Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering housing reforms for Australians right across the country?

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

COLLINS (—) (): I want to thank the member for Macnamara. I know he understands that we were elected with an ambitious housing policy, and we've added to it at every opportunity. I know that he's also concerned about the number of renters in his electorate, particularly given that 30 per cent of Australians now rent.

We are working hard for Australia to turn around the housing challenges that we inherited. Last month we announced the $3 billion new home bonus and the $500 million Housing Support Program out of the National Cabinet. This is bringing states and territories together to actually do the planning and zoning reforms to add to housing supply right across the country. The new national target is 1.2 million homes over five years from 1 July 2024. We know that this is ambitious, but what we want to do is get supply on the ground right across the country because we understand that the answer to the issues, whether you are trying to buy a home or rent a home, is supply.

For the first time in history we've also had some progress on renters' rights. We're now working towards national consistency for renters so that, whether you're a renter or a landlord, right across the country you'll understand your rights and obligations. And we want to make sure that no renters anywhere in the country lose any existing rights. We're taking important steps to make sure that rental increases can occur just once a year in every jurisdiction. We're moving towards nationally consistent policies to require genuine, reasonable grounds for eviction and we're phasing in minimum rental standards across the country. These are significant, and they will make a real change for renters right across Australia.

Indeed, it's not just us saying this but experts and those working in the housing and homelessness area who say this. Our announcements have been welcomed, particularly by the Community Housing Industry Association, who described them as 'a real policy breakthrough'. National Shelter said it was 'long overdue reform'. And the Grattan Institute's analysis of our plans was headlined 'National Cabinet's new housing plan could fix our rental crisis'. In fact, the Grattan Institute said we could save renters $32 billion over the decade if we meet this target with our reforms—$32 billion over the decade in savings for renters.

We're getting on with the job now and we're planning for the future when it comes to housing in Australia. We've already unlocked $575 million; we have houses on the ground today because of that decision. We of course know there will be thousands more because of the $2 billion in social housing through the social housing accelerator. We are of course boosting rental assistance. Just this month, for those people who get CRA at the moment, we've funded a $1.7 billion one-year extension to the housing and homelessness agreement. And we've helped more than 67,000 people into their first home since the election. We're getting on with the job, working to turn around the housing challenges for Australians.