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

I thank my friend the member for Gellibrand for his question. In part because of his strong advocacy, 2,060 Australians in his electorate alone have purchased their first home with the support of our government. I know there will be many more to come after our government's historic expansion of homeownership opportunities which took effect on 1 October.

Our country is in the midst of a housing crisis that's been building for 40 years. After a decade of neglect, our government has built the most ambitious housing agenda that a Commonwealth government has had since the postwar period: $43 billion to build more homes, to get renters a better deal and to get more Australians into homeownership. We are delivering on those promises. We promised we'd back in first home buyers, at the election, and not only did we deliver that promise we did it three months earlier than we said we would.

The member asked me about alternatives. There is an alternative sitting opposite. But, I have to say, on housing, I am starting to find it really difficult to know what it is that the coalition stands for. This is a party that says it supports homeownership. It does not have a single policy to support the young people of this country to get better housing opportunities. We've got a coalition here that opposes our government's expansion of homeownership opportunities to young Australians. When did the Liberal Party of Australia give up on homeownership for Australians? It might be around the time they gave up on the idea of lower taxes—remembering that this so-called lower taxes party went to the election saying they were going to increase taxes on every single Australian.

They've given up on budget discipline. They gave us nine budget deficits and a trillion dollars of Liberal debt to manage. They've given up on environmental conservation. They support government-funded nuclear power plants, not the cheap renewables that the market prefers.

I increasingly find myself looking on that side of the House and thinking: what on earth is it that connects this disarray? Now, they may be in total dysfunction. We are focused on delivery. Our government backs first home buyers. We have now helped 197,000 Australians get into a home of their own, and I want every single one of them to know that, if it were up to the coalition, they would still be renting. I want the member for Wright to say to the 2,256 Australians in his electorate that he would prefer that they were still renting, not having the home ownership opportunities they're getting under our government.

Those opposite might have given up on the great Australian dream, but our government hasn't. To Australia's first home buyers: we see that you are struggling. You face a big challenge, but we are on your side, and we always will be.

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