House debates

Tuesday, 23 May 2023

Statements by Members

Housing

1:45 pm

Photo of Michael SukkarMichael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | | Hansard source

With new dwelling construction at its lowest level in over 10 years, housing investment dropping even further and Australians struggling through a housing crisis, Labor now plans to increase migration to 1½ million people by 2027. Where does the government think the people in this enormous influx are going to live? We know there's no coherent housing plan from the Labor Party to house those extra 1.5 million Australians. Labor have completely given up on younger Australians ever owning a home, and they've given up on young Australians who are suffering in the rental market at present.

The floundering Housing Australia Future Fund, which is in absolute tatters, is a dodgy scheme from the government that is being held up in the Senate for very good reasons, because it does not guarantee one dollar for social and affordable housing. A government that's committed to improving housing outcomes should be delivering. Even worse than that, the government's lofty ambitions of 30,000 homes over five years, supposedly to house 1½ million people, have now been downgraded to fewer than 10,000 homes, because the government have said they will only deliver 1,200 to each jurisdiction. Shame on Labor!