Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Housing changes lives. It provides safety, security, a place you can put down roots and build a brighter future. But, for decades, too many Australians have been locked out of the housing market. A longstanding shortage has made homes unaffordable, and our tax settings have made it worse. Housing has become an investment rather than a place to live. The reforms in this budget build on our work to change that, lifting our total investment in housing to a record $47 billion.

Already, our five per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers has helped more than 300,000 Australians previously locked out of the housing market into a home of their own. In my electorate, that number was 583 at last count. I met Codie in Rosebery in September 2024, who told me she bought her $690,000 new home with a five per cent deposit. We're also backing tax reform to help another 75,000 Australians realise that dream.

Beyond levelling the playing field, we're doing crucial work to address housing supply. The member for Nicholls was talking about new investment in infrastructure as though the coalition invented that policy. They said they'd go to the last election with a policy to do that. Well, we had a policy to do that under the Rudd government—$502 million at that time for the Housing Affordability Fund. It helped with projects like Plantation Palms in Mackay, where 400 homebuyers saved $20,000 each, and Edmondson Park, where 88 homes got a $25,000 rebate—hundreds of thousands of people helped then. We're also working with states to cut red tape and planning delays, to build tens of thousands of new homes.

And, of course, there's our $1.2 billion investment into crisis and transitional housing, which the member for Gilmore was talking about earlier. We're supporting people, particularly groups like women and children fleeing domestic violence, to find stable and safe accommodation in times of need. In my electorate of Sydney, we are already seeing those homes change lives. In 2024, Bridge Housing in Glebe opened its doors—stable, affordable homes. Last year, I opened the Boronia Apartments, a social housing project in Waterloo, with the state housing minister, Rose Jackson, who's doing such a great job. Last month, alongside Minister Clare O'Neil, we opened the new accommodation for the Haymarket Centre, helping people who have been homeless, many of them with mental health conditions or drug and alcohol dependence—beautiful new homes to provide them with a safe place to rebuild their lives. Living there has been a life-changing experience for people like Georgia, who I met on that day.

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