QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:07): I'm asked about housing issues. In the budget, it is true, that we had measures that were aimed at addressing the challenges that are facing young Australians when it comes to owning a house. I note that Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor—someone who is well-known, who's not always part of a cheer squad for the government—wrote in the Herald Sun: Average house prices have increased by more than 400 per cent since 2000, partly on the back of taxpayer-funded landlord welfare.

They've grown much faster than workers wages. Which is why we're in this pickle. … … … Somewhere along the way we started treating houses like a share price. Something to check, brag about, and borrow against.

We forgot what they're actually for. A house is for living in. He went on to say that the people who are concerned certainly aren't the young people finally getting a foot in the door.

We have created a change in the way that the tax system operates in order to give first home buyers a fair crack. And so, last Saturday, when people were going along to an auction for an existing home, they were not competing against investors seeking to negatively gear the property; they were competing as people who wanted a roof over their head. I don't want to be a Prime Minister who leads a country that sees growing inequality, that sees the opportunity for people to get into their first home as being defined on whether mum or dad can help them.

I want people to have the opportunity to be the first in their family to own their own home. That is something that is part of the great Australian dream. The truth is that the great Australian dream was becoming a nightmare because, if people can't get that access to home ownership, it changes everything else in their lives.

It changes the opportunity for their kids to get a good education. It changes their health outcomes. It changes where they can engage as a member of society.

So what we are doing here is making a change—a change that's been called for in the past by people, including the shadow treasurer; a change that was called for by his predecessor, the former treasurer and former member for North Sydney. In his valedictory speech—he waited till he was leaving the joint before he said, 'The system's broken, and we should fix it.' Well, we're fixing it.

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