Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government knows and understands that Australia is facing one of the most severe housing crises in its history. We do have skyrocketing costs of homes, increasing rent prices and an undersupply of housing. It's placing immense pressure on Australians. This crisis was decades and decades in the making; it didn't pop up overnight. It's not only affecting prospective homeowners but also having a profound impact on renters, low-income households and now even middle-class Australians, who are struggling to afford housing in major cities.

In metropolitan Adelaide, where I live, the median price of housing is close to a million dollars. It's a figure that was basically unheard of in the pre-COVID era. There are many causes. They are generational, inextricably linked and complex. They are difficult to solve. They include housing supply, high demand and investor dominance in the housing market, which makes it nigh on impossible for first home buyers to enter the market, plus rising construction costs and supply chain disruptions, which began during COVID, have kept going and are now being exacerbated by the conflict in the Middle East. There's also a shortage of the skilled labour required to build the houses we need.

But within this challenging environment—which is being led by a very activist, driven and consultative Minister for Housing, who is encouraging Commonwealth, state and territory and local governments to work together to pull in the same direction—the Albanese Labor government is acting. One of the key announcements in the recent federal budget was the $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund. It will be dedicated to enabling works, which are one of the key barriers that complicate the delivery of housing supply. Enabling works are the initial steps taken on a worksite before construction can begin, like the water, roads, pipes, powerlines, pavements and utilities. It's the practical work that means a house can be built. Enabling works unlock supply, and that's what the Local Infrastructure Fund is all about.

Then, in my community of Sturt, just under 500 people have taken advantage of the five per cent deposit scheme that's available to first home buyers, which has helped them into their first home. Some people will argue that 500 people is not many and that this scheme is not doing much in Sturt, but that view is wrong—share that view with the 500 people who now have secure housing, a roof over their head that belongs to them and their own place on the earth that they wouldn't have had without this scheme. Five hundred first home owners is 500 first home owners while 75,000 of them over the decade is 75,000 new first home owners.

In Sturt, we also don't have the same level of social and affordable housing as some other electorates do. Again, some have said, 'Well, what's the point?' But in Sturt the housing accelerator project has helped low-income households get into secure, quality housing that's in a good location which is close to transport links, supermarkets, schools, parks and the city. It's a small number in my electorate, but so what? Any progress when it comes to first home buyers or social and affordable housing is good progress. Sometimes it takes baby steps. Like the interminable renewable energy debate we have in this country, increasing housing supply also takes time and effort.

We need to act promptly, and we are, but we also need to be patient. A target of 1.2 million homes is ambitious, but we need to be ambitious when it comes to housing. A target of 55,000 social and affordable homes is ambitious, but why would we strive for anything less? To be clear, these targets, which this government is striving to meet, are in place for the betterment of the Australian people. We are determined to meet these targets to provide the quality housing that people deserve. What would help is bipartisanship, encouragement and a shared commitment that meeting these targets is good for the Australian people, not gleeful proclamation that targets won't be met nor feverish speculation about how many homes won't be built. We need to say yes to schemes that help people to buy, to schemes that help people to rent and to doing whatever we can reasonably to increase housing supply for the Australian people.

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