Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All Australians need the security and stability of a home, yet this dream is increasingly out of reach. We have a housing crisis in Australia: home ownership rates are falling, first home buyers are just giving up, people are unable to rent near a job, homelessness rates are increasing, the percentage of social housing stock is decreasing, and young people despair. It is no wonder. If you look at the last decade, the median income—that is the big fat bit in the middle of the curve—in Australia has gone up by 43 per cent, yet the median house price in Australia has risen by 60 per cent; in Melbourne, it has risen by 90 per cent; and in my electorate of Bruce the median house price in the last 10 years has risen by 150 per cent. That means that it now costs 10 times the Australian median income just to buy a house in the middle of the suburbs.

This crisis, of course, is a human crisis that affects every part of society. The causes are complex, but the elephant in the room has to be named. We have this ridiculous situation in Australia where the most rational thing to do, if you are a high-income earner, is to run down to an auction and bid up the cost of an existing house. You do not put your money into a business that grows jobs. You do not put your money into a new house to add to supply. You go and push up the cost of an existing house. The government think the priority this week is to let people say more racist things. We have no housing minister, no assistant minister and no policy beyond, 'Get rich parents.' They are out of touch, they are divided and people deserve better. (Time expired)