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

Again, what is truly hypocritical here is the group of people who sit opposite me—the vast majority of whom own their own home, many of whom own investment properties—and who are continuing to lock generations of young people out of the housing market.

It's really quite simple. You're either on the side of change and you're on the side of first home buyers, or you're the last man standing defending a broken housing market in our country. We are all going to get the chance on Thursday to come into the parliament and to again express our views on this issue. And I'll tell you what the Labor Party will be doing. The Labor Party will be coming into this parliament and we will be voting for a tax cut for every single one of Australia's 13 million workers. We will be voting to create a fairer housing market for Australians. I say again to those opposite: you must be blind if you cannot see how much our broken housing market is hurting Australians. How can you come into this House, again and again, defend the status quo and say that nothing needs to change?

I've spoken to the parliament before about the fact that a low-income young person in our country today is half as likely to own their own home than they were in the year that I was born. And do you know what those opposite want to do about that? Precisely nothing. Well, we have a different point of view. We see how much pain this is causing Australians. And to Australians who are watching at home, I want to say to you directly: 'We see you. We see the pain this is causing for you. We see you doing all the right things and trying to get ahead and not being able to do so.' That is why we are standing up and making a change, and if those opposite had any concern for the housing needs of Australians they would come with us.

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