Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The biggest announcement out of last week's Canberra talkfest was Labor's partial adoption of a coalition policy to freeze the construction code which we developed to make it cheaper to build homes. And today Labor announced a revised Morrison government policy which we developed to help Australians get into their first home with a smaller deposit. Prime Minister, why did it take a three-day talkfest for you to realise that coalition policies work and Labor policies fail?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. She is very bold to say that coalition policies work when it comes to housing, because, for most of the time they were in office, they didn't even bother to have a housing minister. We on this side of the House have a $43 billion Homes for Australia plan, almost every element of which wasn't just opposed by those opposite and the Greens members for a period of time in what I dubbed the 'no-alition'; they continued to oppose it and they continue to oppose the announcements that we made over the weekend and again this morning. They continue to oppose them. Tonight, indeed, the Senate is debating a coalition motion to abolish the build-to-rent program. That is a program to support increased private rentals, with some 80,000 being built. It's been developed with the Property Council, but those opposite hate it so much they're moving a disallowance motion on it.

We know they opposed the Housing Australia Future Fund. Housing Australia Future Fund projects are being contracted and some are already underway. The fund was delayed, of course, by those opposite. In the electorate of Farrer, 54 homes have been built in Thurgoona; in Canning, 40 homes in Golden Bay; in Lindsay, 135 homes in Penrith; in Page, 32 homes in South Grafton and nine in Casino; in Moncrieff, 213 homes in Southport; in Goldstein, 37 homes in Hampton East; in Berowra, 48 homes in Thornleigh and 10 in Pennant Hills; and, in Herbert, 81 homes in Cranbrook. Right around the country people are benefiting from the Housing Australia Future Fund, which will build social and affordable homes. But they opposed it, like they opposed the Help to Buy program, which is about shared equity schemes. Of course, on the increase to homeownership with a five per cent deposit, this is what Andrew Bragg, the shadow minister for housing, has had to say: 'We will work to try to stop these crazy ideas coming into existence.' That is what he had to say, and then they asked a question, saying that it's their policy. If it's their policy, not only in the last term did we see them oppose everything that we put forward, but now they're opposing, according to themselves, their own policy as well.

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

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering on its commitment to help more young Australians and first home buyers realise the dream of homeownership, and what is standing in the way?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macnamara for his question. He's a big supporter of affordable housing. He's doing great work as well as the Special Envoy for Social Housing and Homelessness. The area that he represents is where this front line of services often is, and I thank him for the work that he's doing, not just on behalf of the government but also on behalf of needy Australians.

This morning I was in Lawson, a suburb here, with the wonderful member Alicia Payne, and it's in her seat. Today, we were with a young couple, Lachie and Abby. They finished university a short time ago at the University of Wollongong and have moved back to Canberra. And, at age 23, they were able to get into homeownership as a direct result of the five per cent policy. They've been able to get a puppy—it doesn't come with the home; that's just an added bonus—and little Chilli was very cute, I've got to say. They're an example of a family who are really benefiting directly from government policy.

In April, at our campaign launch, in Perth, we committed to give every first home buyer the chance to buy their own home with just a five per cent deposit, and to cover the cost of lenders mortgage insurance. We said these changes would start on 1 January next year, but we want to get on with it, which is why we've brought it forward to 1 October. Together these changes wipe years off the time it takes to save for a loan. Instead of having to pay to assist someone else's mortgage—or what they did for a short period of time, which was to stay in Canberra with Abby's parents—what they've been able to do is get themselves into homeownership, putting those hard-earned dollars into an asset that will serve them for the future.

This announcement builds on action we announced just yesterday about boosting supply—fast-tracking 26,000 homes that are waiting for environmental approval, encouraging more prefab and different construction types to build more homes more quickly and pausing the National Construction Code for four years. My government is determined to help people in homeownership, to help people into rentals and to help social housing as well, which is precisely what it is doing in spite of the opposition of those opposite.