Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to support the member for Adelaide's motion and to join colleagues on this side of the House in reaffirming our support for increasing housing supply through investment in crucial enabling infrastructure.

Securing housing is a life-defining challenge for young people in this country. A generation ago, an average family in Australia would have been able to save up and buy their first home. That's not to say it was easy; they worked hard and it took plenty of time, effort and careful saving. When I speak with young people in my electorate of Banks about housing, they feel that, despite going out and getting a good education and qualifications, and working hard and saving like their parents and grandparents did, owning their first home in the community where they grew up is always a bit of a challenge to do.

Building more housing is a big part of the solution to this issue. That is why, in the budget handed down a fortnight ago, we are investing a further $2 billion to build the infrastructure needed to support new housing, which is too often one of the key barriers to getting more supply in the marketplace. The Local Infrastructure Fund will deliver crucial pipes, pavements and powerlines needed for the last mile of services, for turning empty blocks into new homes. This funding alone will enable the delivery of 65,000 new homes.

This investment isn't our first and certainly won't be our last. The $47 billion Homes for Australia Plan is making it easier to buy and better to rent and to build more homes. We are taking action on all parts of the housing challenge that stands before us. The plan is making it easier to buy with our five per cent deposit scheme, alongside the Help to Buy scheme, providing assistance to another 10,000 low- and-middle income earners into housing every single year. We're making it better to rent by working with the states to introduce minimum rental standards and bear-no-fault evictions, and getting more homes on the long-term rental market through incentives in the build-to-rent program.

Our work on housing supply is helping, with figures showing that commencements on new homes are up 26 per cent from this time last year. Since Labor came into office, we have seen more than 660,000 homes built across our country. The contrast with this government and those opposite could not be clearer. We have made $47 billion of investment to build more homes. That investment is almost 10 times what the coalition invested in almost a decade, in less than half the time.

While those opposite shout loudly about the issue, when push came to shove the coalition voted against the Housing Australia Future Fund. They voted against Help to Buy, build-to-rent and the five per cent deposit scheme. And who could forget that, for almost a decade in government, the Liberals didn't even appoint a housing minister. Thankfully, this government has both an incredible minister for housing and a terrific special envoy in this portfolio. While this government is taking action that is necessary, the coalition are retreating to scare campaigns about the rental market and the number of homes being built that they know aren't true. Once again, they are talking down Australia rather than being focused on solutions.

There is more work to do, but this government has a plan and is making real progress, with more direct investment in infrastructure and housing supply. This Labor government is focused on addressing our country's housing affordability challenge and doing all the necessary work across the sector and with communities to make sure we're addressing every step of that challenge.

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