Basem Abdo (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Owning your own home is a shared dream for most Australians. There is the joy associated with a home, but, importantly, there is a sense of stability and security. I want that for all Australians who aspire to it. We know that people are working hard, doing everything right—saving, renting and sacrificing—and still, for too many, the dream of owning a home seems out of reach.

This is not just an economic challenge; it is about whether Australians feel secure in their future. It is about whether young people believe they can enjoy the opportunities their parents had. It's about whether single parents or young couples starting a family can put down roots in a community they love. That is why the Albanese Labor government has taken bold action. From 1 October this year, three months earlier than promised, every first home buyer will be able to purchase with a five per cent deposit. Single parents will continue to be supported to buy with as little as two per cent. This is about cutting years off the time it takes to save. It is about avoiding thousands of dollars in what is so often inhibitive with the lenders mortgage insurance, and it is about turning rent payments into mortgage payments so people are building equity in their own home.

This policy provides a real opportunity for all Australians looking to buy their first home. For a median priced home in Australia, of around $844,000, it can take up to 13 years to save the old 20 per cent deposit. Thanks to Labor's reforms, that wait is cut by up to eight years. Instead of needing nearly $170,000 up front, a first home buyer would need just $42,000. They will avoid paying around $34,000 in lenders mortgage insurance to a bank. That is not just policy on paper; it is life changing reform for ordinary Australians—a game changer for millions of Australians.

Think of a young apprentice in my community, living at home with their parents while saving for the future. In my community, most often, they don't have access to the bank of mum and dad. They're working hard and putting money aside each week, but with Melbourne's median house price sitting at around $922,500, the old 20 per cent deposit meant needing about $185,000 up front. For many in my electorate that could take more than a decade to save, and by then the dream of homeownership has often slipped away. Under Labor's reforms, that same young worker would need $46,000. Additionally, they'd avoid tens of thousands in mortgage insurance, and, crucially, they'd be investing in their own future sooner instead of paying rent, week after week.

Or take a young family in my electorate, raising kids and saving every spare cent. With the median house price in Calwell at about $832,500, a 20 per cent deposit is almost $167,000. Even families who manage to save that much still face huge barriers because, on top of it, they risk losing another $30,000 to $35,000 in lenders mortgage insurance. This is the fundamental unfairness our government is tackling—the unfairness for Australians who do everything right but still find themselves locked out of homeownership.

In electorates like Calwell, the demand for this scheme is among the highest in the country. This reform is not theory; it's the difference between a dream deferred and a dream realised. In my own electorate, this policy is already making a difference. Between May 2022 and April of this year, 1,430 households in Calwell have taken up the Home Guarantee Scheme. That means another 2,360 people in my community are now homeowners, thanks to Labor's reforms. Calwell has the fifth highest take-up in the entire country. That shows how families in my electorate are responding to the Albanese Labor government's reforms aimed at providing security of homeownership, and it proves that extending this scheme to everyone is the right policy approach.

The fact that Calwell ranks fifth nationally for take-up tells us something, too. Demand is not concentrated in just the inner suburbs of our major cities; it is spread across our suburbs. It's in the outer suburbs, in the regions and in communities right across the country. This is why removing the old income caps and increasing the property caps matters so much. In practice, these changes mean a nurse or a teacher in my community, who may earn just above the previous threshold, will now be eligible. It means that, instead of being restricted to buying a small flat far away from their support networks, first home buyers can now look at homes that meet their needs and reflect real prices in their areas.

These changes are about fairness, but they are also about common sense. They make the scheme usable, accessible and relevant to more Australians. We know this alone won't fix the crisis that has been decades in the making. The long-term solution is to build more homes and to address housing supply. That is why our $43 billion housing agenda includes 55,000 new social and affordable homes, 10,000 homes dedicated to first home buyers, 80,000 long-lease rentals to give renters security and a national aspiration to build 1.2 million homes in five years in partnerships with the states, territories and industry.

We're also backing the workforce with fee-free TAFE and a $10,000 incentive for new apprentices in priority trades so we have the skilled tradies needed to deliver. This is the most ambitious housing program since the Second World War.

In the first term of this government, we took the Commonwealth from being an indifferent, irresponsible bystander under the coalition to being the boldest and most ambitious federal government on housing in generations. We have done this while delivering results. More than 180,000 first home buyers have already used our lower deposit scheme. Around 6,000 more first home buyer loans are in each year under Labor than during the near-decade of coalition government. In the first year alone, Australians are expected to avoid more than $1.5 billion in lenders mortgage insurance costs because of these reforms. This is real money back in the pockets of families, particularly young families. It is real hope restored to those who thought homeownership was beyond reach.

You have to ask: what were those opposite doing in the near-decade they were in government? This housing challenge was avoidable, yet they did nothing about it, preferring to fight culture and climate wars instead of building homes for Australians. Still, those opposite continue to stand in the way. The coalition voted against Help to Buy, they promised to abolish the very scheme that is helping people into homes right now, they refused to back our commitment to 100,000 homes for first home buyers and, after nearly a decade of neglect in office, the opposition have still learnt nothing. They gave us just 373 social and affordable homes in a decade. Contrast that with the half a million built under Labor in just three years. The choice could not be clearer. Labor is on the side of first home buyers; the opposition is not.

Housing is about more than supply-and-demand charts. It is about whether Australians believe that, if they work hard, they can build a better future. With this reform, we are telling first home buyers: The Albanese Labor government is on your side. We will cut the years you need to save. We will stop you being penalised with costly mortgage insurance. We will help you move from renting to owning sooner. This is fairness. This is aspiration. This is Labor making the Australian dream of homeownership real again.

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