Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member for Calare for his question and the really powerful advocacy he provides for people in his part of the world. He's absolutely right. I'm on my feet often, talking about the shape of this national housing crisis that's been cooking in our country for 40 years. It has a very, very important regional dimension, and I thank those—particularly on the crossbench, and I'd include Dr Haines in this—people who are consistently coming to me and speaking the voice of regional Australians and the need for us to continue to work with those of you in the bush who are struggling with housing.

The homeownership statistics in your part of the world are looking pretty good—I think there are about 1,300 people in the member for Calare's electorate who've got into first home ownership with our government's backing—but home building is going to continue to be an issue. The Housing Australia Future Fund is the centrepiece of our government's commitment to building 55,000 social and affordable homes around the country. Five thousand of those homes have already been constructed, and most of those have tenants in them. We've got about 25,000 that are in planning or construction. The remainder of the Housing Australia Future Fund has not yet been committed. What I would say to the honourable member is that Housing Australia has a requirement to deliver housing around the country, but I'd offer him the opportunity, if he'd like, for me to meet with his community housing providers to talk about the remainder of the HAFF money.

There are two really important funds that are being expended at the moment. One is the remainder of the Housing Australia Future Fund. The other is part of the $1.2 billion commitment that our government has made to building crisis and transitional accommodation around the country. I might add that that's 20 times what the coalition spent in nine years, and we're expending that in our first five years in government. This is another thing that the member for Calare might be interested in. So I'd say to the honourable member I'm really pleased to come and talk to you and your community about that.

And I will just say, to the parliament, all of us represent local electorates where there's housing need that's particularly acute. We've all got people in our communities that need and deserve extra support from our government on housing. After a nine-year period where the coalition built 373 social and affordable homes, we're building 55,000 over five years. Whatever you might like to say about housing, this is a really meaningful contribution to a national problem.

I meet the tenants who live in these homes. I hear how their lives have been radically changed overnight because, for the first time their lives, many of them have got access to secure housing. I'm thinking of a woman who I met in Adelaide recently, who was looking at becoming homeless late in her life. She's in a Housing Australia Future Fund home. It's changed her life and the life of her family, and we're going to do it 55,000 more times.

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