Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the Government is delivering on its commitments to ensure that more Australians have a safe and secure place to call home by:

(a) working with the states and territories to make renting easier, fairer, and more affordable;

(b) backing first home buyers with the expanded 5 per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers and the Help to Buy scheme; and

(c) building more homes, including more social and affordable homes around the country; and

(2) acknowledges that this housing delivery is already changing the lives of Australians who otherwise may not have had an opportunity to access home ownership or put a roof over their head.

One thousand and thirty—that's the number of social and affordable houses that this Labor government has helped deliver in my electorate of Maribyrnong. That's over 1,000 vulnerable and low-income Australians who now have a place to call home. That's over 1,000 homes close to the city, to public transport, to bulk-billing clinics and to other services. That's well over 1,000 people who can live and work in the communities that they love, where they are close to family and friends.

I've got another number for you: 373. That's the number of social and affordable homes that the coalition built in the nine years they were last in government. Don't let them fool you. There was a housing crisis back then too, yet not a single one of those 373 homes was built in my community—not one. This Labor government has delivered nearly triple the number of social and affordable homes in my electorate alone than those opposite delivered across the entire country in the nine years they were in government.

When it comes to housing in this country, there is only one party of government that's serious about tackling this crisis. Labor has 25,000 social and affordable homes either in construction or in planning right now across this country. We have been in government for half the time those opposite were, yet we're already delivering on our ambitious agenda to build 55,000 new homes. Why the stark contrast? As the member for Wright has said in the past, apparently there wasn't a housing problem in this country when they were in government. Seriously? Their heads were so far in the sand that they didn't even have a minister for housing. But this Labor government understands how big the task at hand is. Not only do we have a minister for housing in cabinet, we also have a special envoy for social housing and homelessness. Behind them sits a united caucus focused on delivering real housing reform, delivering for the communities we represent.

Our social and affordable housing target sits within a broader housing plan that includes making it easier to buy and making life better for renters. It's ambitious and it's backed by a $45 billion investment. Our Home Guarantee Scheme has been operating for six months and has allowed over 1,200 people in my community to buy their first home with just a five per cent deposit. This scheme is about helping young Australians and single parents enter the housing market that, for too long, they've been locked out of. When I speak to young people in my community, many of them raise the issue of housing. What was once considered an Aussie dream has turned into a living nightmare for them.

The reality is that, while this government have taken massive steps to reform our housing sector and deliver real solutions for the housing crisis, there is still a lot of work to do, and we acknowledge this. We also acknowledge that there are a lot of people out there who are still some time away from buying their first home. That is why we are delivering our build-to-rent program to help increase housing options for those who need it most. In my community, close to 2,000 new homes are under construction or in planning stages thanks to Labor's build to rent, and we've delivered the biggest back-to-back increase to the Commonwealth rental assistance in 30 years. This increase has helped over 6,300 low-income households in Maribyrnong to pay their rent.

When those opposite inevitably get up to speak, they'll complain and they'll whinge. But what young people, working families, single parents and low-income Australians should be asking them is this: Why did you vote against the help-to-buy scheme supporting 40,000 low-income Aussies into homeownership? Why did you vote against the build-to-rent program building 80,000 new long-term leases? Why did they vote against the five per cent deposits and decry the building of 100,000 new homes? Those opposite have simply given up on homeownership, on renters and on supporting young people.

Labor has not given up. We're stepping up. Australia's housing crisis didn't happen overnight, and it won't be fixed overnight either. But this Labor government has made a commitment to an ambitious plan that is aimed at chipping away at the problems that have been left unchecked for generations. Young people deserve a chance at entering the housing market. Working families, especially single-parent households, deserve stability. Renters deserve the rights and freedoms to make the house they live in their home. Labor is working every day to deliver more and more of our massive housing plan, and it's about time that those opposite stop standing in the way of the Aussie dream of homeownership.

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