Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What I can confirm is as a direct result—and it's there in the budget papers—is increasing housing supply by at least 30,000 as a direct result. The $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund will support up to 65,000 new homes over the decade. Budget Paper No. 1, statement 4, on page 158, says:

The measures in this Budget are expected to improve home ownership and increase the overall supply of housing.

That is what we are doing. This additional $2 billion takes our Homes for Australia plan to $47 billion. Whether it's increased public housing through our Housing Australia Future Fund, opposed so strongly by those opposite, whether it is private rentals through our build-to-rent scheme, whether it be our shared-equity scheme, whether it be our support for local infrastructure or whether it be the changes that we are proposing, which will ensure that people who want to negatively gear an investment property in the future will invest in new supply, therefore benefiting not just themselves but the nation as well—all of those measures, every single one of them, are about boosting supply as we go forward.

We're doing more than that as well, because we're reserving a whole range of those houses for first home buyers alone, making sure that we deliver on successful programs that are underway right around the country. But in addition to that, of course, we're making sure that the workforce is there to build those houses. That's why we have free TAFE. That's why we have a $10,000 incentive for construction apprentices or for electrical apprentices as well. All of it is opposed by those opposite, who didn't even bother to have a housing minister during most of their time in office.

Now, we want to make sure that we continue to give Australians a fair crack going forward. Those opposite have blocked every single housing measure that we've put forward. They delayed a whole range of them, along with their friends in the Senate. What we're doing is moving forward. Labor is the party of aspiration, and this budget last night shows that.

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