Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Across the floor sit members and representatives of the Liberal and National parties, who represent people from across the country, and for the last couple of years they've rightly earned the title of the 'no-alition'. At the core, the Liberals and Nationals are a team of naysayers who are more interested in blocking and voting down legislation than having constructive conversations with the government.

We know that the coalition has never acted in the interests of working families. Fairer tax cuts? Absolutely not. Why would they do that? Better wages for childcare workers? Nah, absolutely not. Help more renters to buy their first home with the Help to Buy scheme? Nah. That should just be for a privileged few. The Greens have joined with the opposition and One Nation in an unholy alliance to block legislation in this place, even though a shared-equity scheme was in their platform. The coalition's whole strategy, no matter what this government does, is just to say no.

Labor has a simple belief that ordinary Australians should be able to own their own home. It's so disappointing to see the Liberals, Greens and One Nation block an important housing bill that would help 40,000 low- and middle-income Australians buy their own home. This government's positive plan for Australia is based on uniting the country, not dividing it. We're about positive, not negative, unlike those opposite. Australians want to own their own home, and parents also want their kids to be able to enter the housing market. This is just one of a suite of measures the Albanese Labor government has under foot to help ease the cost-of-living pressures and address the housing crisis.