Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, 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 for aspiring first home buyers? What are the risks to this approach?

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

I want to thank the member for Gorton for her question. She is an extremely powerful voice for housing action within our caucus. She's coming from a very particular perspective. Not only does she represent one of the great growth corridors in Melbourne—housing is a massive issue in her constituency—but we have here a member of a younger generation who faces housing opportunities radically different from those of their parents and grandparents. She has talked to me again and again about her desire for our government to step in and do every single thing we can to help young Australians get better housing opportunities.

That is why our government has made an historic expansion for homeownership support for young people. Since 1 October, every single first home buyer around our country is eligible to get into the housing market with a five per cent deposit and our government's backing. This was, of course, an election commitment made by our prime minister at our campaign launch. We said that we'd do it by 1 January, and guess what? We've delivered it three months earlier than we promised—delivery, delivery, delivery! If our government sees that we can deliver support to Australians faster than we promised, we will make it happen.

This policy is already having life-changing impacts for people who live in the member for Gorton's electorate, in my electorate and the electorates of every person around this chamber. We have now helped 190,000 Australians get into their first home because of our expansion of this scheme. It is amazing. I talked before about the situation for young people who live in Sydney.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

I'm getting snide remarks from those opposite, but I'd encourage them to listen to their constituents, because they're giving our parliament a clear message. They want more housing support, and that's what our government is giving them.

We know that a young couple in Sydney was having to save for about 11 years for a home deposit. That's a young couple who are well into their 30s who are still paying off someone else's mortgage rather than their own. Our expansion to this program will bring that back to two to three years. This is really meaningful change for the young people around this country. On housing, as with other issues, Labor is getting on with the job of delivering what we promised. The coalition are just getting on each other's nerves. They're much more focused on writing their own leadership manifestos than they are about having anything meaningful to say.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause and the manager will raise his point of order.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance, the minister just said she's moving to other matters, so if she's finished her answer she should sit down.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House on the point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always been the case that, in any question, there can be moments of 'compare and contrast'. That's a principle long established, including by Speaker Smith.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The manager raises a point of order. I understand the concept here. She wasn't asked about alternative policies or alternative approaches, so she will have to make sure that her remarks are relevant. So the manager is correct. She's straying into a sledge on the opposition—a comment about the opposition—that wasn't part of the question. So we'll just get her to return to the question.

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

The point that I'm making is that we've got a government on one side of the House that's focused on delivery of our absolutely massive housing agenda, and we have an opposition that is absolutely in the wilderness, without a single sensible thing to say about one of the most important issues facing our country. The Australian people deserve a government focused on delivery, and that's what they are getting from us. There are 190,000 Australians in their own home because of our government's program, and there will be thousands more to come as we expand that program from 1 October.