CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr TED O'BRIEN (Fairfax) (10:13): Every Australian deserves a roof over their head. Every Australian deserves a place they can call home. It's more than just shelter from the elements, the weather and whatnot.

A home is about safety. It's one's sanctuary, one's castle. It's about dignity.

It's about hope. It's about allowing individuals to pursue whatever else it is they wish to pursue in life. But Australia is currently amidst a housing crisis.

Our population has now hit 28 million people, and the truth is we just cannot house them. This is having a direct impact on the lives of so many Australians. I see it in my own electorate of Fairfax.

I see it from Coolum to Kenilworth. I see it from Bli Bli to Buderim. There are not just people living on the street; there are people who are now packing their bags because the shortage of houses is pushing prices up.

They can't afford to live there anymore. Families are being uprooted, and this is causing an enormous amount of problems not just in my part of the world but right across the country. There are two alternate ways to deal with this.

The Labor way and the Liberal-National coalition way under the Labor way. This housing crisis will get worse under the coalition way. It will be fixed.

The difference is this: Labor's plan is to decrease supply and increase demand. The coalition's approach is to increase supply but decrease demand. The difference, therefore, is a bigger, wider gap in the availability of houses but a shrinking of that gap under the coalition.

We've seen it in Labor's budget. It says in black and white that, under their new taxation regime, 35,000 fewer homes will be built and rent will go up. That is why the coalition has put forward a different plan, a plan that includes capping net overseas migration to new builds.

It is why we are also planning on introducing a $5 billion housing infrastructure fund to pay for things like sewerage, water and power connections, unlocking around 400,000 new homes. It's also why we are looking at simplifying the National Construction Code, which could result in the cost of building a new home reducing by up to $70,000. This isn't just about building and construction, it's about lives, and it's about homes.

That's why the coalition's approach will work.