Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Perth might not be a Wally Hammond but he is certainly a Dennis Lillee, I think. So I will take that into consideration. He is one of Perth's and Western Australia's finest, I might add. But I digress.

Of course, budgets are about priorities and, when it comes to low- to middle-income Australians in particular, this budget is all about the wrong priorities for Australia. In terms of the tax arrangements that are outlined in this year's budget, we have seen that millionaires will get a tax cut of about $16,000. But an average family on about $60,000 a year will pay $325 more tax in two years time as a result of this budget. Cuts are being made in a number of areas, particularly to education programs, most notably to schools funding but also to the TAFE sector and to the early childhood development sector, that will make it tougher for families. Pensioners are going to lose the energy supplement. It will make life much more difficult for them, particularly in an environment of rising electricity prices.

The issue that I want to concentrate on today is something that is near and dear to the hearts of many in my electorate of Kingsford Smith and, indeed, to most families throughout Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane these days. It is the issue of housing affordability. There is no more fundamental human right than the right to a roof over your head, particularly in those vulnerable years when you are raising a family. But, for many in Australia now, the cost of living is becoming so prohibitive that they are unable to afford to buy their own home. Indeed, many are unable to afford to rent a home. State Liberal governments are cutting back investment in new public housing, and public housing waiting lists are exploding. In the electorate that I represent, the public housing waiting list is eight to 10 years long, and it is getting worse because this government will not invest in public housing. In fact, we have actually seen this government cut funding for investment in public housing.

House price costs throughout the country are rising at an alarming rate every day. In the three years from 2014 to 2017, the cost of homes in Malabar in the electorate that I represent rose by a whopping 46.3 per cent, adding the $365,000 to their value. That equates to about $580 every single day.

Mr Leeser interjecting—

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