Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness: why is the passage of the Housing Australia Future Fund so important, and what are the implications if it is delayed in the Senate?

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her important question. She of course in her previous role before coming to this place dealt with this issue on a day-to-day basis, and I thank her for all of the work she has done in that community. She does support the Housing Australia Future Fund because she understands the challenges Australians are facing. They are dealing with rising interest rates and they are dealing with rising rents, which is why we moved immediately last year to unlock $575 million to get more social and affordable housing on the ground quickly. It's also why at the very first opportunity we brought the Housing Australia Future Fund and other related bills into the parliament, which is why we want to get these bills debated. We want to make sure we're getting these homes on the ground as quickly as we can for the people that need them most. We know that on census night in 2021 almost 123,000 Australians were homeless—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barker will cease interjecting.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

123,000 Australians without a safe place to go home.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin will cease interjecting as well.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that turning all this around will take some national leadership. We also know we need to change the levers and we need to work with the states and territories, which is what the Housing Australia Future Fund is all about. It's about working with other tiers of government. It's about working with community housing providers. It's about working with institutional investors to get more houses on the ground more quickly. Today, as the Prime Minister has pointed out, we've heard from some critical organisations about why we need to get this done. Emma Greenhalgh from National Shelter said:

We badly need government investment and intervention and time is of the essence. This is a national crisis, action can not be deferred.

Here is a peak body of providers saying that this is urgent, because it is urgent. Of course we have Wendy Hayhurst from community housing, who said:

We need to get moving on building a better supply of social and affordable housing and these three pieces of legislation are important building blocks.

They know we have to get moving on this quickly because it is urgent and there are people on the ground who need us to get this done. Kate Colvin, from Homelessness Australia, said, 'It's important that the Housing Australia Future Fund, Housing Australia and other key bodies get going now,' because this is urgent. We need to get it done.

We are being told by these organisations that we need to get it done quickly, so I say to members in this place, particularly members of the coalition over here and members of the Greens: talk to your senators. Tell them how urgent it is that we get this done. Talk to some of these organisations. I say to them: what you are saying is 'no' to actually getting homes on the ground for people who need it most.