Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As those listening may or may not realise, those opposite—the coalition—were in government for nine years and were an absolute joke when it came to housing, not just social and affordable housing but all housing measures. They didn't even have a minister for housing at the get-go. What is so disgraceful about that is that it is such a life-defining challenge for so many Australians. I'll speak from the point of view of the people that I represent in the Territory. We are tackling it in a way that is increasing supply—that's exactly what we need—through a $45 billion comprehensive, multifaceted plan. That is focused on three things: (1) building more homes—the supply I just talked about—(2) making it easier to purchase a home, and (3) making it better for renters as well.

Real progress is being made right across the country and in the Northern Territory. When it comes to home building, we have a very ambitious target of 1.2 million homes, and I believe in ambitious targets. It's something that we're getting after. There will be people saying that we're not doing enough, but, when you consider that in the whole time of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government—in just one year, we've built more social and affordable homes than they did over nine years or so. We are doing the work that needs to be done by cutting red tape, delivering new infrastructure and training more tradies—the people that actually build the homes—right across the country. We are working with states and territories to implement real and substantial planning reforms, and we are scaling up modern methods of construction, such as the modular housing piece, which has got real potential to be a big game changer.

Home building is turning around, with new home start-ups at 11.6 per cent, an increase on this time last year. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council have recently released their quarterly report, showing that the National Housing Accord is delivering early results of solid growth in housing supply and improving construction conditions across Australia throughout the first five quarters of the accord period. So we're back in the game of building more social and affordable housing, with over 150 homes on the way in the Territory under the Housing Australia Future Fund. We need a lot more stock than that in the Territory, but 150 are on the way there.

We have also provided support for more first home buyers from Darwin to get into homeownership by increasing the property price cap for the five per cent home deposit scheme. I thank all of those stakeholders in Darwin and Palmerston and the greater rural area there, where we have now got a two price cap system, as they do in the states, to take account of the higher price of purchasing a house in Darwin. From 1 July 2026, around the Territory it's going to be still at the $600,000 mark, which reflects that market, but for Greater Darwin, we've increased that cap to $750,000. That is a result of listening to Territorians, particularly those people that I represent in Darwin and Palmerston, and reflecting what they need to achieve the Australian dream and the Territory dream.

This change brings the NT in line with the other states, as I mentioned, but it makes sure that our cap is aligned with the realities of our market. It gives homebuyers in Darwin, Palmerston, the rural area and Greater Darwin more choice. Hundreds more Territorians will be able to get into homeownership years sooner because of this change, and it'll also save them tens of thousands of dollars on lender's mortgage insurance.

The five per cent deposit scheme has already helped more than 1,800 people in the Northern Territory move into their first home since we came into government. It has been welcomed by people like Luis Espinoza at HIA NT, who is one of those stakeholders in my electorate that I want to thank for their advocacy, as well as Ruth Palmer from the Property Council. I thank all Territorians for their support of that policy.

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