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

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. I, like all my colleagues, understand that people are under pressure and that the housing shortage is driving one of the key cost-of-living challenges that Australians face. What are the consequences of a decade of reckless neglect of housing supply in Australia by the Liberals and the Nationals, and how is the Albanese Labor government working to boost the supply of all housing to make it easier and more affordable to rent and buy, including with the $32 billion Homes for Australia Plan?

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

The Albanese Labor government is focused on cost-of-living relief. We are working to lift wages and bring down costs. We are working by offering tax cuts and electricity bill relief. We are working to strengthen Medicare and build more homes.

We know Australians are under pressure and there is much more to do. But we also know that the Liberals and Nationals are out of touch with the pressure Australians are under. You know how we know that? Because those opposite block every single cost-of-living measure. Mr Dutton's feckless arrogance has real costs. His agenda is wrong for Australia, he is wrong for Australia and the Greens are not any better. We see again the Liberals and the Greens voting together to block environment reform, immigration reform and housing reform. There are two more important housing initiatives in the Senate we are all aware of that the Liberals and the Greens are voting together to block—Help to Buy, a shared-equity scheme to help more Australians get into the market, and Build to Rent, which will build tens of thousands of new rental homes in the country.

The government has already invested $32 billion in addressing Australia's housing shortage—

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How's that going?

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

including helping 120,000 people into their first home sooner, Senator Ruston. We have announced 13,700 social and affordable homes from the first round of the Housing Australia Future Fund. We have increased the maximum rent assistance by more than 40 per cent since coming to government and given the biggest boost to rent assistance—which, Senator Ruston, as the former social services minister, you never achieved—in 30 years. And we have an ambition target of seeing 1.2 million homes built over five years. There is so much more to do. Friends, we're building and they're blocking. (Time expired)

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

Thank you, Minister. In my home state of Queensland, what work is the Albanese Labor government doing to deliver more social and affordable homes?

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

The government has made important progress in helping Queenslanders who are trying to rent or buy. Through the Housing Australia Future Fund, we're funding 1,315 new dwellings in Queensland in the first round alone. There's some $860 million in funding for new homes. Through other initiatives, we are also working to boost supply across the state. This includes 490 social and affordable homes in Cairns; 126 social and affordable homes in Chermside; another 82 new homes in Redcliffe; 81 new social and affordable homes in Woolloongabba; 50 social housing rentals and 32 affordable homes in Stones Corner, Brisbane; 75 new homes in Toowoomba, with 25 social housing rentals and 25 affordable homes; 158 new homes in Southport; 38 social housing rentals in Lutwyche; and 42 in Windsor. I'm sure that those opposite will be very pleased to know about the new housing availability in Queensland. (Time expired)

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

Senator Green, second supplementary?

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

Minister, is it true that the Albanese Labor government delivered more support for building new homes in just our last budget than in the entire nine years the Liberals and Nationals were in power?

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

(—) (): Senator Green, yes, I regret to say that that's true. In one budget, there was more funding than in the nine years of the coalition government. When you hear them yelling—and I see that they're quiet now—when Senator Cash, Senator Ruston, Senator Birmingham and others start shouting about housing, remember that in nine years they had less to do, less to say and less to contribute than we did in one budget. Mr Dutton's reckless arrogance has real costs. And now, in the middle of a housing crisis, Mr Dutton wants to cut $19 billion from housing. That is what he wants to do. He wants to cut $19 billion out of housing. Mr Dutton's agenda is wrong for the country and wrong for Australians. He wants to cut $10 billion from the Housing Australia Future Fund, $5½ billion from Help to Buy and $3 billion from the new homes bonus. This is what Mr Dutton wants to do while he complains about housing affordability. (Time expired)