Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

INS (—) (): I want to thank the member for Moreton for his question. I know that he, like all of us on this side of the House and the teals over there, actually want more Australians to be in a safe, affordable place to call home. Indeed, what we announced on the weekend was a further addition to our ambitious housing agenda: we announced a $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator plan. I'm pleased to tell the member for Moreton that that means $398 million in additional funding for his home state of Queensland. I'm also pleased to tell the member for Moreton that we want to deliver that money within the next two weeks and we want it expended or contracted by the governments within two years, because we know how critical it is that we get more homes on the ground as quickly as we can. This is a broad part of our housing agenda. Just this financial year, our government is investing $9.5 billion for social and affordable housing and homelessness services. We are taking the housing challenges seriously.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for some of the other people in this place. Unfortunately and really distressingly, what we saw in the Senate today was quite dismaying for those Australians who are trying to get a safe, affordable place to call home. What we saw was the Liberal Party and the Greens teaming up to, essentially, delay and block funding for social and affordable housing. That's what we saw. This is really tragic for those Australians who are languishing on waiting lists, for those Australians who do want to find someone to call home.

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