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

I thank the member for Hughes for his question. We are just about to tick over 1,000 of his constituents getting into their homeownership opportunity with the support of our government. What a great moment for them. The member for Hughes and our government understand that there is no greater aspiration in our country than the aspiration to own your own home, and that's why homeownership is at the heart of our bold, ambitious Homes for Australia plan.

Today, in our country, more than half of all first home buyers in the market are getting support from the Albanese government to own their first home. We are almost at 270,000 Australians who have gotten into homeownership under our five per cent deposit program. The five per cent deposit program is all about getting first home buyers to auction sooner. Our budget reforms are about levelling the playing field when they get there and the results are starting to speak for themselves. On average, more than 115,000 first home buyers have purchased a home each year under our government. This is more than any other Australian government in our history.

I'm asked about alternatives. The coalition of the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation have spent years attacking almost every measure that our government has put in place to support first home buyers. You're not going to believe this: they want to cut Help to Buy, a program that does nothing more than help 10,000 Australians on low and median incomes get the opportunity they deserve to get into homeownership. They don't support the expansion of the five per cent deposit program and have said that they want to roll that back.

You're not going to believe this, but when it comes to our tax changes the shadow minister for housing has not only said that he wants to roll back the level playing field that we are creating but he actually wants to put investors on an even higher platform. He is talking about a new regime that actually gives a bigger CGT discount for investors. How could you come up with that idea?

It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that those opposite have declared war on our nation's aspiring first home buyers. But let's have a little look at what their constituents think.

The member for Hume, opposite me, is groaning. Well, he might be interested to know that 1,370 of his constituents have bought under the five per cent deposit program. The member for New England has decided not to show up today, but 2,292 of his constituents have bought under the five per cent deposit program. And the member for La Trobe—where's my friend the member for La Trobe?—should know we have supported 6,000 people in his electorate get into the dream of homeownership. That is far more than his margin at the last election.

It's abundantly clear now—those opposite are the only people in our country who can't see that we've got a broken housing market. To the young people of this country, I say: Labor sees you, we see your aspiration and we are giving you the support you need to get the homeownership opportunities you deserve.

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