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

The modern Liberal Party might be struggling to find an identity, but there is one thing that will always remain true about those opposite: they never learn from their mistakes—not after WorkChoices, not after net zero and not after the work-from-home debacle at the last election. We've been promised a new start with this new-look leadership team, with a deputy leader who in this very chamber is not allowed to ask a single question in question time—not one. We've had two days and not one question from that deputy leader. We are told things have changed, but the old guard are still very much in charge in this place, calling the shots. It feels a lot like a new direction while standing very firmly in the exact same spot, doing the exact same old tricks: offending migrant workers and refusing to rebuild trust with female voters in this country.

Instead of reflecting on the now very leaked Liberal Party election review, the Liberal Party has rewarded the two central figures responsible for their massive loss, promoting them to their leader and your deputy leader—the people who brought us a plan for billions of dollars of taxpayer money to be spent on nuclear plants, on boozy subsidised lunches for bosses and on a ban on working from home. Those two are the ones you have promoted to new deputy leadership. That is not renewal. That is not reform. You cannot set fire to your own credibility and ask Australians to admire the smoke. Nothing is more reflective of how the Liberal Party has lost its way than their behaviour this week, talking about ISIS brides instead of talking about the issues that matter to Australians. Not one question has been asked this week about the economy, not one question about jobs, not one question about housing—which, I can tell you, is a top concern in Queensland. Those are the things people expect you to ask about in this place.

I compare that track record with the track record of this government. We had the housing minister, Minister Clare O'Neil, in Queensland last week. I and both the member for Petrie, Emma Comer, and the member for Dickson, Ali France, asked the minister to host a Moreton Bay round table of housing stakeholders in Redcliffe. She immediately said yes—yes to listening, yes to collaboration, yes to rolling up her sleeves and working with the community to build more homes. That round table brought together the mayor of the City of Moreton Bay, Bric Housing, Common Ground, Q Shelter, BHC and Coast2Bay Housing.

All those organisations were enthusiastic about Labor's efforts to shift the dial on the current housing crisis, which has been created by a decade of Liberal inaction. They were enthusiastic about our five per cent deposit scheme, which has helped more than 250,000 Australians purchase their first home. More than 50,000 of those people are Queenslanders, people the Liberal Party and the Greens would prefer to not be in a home of their own, because it doesn't suit their rhetoric. They would prefer that they be forced to pay a 20 per cent deposit and up to $20,000 $30,000, $40,000 and sometimes $50,000 in lenders mortgage insurance. That's their alternative on housing, and it's a disgrace.

But when we talked to those housing community providers, they said to us that they have absolutely welcomed the HAFF funds that have been rolling out housing projects across Queensland. I was really pleased that we were able to take the minister to two housing projects. The first of those is in Sutton Street. It is a new tower that has delivered 82 new homes; 59 of them are social housing, and there are 23 units kept as affordable homes. This means quality housing specifically for older residents. It didn't stop there. We also visited a construction site in the suburb of Margate, where we are building 60 new homes—and I can tell you, the member for Petrie is absolutely pushing for more.

We know that to continue to build houses we must continue to invest in our tradies. That's why this government is delivering free TAFE. We're also delivering $10,000 payments in construction so we can continue a pipeline of housing, while those opposite continue to talk about themselves.