Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the minister's statement on the five per cent deposits for all first home buyers brought forward by the Minister for Housing. Australia is in the middle of a housing crisis 40 years in the making. For 40 years, our country has not been building enough homes, and we've not been backing our first home buyers right across the country. This issue couldn't be more relevant than in my electorate of Gorton.

Stretching from Mount Cottrell in the south-west all the way to Keilor in the northern corner, Gorton is one of the youngest and fastest-growing electorates in the country. In Gorton, housing is about making sure that everyone has a roof over their heads, but, more than that, it also represents my electorate's hopes for the future. The median age in Gorton is 35 years old, one of the youngest in the country, and we have more than 40,000 residents between the ages of 25 and 39. This is the time in a person's life when settling down and starting a family is front of mind, and yet many in my electorate are still wondering whether they might ever be able to afford a home of their own.

Throughout the election campaign, I met thousands of young people and felt their anxieties about the future. Many of these young people were not where they thought they'd be. They were still renting or living with their parents. I spoke to a group of young people in their early 20s from a share house in Fraser Rise. Situated between Caroline Springs and Melton, Fraser Rise is a new suburb populated by young families and young people. It's part of the western growth corridor, made up of many new housing developments. The young people in this share house were studying, commuting to the Victoria University Sunshine TAFE and working a number of jobs. They told me that they felt homeownership was out of reach, and they couldn't think of a world where renting wasn't their only option.

These young people are not alone in their anxieties about the future. Housing is a life-defining challenge for millions of Australians today. Too many young Australians are being locked out of the housing market. Too many young Australians feel that they have no choice but to confront a future without a stable place to call home. That's why, from 1 October 2025, first home buyers will only need a five per cent deposit to buy a house—a five per cent deposit for every first home buyer, with no income limits, limits on places or house price caps.

Young people aren't an afterthought here. On this side of the House, we know that young people are the bread and butter of our country, our democracy and our future. This policy is for us. More on that, we're delivering this election commitment even earlier than we said we'd deliver it. We're delivering it three months earlier, from 1 October, because, on this side of the House, we understand the urgency of this issue. We understand that when we talk about the housing crisis, we're not just talking about housing, not just about a roof over your head. We're talking about a young person's future—what their future will look like, what challenges they will face. We're talking about a sense of certainty and stability. We're talking about an injustice in the challenges experienced between generations. We're talking about how invested Australians feel in their democracy, because when your future is uncertain, when it feels unjust, your sense of trust is eroded.

The five per cent deposit for first home buyers will cut years off the time it takes to save for a deposit. It will save thousands in lender's mortgage insurance and rental payments. It will help more people into their first homes sooner, gaining confidence in their future, closing the gap between generations. Under this program, a first home buyer could take up to eight years off the time it takes to save for a deposit on the median $844,000 home. Along the way, they could save about $34,000 in mortgage insurance and could pay up to a quarter of a million towards their loan—all of this, rather than paying rent, because young Australians should be paying off their own mortgages, not those of their landlords. Young Australians deserve financial stability.

This is what real cost-of-living relief looks like, and it's real cost-of-living relief for those out west. Since Labor came to government in May 2022, more than 1,800 people in Gorton have been able to buy their first home with a five per cent deposit or less, thanks to Labor's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme. That's delivering for young Australians, but we know that this five per cent deposit is far from a silver bullet, and that's why we're tackling the housing crisis at every single angle.

We're building more homes. In Labor's last term of government, we built 500,000 homes. We have 28,000 social and affordable homes, paid for by our government, currently in planning and construction. This term, we're working towards a bold, national aspiration for Australia to build 1.2 million homes in five years. Thanks to Labor's crackdown on the housing crisis, housing approvals are up 30 per cent and construction costs have stabilised. We're supporting our skilled construction workforce with more than 400 construction trade apprentices in Gorton benefiting from $5,000 incentive payments, helping to build the workforce Australia needs.

From 1 July 2025, Labor's Key Apprenticeship Program is offering up to $10,000 in incentive payments to apprentices commencing their careers in housing construction. This is huge, given the number of houses we need to build. I'm proud to represent a community made up of tradies, with many construction tradies living in my electorate. I'm excited that this program will incentivise so many of them to stay in the construction industry, where we need them most.

On this side of the House, we're committed to building more homes and helping Australians get into their own homes, but we know there are renters who need support now. That's why we're delivering rent relief for those doing it tough. We've delivered back-to-back increases to the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance—an increase of 45 per cent since we came to government. Commonwealth rent assistance has been received by more than 7,900 people in Gorton. This means more money in the bank for 7,900 household budgets in my electorate, taking pressure off the myriad financial pressures Australians feel today.

I'm not just proud that Labor is in this House tackling the housing crisis head-on, easing cost-of-living pressures for young Australians; I'm relieved. We know that those opposite think that young people raiding our superannuation for a house deposit is the way to go. They believe we should sacrifice what we've set aside for retirement, even though this will only force housing prices up and make it even harder for young people to get into the market. The coalition voted against Help to Buy and promised to abolish the scheme. They didn't support the build for 100,000 homes for first home buyers, and now they're attempting to raise taxes on builders and scrap 80,000 new rentals in the process.

Unlike the coalition, we have not given up on closing the generational gap of homeownership. We on this side of the House want people to own their own homes and get into the housing market as early as possible. We have young people on this side of the House, and we care about young people on this side of the House. On this side of the House, we're getting on with dealing with our housing crisis. We're not interested in blocking or delaying this reform. We're giving Australians—Australians like those young people in Fraser Rise, who felt like owning a home was an unrealistic expectation—a real chance at homeownership, something that felt unachievable before.

I am proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government who are building more homes and making it better to rent and easier to buy, because young people don't deserve to be locked out of the housing market. They deserve certainty in their future. They deserve access to a home.

Debate adjourned.

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