PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (12:12): Housing is one of the defining challenges of our generation. Across Bonner, it's one of the biggest issues that people raise with me. For too long, too many Australians have felt that the housing system is stacked against them.
A generation ago, an average family could work hard, save carefully and eventually buy their first home. It wasn't easy. It took time, discipline and sacrifice.
Today I meet with young Australians who are working just as hard and doing everything right, yet they're still wondering whether they'll ever own a place to call home. This housing challenge has been decades in the making. It wasn't created overnight, and no responsible government should pretend it can be solved overnight.
But, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Commonwealth is back at the table. The Albanese Labor government has a $47 billion Homes for Australia plan focused on three simple priorities: building more homes, making it easier to buy and making renting fairer. That's because the long-term answer to housing affordability is straightforward: we need to build more homes.
More housing means more housing affordability. That's why Labor has set an ambitious target of 1.2 million new, well-located homes over five years. We're cutting red tape, working with the states and territories to speed up planning, investing in housing-enabling infrastructure and training the skilled workforce needed to build more homes.
We're making real progress. Since coming to government, more than 660,000 homes have been built across Australia. New home commencements are up 26 per cent compared with this time last year.
Construction cost inflation, which reached 17 per cent under those opposite, has now fallen to 2.5 per cent, below general inflation. Building houses isn't simply about approving developments. Homes don't build themselves.
They need roads, water, sewerage and power. That's why Labor is investing another $2 billion through our Local Infrastructure Fund, providing the pipes, pavements and powerlines needed to unlock housing developments that otherwise simply wouldn't happen. Together with our existing investments, Labor is now investing $6.3 billion in housing-enabling infrastructure, more than 50 times what the coalition invested over almost a decade in government.
This latest investment alone will help unlock an additional 65,000 homes for Australians. We're also investing in apprentices, TAFE and vocational education because we know we need more tradies to build the homes Australia needs. We're not just building more homes; we're also making it easier for Australians to buy one.
Labor expanded the five per cent deposit scheme to eligible first home buyers because we know the biggest hurdle for many Australians isn't the mortgage. It's saving the deposit. In Bonner, more than 500 first home buyers have already used this program.
Nationally, more than 250,000 Australians have now achieved homeownership through Labor's five per cent scheme, and our Help to Buy program is helping another 40,000 low- and middle-income Australians realise the dream of homeownership. I've heard those opposite dismiss these measures as gimmicks. Having a roof over your head is not a gimmick.
Cutting years off the time to save a deposit is not a gimmick. Homeownership is not a gimmick to the hundreds of people in Bonner who now have a place to call home. It's life changing.
We're also making renting fairer. We've introduced Build to Rent to encourage more long-term rental housing. We've delivered back-to-back increases to Commonwealth rent assistance, lifting the maximum rate by more than 50 per cent, and we're working with the states and territories to improve renters' rights, including banning no-fault evictions and introducing minimum rental standards.
We've also passed important tax reforms to help level the playing field for first home buyers, because it shouldn't be easier to buy your 10th investment property than it is to buy your first home. We're also investing in the homes Australians need most. More than 7,000 new social and affordable homes have already been completed with Commonwealth assistance, and another 23,000 are in planning or under construction.
That stands in stark contrast to those opposite, who delivered just 373 social and affordable homes over a decade in office. Labor is committed to getting people into their own home. We are committed to ensuring that five per cent deposits are taken up in record numbers, and we're committed to ensuring Australians can get into a home of their own.