Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. Our priorities on housing after the roundtable were very clear. Minister O'Neil has been doing some great work in this area. She announced over the weekend that we're going to take some immediate action to, first of all, cut the red tape by pausing and streamlining the National Construction Code and also speed up approvals by clearing the backlog of over 26,000 homes waiting for federal environmental approval.

The surest way to not build the homes that we need is to never try. The opposition would know a lot about that. That was the approach of our predecessors, but that is not the approach this government is taking. We know that housing is one of the defining challenges facing our economy, particularly for young people. We've set ambitious targets, and we know they're ambitious. We're working hard across multiple fronts to ensure that we're meeting them, backing in our $43 billion investment to increase housing supply and to help more first home buyers get into the market.

Housing was a big part of our Economic Reform Roundtable. There was broad consensus on some commonsense changes that will make a meaningful difference in reducing regulatory burden and boost housing supply. As a result of the roundtable, we're going to take some immediate action to cut red tape by pausing and streamlining the National Construction Code, as I've already mentioned. The investments we've made and the policy focus that we've been putting on housing are delivering results. More than 500,000 homes have been built since we were elected.

When we came to office, we had huge deficits that went as far as the eye could see and a trillion dollars of Liberal debt in a budget weighed down with waste and rorts. We have made so much progress on the economy—as in, where to start? Headline and underlying inflation are at four-year lows, annual real wages have been growing for around seven consecutive quarters, the economy is still expanding, interest rates have been cut three times in the past six months, more than 1.1 million jobs have been created since we came to government—that's a record for any government in a single term—and the average unemployment rate is the lowest of any government in 50 years.

Then there is the budget, turning two Liberal deficits into two Labor surpluses and almost halving the deficit in our third year. The budget position has improved by more than $207 billion. Debt is $177 billion lower, in 2024-25, saving $60 billion in interest costs as a consequence. But we know the job is not finished. We know people are still under pressure, and that's why we're delivering more real, practical and ongoing help with the cost of living, including eight new changes that came into effect on 1 July, stage 3 tax cuts for every single Australian taxpayer: one last year, one next year and another one the year after that.

We also know the importance of why we held the Economic Reform Roundtable this month, because we know we need to do more to boost productivity, strengthen our resilience and improve budget sustainability. The best way to do that is to do it together, by bringing lots of voices into the room to hear their ideas and find consensus.

At the election, Australians voted for higher living standards, higher wages and secure, well-paid jobs, and that's what we're working every day to deliver. The Economic Reform Roundtable proved that there's more common ground and consensus than there is conflict around the big challenges and opportunities in our economy. Higher living standards are the Holy Grail. That's why we've never taken our eyes off the productivity prize, and we're delighted by the enthusiasm and engagement that we've seen throughout this process. There's no shortage of ideas, and now our task is to turn those ideas into action.