Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All of us come to this place to make sure that we are creating a better world for future generations. Unfortunately, not all governments have had that at the forefront of their minds. It is hard to be a young person in Australia. They're studying longer, they're juggling multiple jobs, and they're paying more for housing, food and other necessities. Yet they're feeling further away from basic milestones that once defined the cornerstone of Australian life. For many young people, home ownership feels out of reach, stable employment feels uncertain, and the promise of a secure climate and healthy planet is no longer taken for granted. Let's be clear: this didn't happen by accident. It's the result of a decade of neglect and deliberate sabotage by the former Liberal-National government: 10 years where wages flatlined, 10 years where housing affordability went backwards, 10 years where university and TAFE fees went up, and 10 years where climate change was seen as an inconvenience instead of the defining challenge of our generation. But, unlike those opposite, who continue to ignore and demean young people, Labor is listening and delivering.

Unfortunately, Sydney is the second-least affordable housing market in the world, second only to Hong Kong. The challenges in the housing market have been brewing for decades. It is too hard to build, too hard to buy and too expensive to rent. That's why Labor went into the election with a promise to expand the First Home Guarantee scheme. As of 1 October, every single first home buyer around this country is now eligible to get into the housing market with just a five percent deposit supported by the Albanese government—no matter their income, and with no limits on placements. With the First Home Guarantee scheme, a young couple in Sydney would on average save 11 years and $23,000 in lenders' mortgage insurance getting into the property market.

And we didn't just deliver our promise; we delivered three months early, because Labor also recognises that we need to increase housing supply and build more homes. The Albanese Labor government is investing $43 billion to build more homes for Australians. We've established the Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion investment that will build 30,000 new social and affordable homes over five years. And Labor governments, at both the federal and state levels in New South Wales, are making it easier to build homes by cutting red tape and approving development applications. We are building more homes, making it better and easier to rent and backing first home buyers. Meanwhile what is the record of those opposite? For most of the decade that the Liberals and Nationals were in government, they didn't care enough about housing affordability to have a housing minister.

In the decade that the Liberals were in, they only built 373 social and affordable housing places, and, when they were finally dragged kicking and screaming into pretending to have a viable housing policy, what was the solution from those opposite? It was to let young Australians raid their superannuation for a home deposit. It was to erode their retirement savings and rob them of security later in life, forcing them to choose between a home today and retirement in the future. They went to not just one but two elections with that same failed idea. As if we've learned nothing over the last few months, the coalition either have refused to learn those important lessons from the election or are just refusing to recognise the realities.

The Liberals didn't just stop at making it harder for a young person to buy a home. They also made it harder to afford an education. The Job-ready Graduates scheme introduced by the Morrison government didn't do any of the things that it was supposed to do. It didn't improve job outcomes like they promised. It didn't boost enrolment in priority areas like they promised. It didn't deliver value for students like they promised. They neglected, undermined and underfunded the tertiary education sector. But Labor is taking bold, practical steps that will genuinely ease the burden on young people.

Starting in a few weeks every young person with a student debt will see a 20 per cent cut in their student debt, backdated to 1 June this year. That's $16 billion in student relief for over three million young Australians—so many in my electorate will benefit from this—and is in addition to delivering a fairer repayment system. We've already delivered a fix to the broken indexation system. No more will student debts grow faster than your wages. And from this financial year students and graduates won't have to start repaying their student loans until they earn about $67,000 a year. This means that you start paying down your debt when you can afford to do so.

On climate and the environment, in 2020, the Samuel review warned that Australia's environmental laws were failing. It said urgent reform was needed to stop the decline of our natural environment. Who was the environment minister when that review landed? The Leader of the Opposition. And what did she do? Nothing. The report sat on a shelf while species disappeared and the Australian community lost faith in the system meant to protect our environment. Now Labor is finally acting. We will be introducing the nature positive bill—the biggest environmental reform in two decades. It will finally establish an independent federal environmental protection agency, strengthen protection for the environment and deliver transparency in our environmental planning approval system.

Despite all of this and despite the opposition leader's initial embrace of the review from when she was the minister for the environment, the opposition continues to oppose real action on the climate and environment. Professor Graeme Samuel described the opposition leader's opposition as a 'political game' and said that it made him feel 'bitterly disappointed', 'frustrated' and 'frankly a little angry', and I share those sentiments. Despite what the opposition and, indeed, all of us have heard from young voters regarding action on climate change and the environment, the opposition continues to dither and obstruct.

Labor has set a new 2035 emissions target, a 60 to 72 per cent cut from 2005 levels, backed by record investments in renewables, green hydrogen and clean industries. The Liberal and National parties are still trying to figure out whether climate change is real and whether they want to support a net zero policy. There is so much infighting around this within the coalition that they are tearing each other apart. We, on this side of the House, have accepted that climate change is happening and that government has a role to play and act and that we need to work with the private sector to do so. That is exactly what we are doing. Those opposite continue to play politics. The Albanese Labor government is getting on with the job of building more homes, cutting student debt, and protecting our environment and climate—because young Australians deserve a government that listens, acts and delivers. Under Labor, that is exactly what they will get.

All of us in this place came into our roles to ensure that we build a better future for all Australians but particularly for young Australians. So, to all young Australians across the country, the message is very clear. The coalition does not have your back. They haven't had your back for a really long time. The Labor government does. We're committed to improving our environment and to ensuring that you have good-quality education and that you are not saddled with debt when you graduate, and we're determined to act on climate change.