Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My    question is to the Minister for Housing. How is the Albanese Labor government supporting Australians into homeownership? What other approaches has the government been asked to consider?

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

I am absolutely thrilled to get this question from the member for Brisbane. Just recently, we ticked over 2,000 of her constituents who have gotten into their first home because of her advocacy and our government's backing—2,000 people in her community and many more to come. We've got a housing challenge affecting our country that's been cooking for 40 years. For 40 years, we have not been building enough homes, and all of the pain that Australians are in today in relation to housing really comes back to that problem, whether it's house prices rising too quickly, rents going up too fast or that really visible effect that all of us see in our communities—that rising population of people who do not have a stable roof over their head.

These problems are serious enough, but one of the things that is so concerning to our government is the fact that this is not a burden being fairly shared by Australians. What we see is that, without question, it is younger Australians and it is Australians on low incomes who are bearing the brunt of this. Speaker, I know that you talk to a lot of young people around the country—hopefully, all of us as representatives are speaking to our younger constituents—and so you will hear them talk about the fact that, for so many of them, housing is the defining problem in their lives.

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

The minister will pause. The member for Barker has been interjecting right throughout question time. He's come alive! So he's now going to leave the chamber under standing order 94(a). It's simply unacceptable to be interjecting nonstop in every single answer.

The member for Barker then left the chamber.

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

This is a problem that is very heavily falling on the younger people of this country, and the numbers don't lie. A lower-income young Australian is about half as likely to own their own home today as in the year that I was born. That is why our government has such a bold and ambitious agenda to address the housing situation for young people around our country. The five per cent deposit program that is so offensive to those opposite is something that has now helped 220,000 Australians into their first home on our watch. We have a pretty simple belief. We believe that ordinary Australians should get the chance to get into their own home, and we are right here to back them in.

The member asked me about alternative approaches, and what a pity it is that those opposite, once a serious political force in this country, have nothing sensible to say about one of the biggest challenges that face our country. We had the shadow minister for housing give an interview last week. He was asked about the coalition's policy, and this is what he said. I'm quoting him directly. He said, 'We've been too busy talking about the internals of the Liberal Party to do any work.' I did not make that up. Those were his exact words, and I present that to the House because it is very important for the Australian people to understand that the absolutely outrageous disunity and dysfunction that exists on the other side of the parliament actually has a cost for Australians.

This country has got some really significant issues. We need a functional opposition to actually debate and discuss these with us. They come to parliament each fortnight and spend all their time talking about themselves. Our focus is on the Australian people who sent us here and the things that we can do to make their lives better.