STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms TEMPLEMAN (Macquarie) (13:33): I want to share a story. Liv has told me she thought she'd be 60 before she could save the deposit needed to buy a home in the Blue Mountains, but, thanks to the 5 per cent home deposit scheme, Liv, who is not yet 30, and her partner are now the proud owners of a home in the very suburb they were both born in, Katoomba, at the top of the Blue Mountains.

The pair had worked hard to save a reasonable deposit but told me they would have needed around $200,000 without the government supported scheme. Not only do they now have that amazing sense of certainty and security that having your own home can bring, but they're also really pleased to be paying off their own mortgage not someone else's. Liv is one of more than 1,350 people in the electorate of Macquarie who've taken advantage of the 5 per cent deposit scheme or our Help to Buy program, where the government contributes up to 40 per cent for new homes and up to 30 per cent for existing homes.

I know when I talk to people of my generation, the parents and grandparents, they wonder how on earth their kids will be able to have a chance to get into the market. That's why this government needed to fix the problem, and that's why this government has delivered real change that's making a difference to people's lives every time they take those keys to their new home.