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

There are lots of surveys that tell us that we are at the point where most young people in our country do not think they will ever own a house in Australia. Problems like this can become so big and difficult that people start to give up altogether, not because they lack ambition but because they believe the system will not reward their effort. After all, what is the incentive to work hard when the thing that matters most to you and your family is out of reach? Once a country starts losing belief in aspiration, the consequences reach far beyond housing. Helping more Australians into a home of their own is central to our plan for housing, and it is central to our vision for Australia.

Those opposite don't just want to vote against the changes that we are making; they want to roll them back. They are promising to reimpose a broken system on this country. If we take that approach, we're going to end up living in a country where whether you own a home depends on the wealth you inherited rather than the work that you did for yourself—and that is not Australia. Our government rejects that future. We believe aspiration belongs to every single person in this country, and that's what the legislation that the Treasurer introduced this morning is all about.

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