Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The question we saw in question time today from Senator Bragg was quite spectacular. It was only a few short weeks ago that we saw those opposite blocking every single housing bill that we brought into this place and not coming to the party at all on fixing what we know is a housing crisis in this country. That is a fact. We have a housing crisis, but it did not just appear overnight. This is something that has been building for well over a decade. What exactly did those opposite do when they were in government? Oh, that would be approximately nothing. In fact, for a significant part of their time in government, those opposite, the coalition, didn't even have a housing minister. That's how important they thought it was when they were in government. This is just a trend that we're seeing across the board. The things that they were actively against and actively crushed when they were in government, they're now standing there claiming they're the champions of. I would say to anyone: 'Don't listen to a word that they are telling you because it all appears to be rubbish. Just look at the facts. Look at the history. Look at what they've actually done in the past, not the rubbish that they are spouting now.'

In housing, they have no credibility whatsoever. We know full well that the issue we have is one of supply. After all that time of no building, no commitment to housing, no care in the world for people who were doing it tough, no care in the world for people who were trying to get into the housing market, no policies to help them and no support for people who were renting, their audacity to front up to this chamber and fake the outrage on the housing crisis is beyond belief.

In Labor, we know that whether you're trying to rent or buy, more homes mean more security for everyone. To have that, we need to increase supply. What are we doing? We are training more tradies and funding more apprentices. Growing the construction workforce is a critical part of getting houses on the ground. We are kickstarting more construction by cutting some of the red tape, giving incentives to state governments to build homes more quickly.

I can assure you, in South Australia, the Labor government under Peter Malinauskas is doing a spectacular job of working alongside the Labor federal government to get houses on the ground for South Australians. We have got heaps of development. Appropriately designated land is being fast-tracked, and those houses are being built. You can see it across South Australia, because of two Labor governments in the state and a federal government making a fundamental difference to people who we know are doing it hard.

We're delivering the biggest investment in social housing in more than a decade, helping to reduce homelessness and taking pressure out of the rental market. Strengthening renters' rights across Australia is a critical part of this because renters are, without a doubt, doing it the toughest. We've got to make changes. We've got to ensure that renters get more relief and they're better supported. In strengthening their rights, minimal rental standards are critical, as are limits to rent increases and requiring genuine, reasonable grounds for any form of eviction.

We have delivered a more than 40 per cent increase to rental assistance—that's the largest increase in more than 30 years—to take that pressure off people who are renting. We're not there yet, we know that. We know there's more to be done and we are trying to do it but we are constantly getting blocked by the coalition over there and the Greens over there. This is ridiculous. Everyone admits this is a housing crisis, yet every single great policy that we bring in this place, every single great piece of legislation to build more houses, make life easier for renters and to lift that pressure is being blocked. Then we are seeing fake outrage from across the chamber and the audacity to come in here and talk about the housing crisis as if you ever cared in your 10 long, horrible years in government.