Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Your budget spends a staggering $313 billion on Labor's stage 3 tax cuts for the wealthy, giving politicians and billionaires $9,000 a year, but has nothing for 5½ million renters who don't get Commonwealth rent assistance. In the middle of a rental crisis, why is Labor spending $313 billion on tax cuts for politicians and billionaires but can't find $1.6 billion a year to fund the Greens' plan for a rent freeze?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say respectfully to the Leader of the Greens—

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

The member for Spence is warned.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that if he cared about social and affordable housing, he'd vote for it. And if he cared about the pressure that people are under in the housing market, he would put his money where his mouth is in the Senate and support the Housing Australia Future Fund.

But as members on this side of the House are aware, that's not the only part of what is a broad and ambitious policy agenda that we have when it comes to housing, and I pay tribute to the housing minister and all of her colleagues for the substantial amount of attention and investment that housing gets in our budget. I was proud to announce from this dispatch box a little over two weeks ago that there would be new tax breaks, for example, for build-to-rent properties so that we can build somewhere between 150,000 to 250,000 new homes over the next 10 years according to the industry.

The big issue in the rental market, as I do believe the Leader of the Greens understands, is supply. We don't have enough homes. We need to build more homes. That's what the Housing Australia Future Fund is all about. That's what the Housing Accord is all about. That's what the tax breaks for build to rent are all about. That's what lifting the NHFIC cap for community-housing providers is all about. At the same time, the budget provided for the biggest increase in Commonwealth rent assistance for three decades.

We have a housing agenda which is broad and ambitious. We want to see it pass the parliament. The Greens have an opportunity to vote for social and affordable housing in the Senate. The time has come for an end to the ambit claims and the political games that have been played in the Senate when it comes to social and affordable housing. There are people who are counting on this place to pass the necessary legislation to build tens of thousands of new homes, including for women and kids fleeing violence. We want to see those homes built. We need the assistance and the support of the Senate in order to make that possible.