MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator WALKER (South Australia) (17:21): It's hard to believe that yet again the Australian Greens are trying to block young Australians from getting into housing—a continuation of their housing-blocking policies from the last term of government. This ill-considered motion opposes important government interventions in the market that are going to help young people buy and rent homes.

The great Australian dream is to buy a home, but that dream has seemed out of reach for many in my generation. The Albanese Labor government is working to change that, and we are both increasing supply and providing support to buy. We campaigned on these policies, and the result of the election was pretty clear.

But the Greens apparently think they know better than the Australian people. This motion is clearly out of touch with what my generation has to go through to get a house. They call this an urgency motion, but it seems they've missed the urgent situation we are responding to.

House prices have already risen. Rent has already risen. My generation simply can't pay the rent and save a 20 per cent deposit at the same time.

We are so proud that, from 1 October, every first home buyer is now able to get into a home with just a five per cent deposit. The five per cent deposit scheme gives us a chance to save enough for a deposit and to buy our own home again. We will no longer have to pay the huge cost of mortgage insurance.

Since coming to office the Albanese government has already supported over 190,000 people to buy a home with the five per cent deposit scheme. Now that the salary caps are off and the property price caps have risen, we expect that this will give many more first home buyers a chance to get into the market. For single parents we're continuing the scheme that can help them buy with just a two per cent deposit.

But the Greens don't want this. They think that the scheme will put up house prices. They've missed it—the house prices are already up.

That is the problem. They seem to be listening to the mortgage insurance industry, who have commissioned a report that says this will significantly put up prices. This is a report commissioned by the industry that is now missing out on millions of dollars they've previously earnt from many first home buyers.

This is completely at odds with our Treasury advice. We're also working to increase supply and help ease the pressure on house prices. We have a $43 billion housing agenda, which includes incentivising new rental properties.

But this motion also opposes our policies of sponsoring landlords to build rental accommodation. Part of the $43 billion agenda is our build-to-rent scheme, which is an important supply measure to build more rental accommodation. Sadly though, the Greens oppose this measure too, even though this policy is about getting more tenancies on the ground.

I can only assume they haven't been to an open rental lately, where it's common to have 40 or 50 people vying for the same house. Build-to-rent legislation which was passed earlier this year delivers tax cuts for build-to-rent developments, unlocking 80,000 new rentals with five-year leases and a ban on no-fault evictions. At least 10 per cent of these homes must be affordable tenancies.

These tenancies have caps on the amount of rent that can be charged, which is around 75 per cent of the rent of a comparable dwelling. We need these tenancies now. I'm a bit sad that this motion indicates the Greens are bent on continuing their approach from the last term of government, where they blocked policies to help Australians get into housing.

They say they want rent-capping policies. They say they want to increase housing supply, and they say they want more rental houses, but they try to block every policy that moves in this direction. My fellow young Australians want these policies.

The uptake of these programs tells us that. I appeal to the Greens to try to understand what it's like to be young in Australia these days and to back the government in policies that are constructively intervening in the market to correct the balance in housing.