Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll direct some positive commentary, based in facts, to our guests here in the gallery today. The five per cent housing deposit is about assisting you and other young Australians, and any Australians wanting to own their own home—just a five per cent deposit. It's going to make a huge difference, as is fee-free TAFE and 20 per cent off your HECS debts—that, I'm sure, for those with HECS debts, is very much appreciated.

In my electorate, in Darwin and Palmerston, our government is assisting in unlocking more supply by, for example, in Palmerston, providing $11 million for upgrades in power and water—all those headworks that mean that our housing developments can happen quicker. We're also powering up with more than 70 household batteries already, under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which means that they're going to have next to no power bills. That again is going to make a big difference for families in my electorate.

The NT and Australian governments have signed a $4 billion partnership agreement on remote housing last year. That is to help deal with the massive overcrowding we see in a lot of our communities in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately, under those opposite, over 10 years, hardly any houses at all were built. We're turning that around. We need the NT government to do their job so we can get high-quality housing into remote Northern Territory in a timely way.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. I appreciated the lack of interjections in that one.