Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I always welcome Senator McKim's urgency motions on housing, because I agree with him that housing is an urgent issue for all Australians. Arguably it's one of the most urgent issues facing future generations of Australians. That is why I'm sure Senator McKim must be so relieved to have a responsible Labor government in office instead of the chaos of the former coalition, who spent a decade destroying housing affordability in this country. The Liberals created the crisis through a decade of inaction. And, at every turn, over the past three years the Greens have played their political games with the conservatives in the hope of picking up an extra few votes.

We all know how that turned out. It's why the Australian people showed the Liberals' housing spokesperson, Michael Sukkar, the door at the last election, along with the Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather. So imagine my surprise, seeing Michael Sukkar's name pop up in the media last week, at the not-so-secret meeting in a nice house and suburb of Melbourne. Nothing says 'modern Liberal Party' like a bunch of blokes disappearing into a house to decide a woman's fate. I'll tell you what they weren't talking about: they weren't talking about housing policy or how to get more Australians into a house of their own. They were talking about their own corner offices; that's what they were talking about.

Compare that approach to Labor's: a $45 billion Homes for Australia plan to deliver 55,000 social and affordable homes, as well as initiatives to make it easier to buy and better to rent and to build more homes. In this term of government we will build more that one million new homes in the next five years. Plans are underway to construct 55,000 social and affordable homes, an area of critical need. Recently I was pleased to visit a construction site in the CBD of Toowoomba. It's a partnership project between the council, the state and the federal government to deliver 75 units in the CBD. We're also training more tradies at TAFE to get more Aussie workers out on the tools, with $10,000 incentive payments to help them with their study in a trade. We're making it easier to buy a home, with our five per cent deposit guarantee for every first-home buyer in the country. And there'll be more to come.

I'm especially proud to say that, since coming to office, the Albanese government has supported over 220,000 people to buy a home with a five per cent deposit. I'll say that again: 220,000 Australians are in a home thanks to the Albanese government, thanks to our five per cent deposit initiative—which you all tried to destroy. In my home state of Queensland, Labor's five per cent home deposits are making a huge difference to families. I'm proud to say that more than 50,000 Queenslanders are in a home of their own thanks to Labor's five per cent home deposit scheme. That's 50,000 Queenslanders who would still be renting if the Greens and the Liberal Party had their way. That's 50,000 Queenslanders who would still be struggling to save a 20 per cent deposit if the Liberals and the Nationals had remained in power. Fifty thousand Queenslanders who they would prefer to see paying $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 or $50,000 in lenders mortgage insurance have saved that money thanks to Labor.

On this side of the chamber, when there's a job to be done, we roll up our sleeves. We know that there is more work to do, because hardworking Australians across this country, despite doing everything in their power to save for a house, are still struggling to buy their own home. But they are also being demonised for getting a home loan. People in this chamber forget that ordinary people need to go and see a bank, lender or broker to get a loan to buy a home. There are people in this chamber that whinge about people going to the bank to buy a home, but what is the alternative? I don't know anyone who could pay cash for a home, certainly not on this side of the chamber, but I reckon there are a few people on that side of the chamber who do.

The ones who are applying to the bank, ordinary Australians, ordinary Queenslanders, to get a loan don't want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on lenders mortgage insurance, which is basically a tax on working families. They are the ones out there doing the real work and earning the real money. In the face of global uncertainty and a difficult economy, Labor knows people need hope, opportunity and help to get into their first home. That's exactly what our five per cent deposits do.