MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator MULHOLLAND (Queensland) (17:27): Guess who's back, back again? The 'no-alition' is back. Tell a friend.

Yes, here they go again with their antihomeownership rhetoric, and, quite frankly, we're all getting a little bit sick of it. At this juncture in Australia's history, there are few issues more critical than the current cost of living and house prices. Hardworking Australians across the country, despite doing everything right to save for a house and being incredibly responsible with the family budget every day, are still struggling to buy their own home or find an affordable rental.

To those people, I say: the Albanese government hears you and we are the first government in a decade to actually take this issue head on. It's important work. It is not easy work, and there is no quick fix.

But do you know what is making this critical situation unnecessarily difficult? It is the ongoing political games of the Greens, the Liberals and the Nationals. They have got the old band back together, the 'no-alition', but we are all sick of hearing the music.

Every measure to improve housing affordability and increase housing supply that has been introduced to this place since 2022 has been stonewalled by the Greens senators here in their unholy marriage with the conservatives against housing. Now, after blocking housing reform last term, they are back at it again, railing against five per cent home deposits. You have acted with nothing but cynicism and contempt for the Australian electorate in the pursuit of a political game.

They want to own their own home! And, just like those opposite, the Greens have learnt nothing from the last election. So, while Senator McKim is right to want to discuss this critical issue, and he's right to say that house prices are increasing, he's delusional in trying to paint this as a Labor problem.

The Liberals created the crisis through a decade of inaction, and, at every turn over the past three years, the Greens have played political games with the conservatives in the hopes of picking up a few extra votes—and we all know how that turned out at the last federal election. The antics we've seen from the Greens in this chamber have been contemptible. I want to use this time to highlight the remarkable work of Minister Clare O'Neil, in navigating this type of petty politics, to deliver the outcomes that Australians expect and to deliver real reforms and real incentives to help Australians own their own home—despite the political obstacles she has faced from those opposite.

I can also attest firsthand to the fact that the minister is a responsive and empathetic minister, determined to help wherever she can. In fact, last week I met with the City of Moreton Bay regional council, a council that takes in the federal seats of Petrie, Longman and Dickson, where the mayor was distressed about the lack of housing construction in the face of unprecedented housing demand.

So I called Minister O'Neil and I asked if she would convene a housing roundtable in Moreton Bay to bring council, developers and advocacy groups together to drive new solutions and to answer the questions they have. Her response was an immediate yes, because this is a woman who wants to get the job done, unlike Max Chandler-Mather and Michael Sukkar, who no longer have jobs due to putting politics ahead of policy.

Thanks to Minister O'Neil and the Albanese government, we've seen more than 190,000 Australians buy their first home with a five per cent deposit, helped by our government. That's 200,000 Australians who the Greens would prefer not to be living in a home that they own. Let that one sink in.

We've supported more than one million Australian households to pay their rent, with our almost 50 per cent increase to rent assistance. We've created a real turnaround in home building, with 500,000 homes built since we came to office. We've got more than 25,000 social and affordable homes in planning or construction, with over 5,000 social and affordable homes already completed.

For single parents, we're continuing the Family Home Guarantee that helps them buy a home with a two per cent deposit. That's because it's in the DNA of Labor to work, while those opposite play politics with an issue as important as housing.