Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to be able to continue my contribution from 4 February because a lot has happened since then. There are lots of homes underway thanks to the work of our Labor government, and while some things have changed, like there being a new leader of the Liberal Party, what has stayed the same is that it's the same old Liberal Party, it's the same old shadow minister, it's the same bad housing ideas and it's the same approach that will do nothing to get Australians into homes.

Since Senator Bragg brought this bill before the chamber, under Labor's plan more homes are being built—not promised, not modelled, not talked about, not just funded, but built. I see it every single day. I wonder if Senator Bragg drives around with his eyes closed, because what I can see in my community is real action on housing, and it's happening fast.

On my drive into my electorate office in the morning, just down the road, in the electorate of my good friend the member for Swan, Zaneta Mascarenhas, there is a Housing Australia Future Fund project underway in Rivervale. It's 171 affordable apartments in the heart of Perth, very close to the CBD and in an absolutely beautiful part of our great state, right on the banks of the Derbal Yerrigan. These are homes for frontline workers, for veterans and for older women at risk of homelessness. This is what housing delivery looks like. Just across the road from that project in Rivervale, there are more developments, as part of a pipeline of over 1,100 affordable and social homes across Perth, delivered in partnership with the Cook Labor government. This is happening right now. I think this is a really important point for us to talk about in this debate.

We should be honest about what the Housing Australia Amendment (Accountability) Bill 2025 does. It doesn't just block the build of new housing—although it does do that. It creates uncertainty in a system that depends on long-term investment. Housing projects don't just pop up overnight. They require years of planning, financing and construction, and they require dedication from government. I think it's important we remember why we're in this mess in the first place, and that is that, under the former government, there was no commitment to building the homes that Australians needed. After a decade of mismanagement and, frankly, neglect on housing under the former government, Labor is getting on with the job. We are cleaning up the mess that we were left with, and that means there is catching up to do.

A bill like this stands in the way of building more homes in communities like mine and the ones I am privileged to represent in Western Australia. Developers, builders and community housing providers make decisions based on stable policy settings, and what this bill does is threaten to unwind those settings. You can't ask builders to commit capital, hire workers and start construction while also telling them that that could change at any moment. Housing supply depends on confidence, and this bill, the Liberal Party and Senator Bragg undermine that. I am sick and tired of Senator Bragg and the Liberal Party standing in the way of the homes that Australians need. Contracts are being signed, finances locked in, workers are on site, projects are moving—I can see them going up around me in Perth, and this bill stands in the way of that achievement. It would stop it in its tracks. These are homes that Australians are counting on. This bill wouldn't build a single home, but it risks standing in the way of thousands. Our government will not allow the Liberal Party to stand in the way of the homes that Australians need.