Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Senator Watt. At the last election the Albanese Labor government promised to help more Australians access more social and affordable housing. I regularly hear from constituents in regional areas of our home state of Queensland who want to own their own home but are struggling to save the deposit. How is the Albanese Labor government's ambitious housing agenda helping regional Australians buy their first home?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Green. The senator is providing some real representation for people in regional Australia. We know that homeownership has long been a dream for many Australians, but for many right now it is becoming harder, especially after a decade of neglect by the coalition. When we came to office, new home builds were at their lowest level in nearly a decade, and Australians are still paying the price for this absence of action under the coalition. It means that Australians are facing immense stress about where they're going to live and what they can afford to pay. And what it means particularly for regional communities is that people are being priced out of their home towns, and skilled workers, who could be filling skills shortages, are unable to move to the regions, because there is nowhere for them to live.

Of course, this problem began under the coalition government, and under the Albanese Labor government things are beginning to change. Today's Housing Australia Future Fund announcement will see 3,000 social and affordable homes built outside of Australia's capital cities. It's part of the largest investment in social and affordable housing in a decade, and we're helping regional Australians whether they're renting or buying. We've supported more than 18,000 regional Australians to buy their own homes, including 13,000 who have accessed the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee. We've made the biggest increases to rent assistance in more than 30 years, which is providing relief to more than one million households, and we're strengthening renters' rights through what we're calling a better deal for renters. After a decade of inaction by the coalition, our government is getting building moving again, especially for people living in our regions.

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

Senator Green, first supplementary?

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last year, the Albanese Labor government announced its plan to support Australians to buy their first home with the Help to Buy scheme. I note that the only solution offered by Mr Dutton and the Liberals and Nationals is to raid the superannuation savings of hardworking regional Australians. How will the Albanese Labor government's Help to Buy scheme bring homeownership back in reach for regional Australians without forcing them to raid their retirement earnings?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Green. It is always interesting what we hear—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise a point of order under standing order 73(2). The chamber has spent extensive time today already debating specifically the Help to Buy scheme. There have been many questions on housing that have not gone specifically to it during question time; however, the question just asked does specifically go to it and goes to that scheme at a time when it is before the chamber on this very day. So, whilst this standing order might be quite narrowly interpreted, I believe it is definitely within the grounds for you to interpret this question as being out of order.

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

Thank you, Senator Birmingham. I'll go to Minister Wong.

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

On the point of order, President, it does say something that the coalition doesn't even want to talk about the fact that we're doing this—

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

Minister Wong, what's the point of order?

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

but I'm sure that Senator Watt can answer appropriately, recognising that this is a matter before the Senate. If the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate is saying that this might actually be an open question before the Senate, that certainly would be news.

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! Order! I am advised that the answer to that question should not go to the general provisions of the bill but can certainly explore the policy parameters. So I will continue to listen closely to the minister's answer and I would invite him to continue his answer.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the coalition doesn't like to ask me questions, but I'm pretty offended that you won't let me take questions from the government about topics as well, especially when they're about matters as important as housing in Australia. Now, the Albanese government understands that working- and middle-class families in the suburbs and the regions are doing it tough right now—

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Minister Watt, please resume your seat. Order! Minister Watt, please continue.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We understand that working- and middle-class families in Australia's suburbs and regions are doing it tough right now. Take, for example, a young family living on the outskirts of Cairns or Nowra, earning $100,000 a year, unable to buy their own home, stuck in the rental market and seeing homeownership fall further out of reach—but in the meantime they look at the people who they think of as their so-called friends, the friends of the regions, being the members of the coalition. What have they done to help families in places like Cairns, Nowra, the Hunter and all those other parts of regional Australia? They've done absolutely nothing. They have voted against our Housing Australia Future Fund, they've voted against rent assistance and now they're trying to prevent people buying— (Time expired)

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

Senator Green, a second supplementary?

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, many young people in regional Australia are struggling to save for a deposit, but now we know that the Greens political party have teamed up with Mr Dutton to block meaningful housing reform. What are the key barriers preventing young regional Australians from purchasing their first home, and how will the Albanese Labor government's policies, including Help to Buy, support young people into homeownership?

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

I will call for order before I call the minister. Minister Watt?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ironically, the group that's preventing young regional Australians from purchasing their first home is the party that says it's for young people—the Greens party. Of course, the Greens party, we know, are more interested in grandstanding than delivering real change, more interested in social media than social housing and more interested in clicks on social media than bricks on slabs. They've been campaigning against new housing developments in Brisbane, and now they're campaigning against housing legislation down here in Canberra. Again, we see the Greens in league with Peter Dutton and the coalition to block young renters from buying their own home.

We need to remember that every time the Greens vote against Labor's housing measures, they make it harder for young people and they make it harder for renters to be able to get their own home. And every time the Greens party joins with the coalition to attack and undermine Labor, they block housing and they help Peter Dutton. That is what you are about: blocking housing, making life harder for young people and helping the people over there.

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

President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.