Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. The first point to make is that, if the Liberals are so concerned about the Housing Australia Future Fund and its contribution to providing more houses in this country, then they should have supported the Housing Australia Future Fund much earlier than they did. The Housing Australia Future Fund is now making an important contribution to the building of houses in this country. Indeed, in the Leader of the Opposition's own electorate, there are 54 homes in Thurgoona which are currently part of the first tranche of the Housing Australia Future Fund's projects. In the member for Lindsay's electorate, there are 135 homes in Penrith which are being pursued. In the member for Moncrieff's electorate, 213 homes are being pursued.

Since we have come to government, half a million houses have been built. That includes 5,000 social and affordable houses. In the nine years that those opposite were in government, the number of social and affordable houses that they constructed was 313—313 in nine years. What we have done is the biggest investment in housing that we have seen from a federal government. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a critical part of that because we care about providing affordable housing in this country. What we have over on that side is enormous hypocrisy and a massive gap between what they say and what they do, but the Australian people absolutely saw through it.

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