Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

That is a great question, and I thank the member for Melbourne for asking it. Australia has a housing challenge because for decades our country has not been building enough homes. That is why our Labor government has the boldest and most ambitious agenda on housing that a Commonwealth has had for 70 years: $47 billion, the majority of which is focused on building more homes.

We're making real progress. When we came to office, new commencements for housing were falling by 6.7 per cent. Get this: in the last year alone, new housing commencements have gone up 26 per cent. These are really important improvements, though we've got a long way to go. We recognise that there's more work to do here, and that's why we just delivered a housing budget with $2 billion set aside for enabling infrastructure. This is going to unlock 65,000 homes for the country by delivering the pipes, paths and power that communities need to support more homes. This brings our government's total investment in housing infrastructure up to a record $6.3 billion.

I want Australians to remember that number: $6.3 billion. It's been dropped to the paper by those opposite that they're coming forward with an overwhelming reform tonight to announce a lesser amount of funding: $5 billion for funding. We're already doing $6.3 billion, and not only that but we will add to that number as I continue to announce state based deals for our 100,000 homes policy.

We started this work in our first term and we're building it in our second. With regard to tonight's announcement, whenever I hear a commitment from these sneaky little Liberals and Nationals, I like to look at the record. I like to look at the record of their past behaviour and see whether it stacks up.

See this speech in context