Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian dream was always a promise. It was a promise that if you worked hard you could own your home, raise a family and build a better future. That promise is fading for young Australians. A home represents security and belonging, a stake in the country and a patch of ground on which to build a life with those you love. It's the cornerstone of stability, community and aspiration in this country. It's what generations have saved and worked for over many years. Today that dream is further out of reach than ever before.

Under this Labor government, the path to homeownership has become steeper and narrower, and for many Australians it feels completely out of reach. Many Australians under 30 believe they will never be able to afford a home in this country. There used to be a ladder for young Australians to climb, but now they feel like that ladder has been kicked out and there's no actual—

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There used to be a ladder for young Australians to climb. But now many feel that the ladder has been kicked out and that there is no way to rise, particularly when it comes to buying a home. In WA, house prices have surged 8.4 per cent in the last year alone. Across my electorate of Canning, the prices have skyrocketed. Serpentine Jarrahdale has seen a spike of 11.3 per cent. In Silver Sands, there has been an increase of 29 per cent in just the last 12 months. It's unsustainable. And, with Labor at the helm, it's only going to get worse. It's expected that Perth prices will jump by another $85,000 in 2026. These price jumps and future price projections crush the hopes of young Australians looking for a home.

While house prices and rents soar, wages remain stagnant. Young Australians are being pushed out of the market fast, and the gap between what people earn and what homes cost is growing wider every single day. The median multiple, the mean salary to mean housing price, should be pegged at 1.3. That's traditionally what's been considered affordable. In most metropolitan markets across the country, it's around one to 10. Completely unaffordable for young Australians.

What is driving this? Well, there's a couple of factors, but net overseas migration is out of control under the Labor government, and Australians are finding it harder and harder to get into property. Labor talks about affordability but refuses to address the root cause. It's demand, which is massively outstripping supply, and they're fuelling it. Over the last few years, 1.2 million people have been added to our population, and only 500,000 dwellings have been built to support it. It's very simple, and we cannot continue on this path.

Homeownership is fundamental to ensuring young Australians have a meaningful place, an investment in the future of our country. A home means roots, it means stability, it means community and it's the heart of family formation. Our fertility replacement rate is 1.5, and we need to get it up.

In my community, the pain is real. People are feeling Labor's failure acutely. I'll keep fighting for them and talking about this issue in this House.