Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

It's interesting that we stand up, at the start of another parliamentary week, and Australia is still gripped by a fuel crisis, a cost-of-living crisis and, importantly for today's motion, a housing crisis. The member who moved this motion today, I would expect, should have been reading off the talking points given to her by her own minister, but, instead, I heard some terms that were very familiar to me. It's a message that I have said over and over in this place, and that is that the great Australian dream is turning into a nightmare under this Labor government. Full credit to the member for Maribyrnong, because she actually recognised that today. This government are painting themselves to be the great defender of housing, but, in actual fact, they are the vandals. They are the vandals of the great Australian dream.

I say that this is turning into a nightmare for Australians because this is a crisis that touches every single demographic impacted by housing. We know that everyone needs a roof over their head. What I see in this crisis is that it doesn't matter which end of the spectrum you're at; you are impacted. If you're a person who is fortunate enough to own a home with a mortgage, you are now paying $27,000 a year more in interest than you were in May 2022, when this government came into office. If you're a renter, your rent is up by 22 per cent. Homelessness is on the rise. Seniors and our most vulnerable are feeling insecure about their futures in housing. For this government to come in here today and suggest that all is tickety-boo and on the right track is quite deceptive in my suggestion. The recent speaker, the member for Adelaide—again, maybe reading off my talking points—said that the dream of homeownership is slipping away. I couldn't agree more.

The real solution that the Australian people have at hand is the election of a coalition government. I want to outline why, fundamentally, that is where the starting point for a solution needs to be. We must unapologetically defend Australian values. One of those values is the ability to have your own self-determination of where you live, and that can only be delivered through homeownership. We want our country to once again be one of opportunity, aspiration, freedom and safety. All of those things are delivered through having a home of your own.

We must restore Australia to a country where life is affordable, where our kids can buy a home, where you can raise a family and where there's a fair go once again. We must again become a country of strength and unity. All Australians—especially young Australians out there, who I know are feeling pretty depressed in these current times and under this Labor government about their prospects of owning a piece of Australia—deserve the stability that's been afforded to generations of Australians, the stability and the security that comes from homeownership. We know that only the coalition will re-establish homeownership as the centrepiece of the Australian dream.

One wonders why this government have set a headline target of 1.2 million homes over five years when they know full well that they cannot deliver on that promise. This is nothing more than a press release that is out there to try and create some sort of idea that there is a solution ahead; there is not. This government have done nothing to change what delivers housing, so, as a result, they are falling further and further behind their 1.2 million homes target. What does that mean? It's created false hope for young Australians. There are fewer tradies in the system. Overall, the government are falling about 80,000 homes short of this target already. They have broken the system and have no solutions to fix it.

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