parents and grandparents did—who enjoyed this foundational piece of the Australian dream. But this promise can no longer be kept. Young Australians today find themselves locked out of the housing market, forced into a perpetual rental cycle due to this ongoing economic crisis. Amongst the gen Z non-homeowners, 93 per cent say they would like to own their own home. They haven't said that they would like to live in a build-to-rent.

They've said that they would like to own their own home, yet the financial reality they face makes this dream increasingly difficult to achieve. The drastic decline in living standards, driven by the rising cost of living, has placed homeownership out of reach for them. Labor ignore their economic record and instead hide behind figures driven by migration and iron ore prices to make it look like they have a plan. The reality is that the current cost-of-living crisis has led to the steepest decline in living standards since 1959. With inflation pushing up prices and wages stagnating, young people are more focused on simply staying afloat financially, covering their basic daily expenses and perhaps managing rising HECS debt, than saving for a home. This has created a generation where the promise of advancement and homeownership is becoming a distant memory. Ultimately the Labor government's irresponsible economic management has pretty much destroyed the Australian dream and forced many Australians into stressful economic hardship and sadly many young Australians into the belief that they don't have a hope of reaching the dreams that they aspire to in owning their own home.