Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

or—as rightly pointed out by my colleague Senator Sheldon—is it all of the above?

Let's just be clear about part of the situation here. Superannuation funds, including Cbus, are actually strongly regulated. They are required to comply with strict governance standards, and they are required to act in the best financial interest of their members. APRA engages with superannuation funds on their governance arrangements and ensures that their boards meet the necessary standards. A longstanding feature of the superannuation system is equal representation, so you have equal numbers of employers and employees—not one or the other but both, so both interests can be served. All superannuation fund trustee boards have to assure themselves that their directors meet the necessary standards. This is regulated; this is monitored. What's being put forward by those opposite is just an attack. It's not real. It's not helpful. What we are seeing when we look at the Housing Australia Future Fund is a fund that is administered by Housing Australia. It's an independent body, so the notion of capture between the superannuation funds and the unions is, as I say, just the ideological hatred that we see from the opposition. It clouds their vision, it clouds their view, it clouds their understanding of the situation, and it clouds their ability to actually do anything about it, so they continue to sit there and block any progress on housing in this country, and that's a disgrace—an absolute disgrace.

We know that there are solutions. We know that there is a long-term fix. We've been working on it frantically for the last three years, looking at the situation in front of us and actually taking the time. Where do we not have enough housing? Why is that? What are the changes in the demographics? What are the changes in our population? What's the demand? Where's this going? How are we looking at this to find ourselves the right answer and the right balance between what housing we have now and what housing we need into the future? The pipeline of houses to build, the pipeline of houses to rent and the pipeline for people who are doing it tough and who require more support in our social housing—we have been looking at these, and this is how we came up with Labor's plan for housing for the future, by knowing that we were in a crisis.

I have to ask the question: what exactly is it that the opposition did for 10 years when they were in government and when this crisis was brewing? All the indicators and signs were there that housing was turning into a crisis situation. Our rates of people who were homeless were increasing and our rates of people struggling to find rental accommodation were increasing. Now, we often hear the excuse that it was all COVID. No, it wasn't. It really wasn't. Ask any of the housing peak bodies or interest groups and look at their modelling, their structures and what they have looked at, and that's not true. Yes, it had an impact alongside a bunch of other things. But now we need action on the ground to actually look at where our housing situation is going, how much housing we need into the future and how swiftly we can get it on the ground. There are some fantastic solutions being put forward. Some of our states, particularly my own home state of South Australia, are doing an absolutely spectacular job of moving hurdles out of the way, finding innovative solutions and moving as quickly as possible to put in place the housing that we need into the future.

To touch on the pathological hatred of the CFMEU from across the chamber here, I fully support our construction workers. They deserve a strong union that can represent them and stand up for them, and that's exactly the path that we are on. Yes, an intervention was made because there was some untoward activity going on that could not be accepted. But the pathway is there for the future and for that union to stand up strong and support the workers with no bad behaviour and no untoward activities, but a union doing what unions do—representing their members. That is what we wish to see into the future and that is what we will see into the future. Because, while we are on these government benches, we will be pushing to deal with this housing crisis and with anything associated with it that comes up. We need to have those opposite get out of the way and stop with this ideological rubbish. You might think it looks like a good headline, but, seriously, there are people like Josie who are living in their cars, and all you want to do is sit there and block action, block development and block a solution to the situation which is a crisis situation in this country and needs to be dealt with.

Housing can't be fixed overnight. We know that. You can't just snap your fingers and pop up some housing. But you had 10 years and you allowed the situation to crumble and to get worse and worse, and you did nothing. And now you have the cheek to sit there and block everything that we try and do. It is a disgrace, and you should be deeply ashamed of yourselves. The plan we have for the future is to get people into housing and to make renting more secure. A lot of the rental rules are dealt with by the states. We have seen state after state come to the party and improve the situation on the ground to make renting a property more secure, so you can live there knowing that is your home. I would, again, like to shout-out our South Australian state government for the changes they have made to rental laws which are making a real difference for people on the ground.

But we need to build more housing. We need to be able to take the money that we have and invest it in the Australians who need the support, who need more options. We cannot continue to have people like Josie sleeping in cars. We cannot continue to have people looking to purchase a house and feeling that they're never going to get there. We need these structures in place to enable people to have the security of a home, whether it's their own home or a rental. That's what we're all about. That is what we are doing here.

To increase supply is critical. If we build more housing, there are more options for people. People who can purchase, if they're given a hand, can get into those homes. I know from talking to people that many of them could actually service a mortgage, but they cannot afford to build up the size of a deposit they need for that home. Having that opportunity for a lower investment at the very beginning, with some support from the government, enables them to get into their home, where they can service that mortgage. They can get on their feet and own their own home into the future. And that's what we want. We want people to be able to own their own home. But, for those who rent, we want them to have a secure rental, to know that they are supported, to know that they are not going to be thrown out on the street with very little notice, to know that they can make that rental their own home.

Labor has a plan to address the housing crisis. We have started and we are working so hard to get that delivered. The constant attacks and the constant blocks by those opposite are deeply unhelpful. They should just wake up to the fact that people need assistance and need it now, and they should just get out of the way.