Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Bragg has come in here today, supported by the Liberal opposition, and has brought this MPI about housing. It's about time we put some facts into this MPI, and, in my contribution and in the contribution by Senator Whiteaker, we've had some facts. From the other side, we've had nothing but spin and, unfortunately, not much support for those people out in the community that are looking to buy homes.

When the coalition were in government—when they had a chance to act—they had no plan, no ambition and no housing minister. Don't worry about this MPI; their plan was MIA—missing in action. After almost a decade in government, the coalition left behind a housing system in crisis. Home ownership fell. Rents skyrocketed. Social housing virtually stopped being built. When they left office, Australia was building fewer homes than at almost any time in the previous decade. They went years without even having a housing minister, and their one big housing idea at the 2022 election was letting young people raid their superannuation to buy a home—a policy that would have pushed prices up and left people worse off at retirement. That is not a plan; that is desperation dressed up as policy.

By contrast, the Albanese Labor government has a long-term plan to make it easier to buy and better to rent and to build more homes. Our Homes for Australia plan is the most ambitious housing agenda in generations, and it is working. ABS data shows building approvals rising—a sign that Labor's reforms are taking effect. We have a shared national target to build 1.2 million new homes over five years, the most ever built in any five-year period in our history. We have established the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, delivering tens of thousands of new social and affordable homes. Those opposite fought it every step of the way. They teamed up with the Greens to delay it for 14 months, denying real help to people who need it most. What are they doing now? They're still voting against housing supply, still opposing build-to-rent projects that will deliver 80,000 new rentals and still blocking tax incentives that would get shovels in the ground. The same people who did nothing in government are now standing in the way of progress in opposition.

This government has increased Commonwealth rent assistance by almost 50 per cent for more than a million households. We have increased rent assistance, cut red tape, supported builders to get on site sooner and helped first home buyers with the Home Guarantee Scheme. That is practical, real support, the kind of support that changes lives.

Those opposite like to say—and we've heard it here in this debate this afternoon—that it will not work. They said that about the Housing Australia Future Fund, about our target, about rent assistance and about every single thing we have done, but the data tells a different story. Around half a million homes have been completed nationwide since Labor came to government. For the first time in decades, the Commonwealth is back at the centre of housing policy, building homes, not excuses. That is what happens when you have a government that treats housing as a national priority, not as an afterthought.

I want to remind the chamber that the Liberals voted against every single one of these measures—against one million homes, against the Housing Australia Future Fund, against build-to-rent and against help for first home buyers. Every time they've had a chance to help solve the housing crisis, they have chosen politics over people, and they continue to do so.