Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the ministerial statement made in the House on the Albanese Labor government's policy of a five per cent deposit for all first home buyers. As the minister said in her statement, Australia is in the middle of a housing crisis 40 years in the making. Over 40 years, governments of all stripes have not invested enough in housing. That is not political posturing; that is fact. If past governments had been investing enough in housing we wouldn't be in the position that we are in right now. We should not be in this situation. People are being left without the opportunity to get into their homes, and this five per cent guarantee allows people to get into their own homes sooner. This has been the result of the Anthony Albanese government paying attention, listening and responding to what the community needs and deserves.

Right now in Cairns there are 490 modular homes being built for social and community housing. This is to help relieve the pressures in Cairns. Those 490 homes address 0.5 per cent of the entire housing population. Over the next 18 months, over 500 homes will be built in Leichhardt and the Far North. This will include infrastructure being placed in rural and remote communities to ease the overcrowding pressures we find in some of those communities.

This is a forward-thinking bill. It creates solutions to problems that have been decades in the making. With a five per cent deposit people don't have to wait 10 years to save up for a deposit for their first home. They can do it much, much sooner. Combined with the 20 per cent HECS debt reduction, people are getting excited about the prospect of owning their own little piece of Australia, about getting into the housing market and raising a family in a backyard the way their parents did, the way they grew up, the way that the Australian dream has always been positioned.

We're also making it easier to rent. There's the new rent-to-buy scheme, which will help other people get into their homes. The government can put in 40 per cent of the total value of a home, and you pay it off over time. When it's done, it is yours—your piece of the Australian dream. This is a great example of what happens when government finds solutions to problems and doesn't just sit there on its hands and blame other forces. It's taking the responsibility for a problem that was not ours in the making but is certainly ours to solve.

The Anthony Albanese Labor government understood, listened and responded, and it was a big part of what we took to the election. It was about increasing supply, making sure that there are more houses for people all over the country. We have banned foreign residents from buying homes for two years to increase that supply. We've invested billions in trunk infrastructure and modular housing to get these homes built faster. Modular housing can make construction time up to 50 per cent faster, getting people into their homes at a much quicker rate.

My parents owned their own home. They paid it off when I was 16 years old. It was one of their proudest moments. My children, through initiatives such as this, will also own their own home. They'll be able to purchase it in their 20s like my folks did, pay it off in their 40s like my folks did, and live the rest of their lives mortgage free. That is the ambition for our children. That is the ambition of this government: to recreate the opportunity for homeownership and open it back up to everybody, not just the privileged few who can get a bit of help from the bank of mum or dad or get those great big jobs. Everybody has the right to own a home, and this bill is about precisely that.

But what did we see from those opposite for the previous 10 years? Not even a housing minister. There was no-one to champion homeownership, no-one to help those who were doing it tough and who wanted to buy in the way their parents did, the way they saw their grandparents do, where they grew up in backyard that was theirs, with a pet or the ability to put up a swing set or put holes in the wall, as happens when you've got rambunctious children. This bill gives people that ambition. It gives them that dream.

As Darryl Kerrigan told us in The Castle, 'It's not a house; it's a home.' We're giving people homes. People love their homes. It's where all of the memories are made. The 490 homes being built in Cairns right now for social and public housing will create a community. Grandparents will meet their grandchildren there for the first time. Christmases will be held there. Memories will be made, love will be shared and a community will be developed on what was once an empty drive-in site where the last film shown was Pretty Woman. This is a much better use of that space. It is close to schools and close to amenities. It is a well-thought-out and well-delivered actionable part of these policies. It is going to make the lives of the people in my electorate better. I commend this bill to the House.

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