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

I thank the member for Dickson for her question. As Labor people, we share a really simple belief, and that is that homeownership should be available to ordinary Australians. Our government has now backed 1,700 people in the member for Dickson's electorate into their first home, and we're proud to have done it.

The member for Dickson recently talked to me about Matthew, a local teacher she met at a street stall. He came over to thank her. He's a middle-income earner, and he and his family have been able to buy their first home under our five per cent deposit program. Now, Matthew is far from alone. He is one of 230,000 Australians right around this country who have got into homeownership with our government's backing. This is a massive number of people. In fact, for the first time in Australian history, more than half of the first home buyers in the market are in the market with the support and the backing of their government.

The five per cent deposit program is hugely popular with the people who desperately need that support. But what is really extraordinary is that those opposite oppose this support—

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