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

I really thank the member for Paterson for her question. She is an absolute powerhouse in advocating for better housing opportunity for regional Australians. More than 2,000 people in her electorate have got into their first home with our government's assistance, and there are many more to come. We've put in place first home buyer assistance because we recognise that there is no greater aspiration than owning your own home, and Labor is delivering real change to help more Australians realise that dream. I want to tell you about Nicholas and Anthea, who have a little girl called Adeline. Like so many Australians, they were desperate to get into a home of their own. They saved for years, and they just could not make the numbers stack up. Then they found out about Labor's Help to Buy shared equity scheme. Nicholas told us that this changed everything for their family: 'Help to Buy allowed us to go from a small, rented two-bedroom apartment to a well-located three-bedroom townhouse close to shops, schools and family and made it affordable.'

It's pretty simple. Our housing policies are about helping Australians build a better future for themselves and their families, and, last week, the parliament took a critical next step towards that plan. I want to explain to the parliament how our approach fits together. We've got Help to Buy, which is delivering smaller mortgages for low- and middle-income families, we've got the five per cent deposit program that is helping Australians get to auctions years earlier, and now we've passed legislation so that, when a young family gets to an auction, they're on a level playing field with other first home buyers. Our government is firmly on the side of first home buyers.

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