Ash Ambihaipahar (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also want to thank the member for Bradfield for her contribution today. I rise to speak with purpose on an issue that is personally important to me and, I believe, is very urgent and deeply felt in the electorate of Barton and far beyond, and that is the housing crisis.

For me, this isn't just a policy; it's quite personal. Before coming here, I worked at St Vincent De Paul Society New South Wales. I worked with a large team, and I looked after a large geographical area of New South Wales, which covers the electorate of the member for Bradfield as well. We saw a lot of the issues of the housing crisis in the eyes of a lot of women, in particular, who were looking for a safe place to be and to put their head down to sleep. I was seeing faces of, particularly, pensioners who were having to skip meals to keep a roof over their head and sitting with families facing eviction, women fleeing violence and people forced to sleep in their cars. That is something I also saw in my role as a councillor at Georges River Council. People, particularly women, are sleeping in their cars in my own electorate, which is a big issue.

When you do that work and when you are seeing those people and hearing their stories, you learn something very quickly. Housing insecurity doesn't just take away shelter; it strips away dignity. It chips away at health, particularly mental health, and it erodes hope. That's why I'm very proud to be part of a government that is not just acknowledging this crisis but also confronting it.

Under the Albanese Labor government, we are delivering the largest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade, and we're doing it shoulder-to-shoulder with state, territory and local governments because solving this crisis requires all hands on deck. I particularly want to acknowledge the Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities for her tireless leadership and for also visiting Arncliffe, in my electorate, to see first hand one of our major housing projects. That development is not just about the building itself; it's also about creating a community and a sense of belonging. It's also about showing what's possible when every level of government works together with one shared belief that housing is not a privilege; it is absolutely a right.

We are delivering in Barton. Over 800 locals have been supported into homeownership through Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme, because a five per cent deposit should not be a barrier to owning a home. Over 200 construction workers are being trained locally because building homes also builds opportunities. Nearly 400 new social and affordable homes are underway in Arncliffe thanks to the Housing Australia Future Fund. An additional 17 social homes have been delivered in Bayside and Georges River, two LGAs in my electorate, through the Social Housing Accelerator, and more than 7,000 Barton residents are benefitting from the back-to-back increases in Commonwealth rental assistance.

Labor's response is bold and comprehensive, and it is absolutely grounded in value. We're tackling the crisis with a $43 billion plan to make it easier to buy and better to rent and build more homes. In the ambit of building, we're starting the largest housing build in Australian history: 1.2 million new homes across the country; 55,000 social and affordable rentals; 100,000 homes reserved for first home buyers, not property investors; and 28,000 social and affordable homes in planning and construction. We've also committed $54 million to accelerate housing supply through innovative construction methods like prefabricated and modular homes because it shouldn't take longer to approve a home than to build it. We're streamlining processes, we're strengthening supply chains and we're creating local jobs while we do it.

In Barton, the pressure is relentless. The cost of living is an absolute issue. Rents are climbing, and our social housing waitlists are growing. That's why the work we are doing right now, like the development project in Arncliffe with the New South Wales Labor government, is not just helpful but essential. Housing is not an economic issue at all; it's absolutely a human one.

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