Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection. We actually do it. We actually pass laws. We invested money in increasing supply. You did nothing for 10 years on this problem! An acknowledgement that housing is an issue of national significance, something ignored by the opposition when it was the then government.

In contrast, we are working to a national target to build 1.2 million well-located homes. We are building and supporting the supply of more affordable homes through the $10 billion HAFF, the $500 million housing support program, the $3 billion New Homes Bonus and the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator. The HAFF will deliver 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the fund's first five years, and there's the National Housing Accord, which includes federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes over five years from 2024, to be matched by another 10,000 by the states and territories. That's called federation, the states and the Commonwealth working together.

There's also $1 billion in the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to support more homes. Up to $575 million has already been unlocked with homes under construction across the country. That's happening. It's a reality. Not only are we building more homes, we've also increased the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent, the largest increase in more than 30 years.

We've also introduced new incentives to boost the supply of rental housing by changing arrangements for investments in build-to-rent accommodation and we're strengthening renters' rights. We've worked with states and territories to commit to a better deal for renters. This means developing nationally consistent policies on reasonable grounds of eviction, moving towards limiting rent increases to once a year and phasing in minimum rental standards. We know homelessness is also a big problem and that's why we're investing $1.7 billion towards a one-year extension of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement. We want more people to own homes, so we've introduced a Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee and expanded the overall Home Guarantee Scheme which has now helped more than 73,000 Australians in their first home since the election. States and territories are supporting the national rollout of the Help to Buy Scheme as well. As a government, it's our job, which we take seriously, to make these good policy decisions in the interests of the nation, in the interests of the Australian people, and having a stable, secure place to live is the right of every Australian and the Albanese government is getting on with that job and increasing the supply of housing.

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