Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, it doesn't. It doesn't help at all. They introduced 400 new laws. All of that comes with a staggering $4.8 billion compliance cost to the economy. It's my community and my constituents in Monash who are feeling it the most. Local builders are tied up in paperwork instead of building homes. Local councils—and I work closely with Bass Coast Shire Council and Baw Baw Shire Council, and I acknowledge the City of Latrobe and the South Gippsland Shire Council—are trying their best with an overstretched infrastructure base and limited resources, but they are overwhelmed with compliance demands.

Only three years ago, in 2022, Labor massively expanded the National Construction Code, a code which now runs to nearly 3,000 pages, referencing more than 150 Australian standards, each at least 50 pages long, and often cross-referencing thousands more. This is Labor's version of cutting red tape. When the coalition called for a freeze on the NCC to give our builders, including those going to work right now, today, across the Monash electorate, the breathing room they so desperately needed, Labor accused the coalition of wanting to build 'shoddy' homes. Now, Labor are calling for the same freeze.

Labor's obsession with red tape in housing is just one symptom of a much bigger problem. While communities like mine in Monash are paying the price, Australia has now dropped five places in the IMD world competitiveness rankings. We sit at 37th in the world for business efficiency. That tells you everything you need to know. Labor made a big promise—1.2 million new homes by 2029 under their National Housing Accord. But, like so many of their promises, it was long on ambition and short on actual delivery and outcomes. Leaked Treasury advice has confirmed what Australians suspected all along: this target simply won't be met. The Labor government doesn't have a plan, and communities like mine, in the Monash electorate, are paying the price for it every day.

So often in this place we can be quite easily caught up on the material costs, but what we all do in this place matters. In particular, when speaking on a topic like this, it can be easy to forget that there is very much a human cost to Labor's housing crisis. This is unfortunately becoming increasingly evident every day. Under Labor's watch, homelessness isn't improving. In fact, it's going the other way and getting worse. I see this every week in my electorate of Monash, where people are doing it incredibly tough right now. Just last month, Homelessness Australia told the ABC that the current crisis is the worst in living memory. The number of people needing homelessness services has surged by 10 per cent since Labor came to office in May 2022. For women and girls that figure is even more alarming, with a 14 per cent increase in just two years. These aren't statistics. These are mums who are now sleeping in cars. These are young Victorians and other young Australians who are being pushed further and further to the edge.

The coalition understands that housing isn't just about the economy. It's about dignity, stability and having a safe place to call your home—a home that belongs to you and that means you have a stake in our nation too.

I know how serious the homelessness crisis is, especially for the most vulnerable in our community. I'm also cognisant that the situation is getting worse in towns across Australia. However, unlike Labor, I'm focused on practical solutions and so is the coalition. That's why I'm here: to help others. Victorians are doing it tough across west and south Gippsland, and they don't have time for more broken promises. They need action, not excuses.

Australians were told that this would transform housing supply, ease pressure on the rental market and support the most vulnerable in our communities, but two years on we're still asking the same basic question: how many homes has it actually built? The government doesn't seem to know and doesn't seem to want to say. This is what I will be fighting for every day. (Time expired)

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