Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to back first home buyers and build more homes? What is standing in the way?

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I really want to thank the fantastic member for Jagajaga for her question. I know, like everyone on this side of the chamber, she is so excited that our government has opened up a realistic pathway for tens of thousands of more young people every year to get into the dream of homeownership in our great country. In her electorate, about 500 people have already taken up the opportunity of getting into homeownership through our five per cent deposit scheme. I hope to see many more over the coming three years. They will have their local member of parliament to thank for that.

Our government understands that housing is a life-defining challenge for many people around our country. That's why we are taking our government on a journey from the complete negligence and ignorance about the housing crisis that was demonstrated by those opposite over nine years to building the boldest and most ambitious housing agenda that our country has had at the Commonwealth level for 70 years.

Of course, we know that the answer to our housing crisis is ultimately that we've got to build more homes more quickly, and that's why the majority of our government's $43 billion housing agenda is focused on building, building, building. We're seeing real progress on this. You've heard me say to the parliament before that we've got new housing starts up 17 per cent on where they were a year ago.

When we took office from those opposite and their shambolic dealings with housing, construction costs were rising at a historic 17 per cent. They're now rising below inflation. We're supporting modern methods of construction. We're training more tradies; tens of thousands have gone through fee-free TAFE with our government's support. Perhaps most importantly of all, we're doing something that the Commonwealth has not done at scale since the postwar period, and that is that we are building tens of thousands of homes—55,000 social and affordable homes—for Australians in need.

The Opposition's approach to our agenda defies any sensible words. I want to point to the reaction to the five per cent deposit scheme. This expansion is genuinely going to make meaningful shifts for thousands of young people around our country who are desperate to get into their own home, who need and deserve our government's support, but the shadow housing minister is particularly opposed to this expansion of homeownership. He's called it bizarre and ridiculous and he's said that this policy will help the children of billionaires get into their own homes. How absolutely out of touch do you need to be to make a foolish statement like that—as if the children of billionaires are taking out 95 per cent loans to buy a two-bedroom home in the member for Jagajaga's electorate. It's an insult to the 180,000 people who have already used this program and the thousands more who will get into it.

Those opposite did nothing when they were in opposition. They spent three years trying to hold our government up for doing important work. We are undeterred. We've got $43 billion on the table to build more homes, help renters get a better deal and, yes, get more Australians into homeownership.