Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In 2000, the average age of a first home buyer was around 30. Today, the average age of a first home buyer is around 37. This is a symptom of the housing affordability crisis that has taken grip in this country for decades, ever since the Howard government's policies destroyed the housing market for future generations. They were warned. They chose to go ahead.

Younger Australians are no longer able to afford their own home. They're not even able to get their foot in the door for a rental property. Families who might have been able to afford their own home decades ago are now priced out of the market. The coalition, who claim to have the miracle cure for all our housing woes, did nothing during their decade of government. We on this side of the House recognise the enormity of the situation and that an ambitious plan is required to address many of the underlying issues. That is why the Albanese Labor government has committed an unprecedented $45 billion to build more homes, to make homeownership more affordable and to ensure that renting is accessible, secure and fair.

The Albanese Labor government's plan sets an ambitious national target of 1.2 million new homes. As Minister O'Neill says, yes, it is ambitious because it needs to be. This will involve lessening the burden of bureaucracy and red tape, ensuring there is infrastructure to service those new homes and to train more tradies who are at the heart of the process of the build. The coalition, on the other hand, did not set a single housing target during their 10 long years in government—not even a whisper of a target. They didn't even have a housing minister for six of those years. They cared so little. And now they try to tell Australians that this has only been an issue for four years. Talk about being out of touch!

The Albanese Labor government, not yet five years in, has already seen more than 570,000 new homes built nationwide. We're working with states and territories to ensure that planning reforms will have tangible benefits for communities. We're modernising methods of construction to ensure efficiency and reliability. We've seen the number of new home sales increase by 11.6 per cent in the last year alone. We've seen construction costs, which under the coalition had reached a 50-year high of 17 per cent, brought down by 1.8 per cent. It is an ambitious plan that's delivering ambitious results because these are big and complex issues that will require long-term commitment.

That is why the Albanese Labor government has also committed to, and is on track to, delivering 55,000 new social and affordable homes. If ever proof was needed that the coalition dawdled away a decade in government, they delivered just 373 social and affordable homes nationwide. With the Housing Australia Future Fund's first round of funding announced in September 2024, the government has already completed 6,000 new homes under that scheme, with 24,000 in planning and under construction—again, no surprises in terms of the coalition's determination to do all they can to do nothing. That's 6,000 new social and affordable homes built despite the coalition's dogged attempts to delay the housing fund. In fact, the coalition made it a centrepiece of their election commitments last year to cut the Housing Australia Future Fund—a trend they continue to this day, with their attempts to get rid of build-to-rent laws, Help to Buy and five per cent deposits, with no viable option to address the issue. All of these have been crucial in helping Australians to get into their own home; indeed, 230,000 Australians have already taken up the five per cent deposit. The shadow minister for housing—they now have one—has dismissed this scheme as a 'gimmick', which tells you all you need to know about attitude of those opposite towards broader homeownership. But by shaving years off the time you would normally take to save for a deposit, the Albanese Labor government is giving every first homebuyer the opportunity to buy a house now, with a small deposit and a smaller mortgage.

The concept of homeownership has often been described as a dream and it is the Australian dream. But we need to be using more concrete terms than 'dream'. Homeownership should be available to all Australians. Renting should be accessible, secure and fair because every Australian deserves a place where they can build their life, a place to raise a family and watch them grow, a place that provides warmth and security where memories can be made and celebrated—a place to call home.

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