Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Housing Australia Future Fund was a signature policy of the Australian Labor Party going into the 2022 federal election. Australians overwhelmingly supported that policy, and from the conversations that I have, and continue to have, in my home electorate on the New South Wales Central Coast this is one of the many reasons that people voted Labor. They understand that governments need to take urgent action to increase the supply of housing across the nation to address the affordability issue.

That is exactly what this policy will do. The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund will enable the Australian government to build 30,000 social and affordable houses within the first five years of this policy coming into effect. Importantly, these houses will be for our most vulnerable people and key, essential workers in our communities right across the country: vulnerable people like women over the age of 55—one of the fastest-growing demographics who are becoming homeless—or young Australians escaping family and domestic violence. It will mean more housing for police, more housing for nurses, more housing for teachers—those frontline workers, critical workers that our community requires and needs to function successfully.

On the Central Coast this policy cannot come sooner. There are 182 priority-assessed families on the waitlist for housing in my region. That is 182 Australian families without the protection, security and wellbeing that housing provides. More concerning, there is a total of 3,301 households on the housing waitlist in my region. How much longer will my people need to wait until those stalling the Housing Australia Future Fund act? I'm particularly frustrated, continually frustrated, by the hypocritical, self-righteous approach that the Greens political party continue to take on this important policy issue, because it affects people's lives. The Greens political party would rather have no progress at all if it is not on the terms and conditions that they want. What the Greens political party must understand is that Australians are watching and they are judging the Greens' blockade. The longer the Greens political party delay this policy, the worse the issue will become, because every day that this policy is delayed means millions that are not being invested into building more social and affordable housing. That means hundreds of millions of dollars every six months not going into increasing housing supply, all because the Greens political party and the Liberal Party are obstructing this policy from becoming law.

Despite the political games the Greens political party are inflicting on the Australian people, the Albanese Labor government has announced a range of housing support measures to immediately assist those in need. From our increases in the Commonwealth Rent Assistance, which will help 4,320 households in my electorate of Robertson, to our government's $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator payment going to our nation's state and territory governments, this immediate fund will be used by the state governments to build desperately needed housing for those on waitlists and to increase housing supply now. Although the Albanese Labor government will invest record amounts of funding towards housing, the Housing Australia Future Fund continues to be blocked by those opposite.

I wish to emphasise the urgent need for the Housing Australia Future Fund in my region. There are currently 13,658 people receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance who are in stress on the Central Coast. There is a construction shortfall of 12,169 houses in my region. This is being exacerbated by the continuing stalemate by those in the Greens political party and those in the Liberal Party. Who would've thought that the virtuous Greens political party would subscribe to the regressive tactics of the Liberal Party and block more social and affordable housing from being built? Here we are.

I commend community housing providers like Pacific Link Housing, who house approximately 2,500 people in the 1,200 properties across the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter regions. These social housing providers understand the perilous state of the housing market and are calling for increased funding to build more housing. Here is a policy to do just that, yet it is being blocked.

What I say to the Greens political party is: stop playing political games and pass the Housing Australia Future Fund for all Australians.

House adjourned at 17:00