House debates

Monday, 22 March 2021

Motions

HomeBuilder Program

11:51 am

Photo of Josh BurnsJosh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When you listen to those opposite, you cannot help but listen to the hubris of this government. They constantly come into this place and the other one and pat themselves on the back and talk about how good a job they're doing and all of the wonderful things that they're doing as a government, when the reality facing Australians could not be in starker contrast to the government's delusions. The reality facing young families who are trying to get into the housing sector and into the homeownership market couldn't be further away from the self-congratulatory tone that these people come into this place with, day in and day out.

Homeownership in Australia has been a wonderful wealth-creator. It has been a wonderful way for Australians to be able to lift themselves out of poverty and find that small level of financial security that is so important, that so many Australians and Australian families have ambition for—to be able to retire with a bit of dignity and with enough assets so that they are comfortable in retirement. But, under the watch of this government—under the watch of people on that side of the House who have just occupied the Treasury benches without any ambition or agenda and governed this country in a slothful way—the ambition to get into the housing market is disappearing for too many Australian families.

On average, the net worth of an Australian family is around $980,000, if they are able to get into the housing market, but, if they are unable to, that number is actually about $40,000. Housing is a huge wealth-creator in this country. But less than 40 per cent of Australians who are around the age of 30 are able to get into the housing market.

So, yes, there is some construction going on in the housing sector, but the incentives that the government are providing mean that those new houses are not being owned by the majority of young Australians. Young Australian families—the majority of them—are struggling to get into the housing market. If those opposite think that this job is done, is completely finished, because of a motion in the House of Representatives, then they are kidding themselves. To all of those families—all of those young professionals; all of those young Australians who are desperate to get into the housing market and desperate to be able to get either the constant wages in the amount required or to get that deposit—they are saying: 'No, we're doing a great job. You just need to work a little bit harder. You just need to work a little bit harder, because this government is doing a great job.' Well, they're not.

At the moment, the number of young Australians who are struggling to get into the housing market is increasing, and the people who this is disproportionately affecting are Australian women. Australian women are working for less, they're working in insecure jobs, they're working in industries that are paid less on the whole, they're taking more breaks off work not just for family and for looking after children but for caring—women are doing a disproportionate amount of caring for family members in this country—and all of that is resulting in insecure housing for Australian women. Australian women over 55 are the fastest growing cohort of homeless Australians. And what's the government's answer to the myriad of issues in the housing sector? It's to come into this place and pat themselves on the back and say, 'Look how good a job we're doing.'

What this government actually should do instead of congratulate themselves is admit that in the housing sector in Australia we have a real problem with access. We have a real problem with people who want to be able to get into the housing sector, into the housing market, and be able to spend their working life paying off a mortgage and accumulating a financial asset that they can have some dignity in retirement off. But, of course this government is not interested in those issues of access. All they're interested in doing is patting themselves on the back and saying look how good a job we're doing.

The final point I want to make, like my friend the member for Perth made very eloquently in his contribution in this debate, is that social housing is the responsibility of anyone who wants to take responsibility for it. To hear the Minister for Housing constantly repeat this nonsense that social housing is the responsibility of the states gets under my skin, because the truth is the only reason why it's a responsibility of the states is because the federal government takes no responsibility. The only reason why the states are doing the heavy lifting is because the federal government are taking no responsibility. It is rubbish. They can and should take responsibility for social housing and the myriad of problems in Australia's housing sector.

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