Sarah Witty (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Bradfield for bringing up this topic. Today I rise to speak for the thousands of people across Melbourne who are living through this country's housing crisis. Labor is delivering creative solutions to the crisis.

Housing is the foundation of a good life. It's where we build our families, our future and our sense of safety. But, right now, that foundation is cracking badly for too many people. Whether it's a young couple trying to buy their first home, a single parent absorbing yet another rent hike or an older Australian wondering how long they can hold on, this crisis is real and urgent.

Melbourne is a city of renters, of students, of workers, of migrants and of families just trying to get ahead. Housing is not just an economic issue. It's also a social issue, a human rights issue and a generational issue. In my first months as the member for Melbourne, I've heard the stories directly of people saving for years only to be locked out of the community they grew up in; of older renters skipping meals or medicines to pay the rent; and of families with two incomes, often working in essential jobs, turning to housing services for help for the very first time. These are the stories I carry with me into this place, and I will not stop speaking up until everyone in Melbourne has access to a safe, secure and affordable home. That's why I am proud to be part of a Labor government that is not tinkering at the edges but rebuilding the foundation.

At the heart of our housing agenda is a simple truth: the best way to solve a housing crisis is to build more housing. We are delivering the most ambitious national housing agenda in generations, with 1.2 million new well-located homes by the end of the decade and a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund delivering 30,000 new social and affordable houses in the first five years. Of these homes, 4,000 will go to women and children fleeing domestic violence, which is the No. 1 reason for women to become homeless, and older women at the risk of homelessness, the fastest growing cohort of homelessness.

In Melbourne, the work is already underway. Through Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme, we've helped more than 700 local residents buy their first home with just a five per cent deposit. More than 200 local trades apprentices are now in training, backed by increased incentive payments. We have boosted Commonwealth rent assistance twice, and that support now goes to more than 8,000 people across Melbourne. We are working with the state government through the social housing accelerator, delivering hundreds of new social homes right here in Melbourne, and we're doing it smart, through Labor's build-to-rent program, which those opposite are trying to demolish. We're building over 11,000 new homes in Melbourne, with long-term leases and fairer rents. This is what it means to govern with Labor values. We don't just leave it to the market. We show up, we invest and we plan—not just for the headlines but for the next generation.

And, yes, we are backing renters too. We are funding stronger rental laws to end unfair evictions and give renters real bargaining power. We are delivering cost-of-living relief, cheaper medicines, energy bill help and record Medicare investments because, when rent goes up, every little bit counts.

Housing is not a luxury; it's a human right. In Melbourne we are fighting for a future where no-one is priced out of their own community, where our kids don't have to move hours away just to find a home and where our nurses, our teachers and our aged-care workers can live near the people they care for. That's the future I am fighting for.

That's why before coming into this place I was working with an organisation called Homes for Homes, where I helped to raise a pipeline of $110 million to help end homelessness. I worked with organisations like Assemble, build-to-rent-to-buy schemes, and made sure that people, through the sale of their home, can help to raise money to end homelessness. So let's keep building; let's keep backing people in.

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