STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator COX (Western Australia) (13:38): Acting Deputy President Sterle, as a proud Western Australian like you, I recently had the pleasure of attending a housing roundtable in WA hosted by our federal Minister for Housing, Clare O'Neil from the other place, and WA Minister John Carey. Housing is not a single problem. It's about supply, affordability, homelessness, disability access, rental stress, legal support, family safety, planning and finance, and it's about whether people can actually live with dignity in the communities that they belong to.

This roundtable had people working together on different parts of the housing challenges sitting in the same room: community organisations, service providers, local government, builders, lenders and government representatives. I sat at a table and facilitated a conversation with the Wungening Aboriginal Corporation, St Vincent de Paul WA, Uniting WA, Ability WA, Rocky Bay, 55 Central, Circle Green Community legal centre and RoeROC.

These organisations see the housing crisis from the front line, and they work with First Nations people, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, renters who are under pressure and families who are doing everything right but still unable to find a secure place to call home. We talked about what really matters: building more homes, levelling the playing field and making housing fairer.

The Albanese Labor government has already put $47 billion into the Homes for Australia plan, and that includes our 1.2 million new homes across the country and, in fact, thousands in Western Australia. We are also making it easier to buy a first home with our five per cent deposit scheme, a fairer tax system and new homes built for first home buyers. It's forums like this that are making sure investments turn into actual homes, tenancies and support on the ground.

I want to thank those ministers for bringing people together and making sure that organisations are there for everyday Western Australians.