Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Can the minister please detail what the Albanese government is doing to help build more homes, support renters and help people buy a home sooner?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Sheldon, for the question. Labor senators, the Labor government and the Labor Party want every Australian to have safe and secure housing, and we want more Australians to be able to buy their own homes. We want to build; you want to block. That's the difference between us and the coalition-Greens coalition. These senators want to build houses; you want to block houses from being built.

We are investing to help build more homes, support renters and help people buy a home sooner. We have set an ambitious goal of building 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade. We've kickstarted construction by cutting red tape. We're bringing forward the construction of new housing by working with states to build roads and infrastructure and free up land for housing—training more tradies, funding more apprenticeships and growing the workforce. We've increased rent assistance; we've helped tens of thousands of Australians get into the market with a deposit of five per cent or less and no mortgage insurance; and we are making the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade.

We want to do more, and we want to deliver more homes for more Australians around the country. But do you know what is stopping us? It is the Greens and the coalition teaming up, once again, to block more housing. That's what they've been doing for months and months, and here we go again. We see the coalition between the Greens and the LNP blocking Labor's plan for more affordable rental housing and blocking Labor's plan to help tens of thousands of people get into the market with a smaller deposit. Those on this side of the chamber want to build. All you across the chamber want to do is block. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon, first supplementary?

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister please outline how the Albanese Labor government's Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will address the critical shortage of social and affordable housing, particularly for women and children escaping domestic violence?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, as the Prime Minister announced this morning, the Albanese Labor government will deliver more than 13,700 new social and affordable homes across Australia. The first round of our Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will deliver more than 4,200 social and 9,522 affordable homes, including 1,300 for women and children escaping family violence and women at risk of homelessness. This round will unlock about $9.2 billion in investment in social and affordable housing across the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and the private and community housing sectors—the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade. In our first term, we are providing and supporting more social and affordable housing than those opposite did in their entire decade in office. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon, second supplementary?

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister explain how the Albanese Labor government's Help to Buy scheme will assist tens of thousands of low- and middle-income Australians buy their own home?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government wants to get more people into the market sooner, with a smaller deposit and lower repayments. The Help to Buy scheme will support 40,000 low- and middle-income Australians to buy their own homes. That's what the Liberals and the Greens are working together to block, and, by doing this, they are playing with the futures of tens of thousands of Australians who are on low or middle incomes. The questions I want to ask are: When did it become part of Liberal values to stand against homeownership? When did it become a Greens value to work with Peter Dutton to prevent homeownership? The reality is that we are seeing this political convenience between the coalition and the Greens—supposedly at opposite ends of the spectrum but working together to prevent houses being built. (Time expired)