Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

APRA is an independent regulator responsible for the prudential safety of banks and other regulated entities, as well as financial system stability. As the independent regulator, APRA is responsible for setting requirements for these entities, including management of financial and non-financial risks to ensure these financial institutions and the systems overall remain safe and stable. I thought it was important to say that upfront because the motion talks about directing APRA, and it's important to say that they are independent.

When it comes to housing in this country, the stats speak for themselves. Since the Albanese Labor government was elected in 2022, we have built 5,000 social and affordable homes, and there are another 25,000 in the pipeline. Housing is a life-defining challenge for millions of Australians. That's why we have a huge agenda that focuses on building more homes and making it easier for everyday Australians to buy their own home too. In their decade in office, the coalition managed 373 social and affordable homes. There isn't an extra number in there; it is just 373 social and affordable homes. Their mates in the Greens political party have never delivered a thing.

We're building more homes for Australians, and we're doing it despite the best efforts of the coalition and the Greens to block us at every opportunity they get. Every time we've tried to bring something into this chamber to make it easier for Australians to get into their own homes or build more homes, we've seen the coalition team up with the Greens to block it. On this side of the chamber, we recognise that housing is one of the defining challenges in our economy. We've set ambitious targets, and we're backing that effort in with $43 billion in new investment to increase supply and help more first home buyers get into their first home—that's $43 billion. Our efforts are seeing the construction sector pick up, too. I know how important this is for tradies, right across Victoria and the country. We're doing a bunch of things to grow more tradies and get more people on the tools to be able to build the homes that Australians need. Building approvals are growing at 8.4 per cent now, and, let's just remember, they were going backwards by 21.6 per cent when we came to office. That is not a small number; 21.6 per cent is what we were going back by.

We're also helping Australians get into the housing market sooner, with our five per cent deposit scheme, which was expanded to all first home buyers on 1 October. Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor government has supported 197,000 Australians to buy a home with the five per cent deposit scheme. That's pretty life changing for those 197,000 Australians. We're also acting to make sure the tax system is working to help with housing supply, with new tax breaks passed in 2024 to support the construction of around 80,000 new homes to rent.

These are all part of the government's substantial agenda on tax, including boosting the superannuation savings of more than a million low-income workers while making superannuation concessions for people with very large balances fairer and more sustainable. We're delivering on a fairer, simpler and more sustainable tax system to support Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

We recognise that we've got a housing crisis in this country that has been generations in the making. From our very first day coming into government, we absolutely have taken that challenge with both hands and worked every day to address the challenge that is before us. We know that there is a long way to go, and housing is still really tough, but we're making good progress. We know that supply and demand are linked. We need to do the things to build more homes, and we need to have the policies to make sure that people can realise their dream of owning their own home too. It is only a Labor government that's going to make that dream a reality for millions of Australians.