STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr CHAFFEY (Parkes) (13:45): The Australian dream is a home among the gum trees, a place where you can put your feet up at the end of the day, a place to call your own. But this Labor government is demolishing the Australian dream. With the cost of living barely survivable, homeownership is not the Australian dream but a pipe dream.

Labor's budget measures have thrown the housing sector into absolute chaos. Now many, many, many Australians who cannot afford to buy or who need to rent are caught up in the middle of this housing crisis. There are fewer homes, higher rents and landlords who have absolutely lost confidence in the market.

Australia's biggest rental property manager, Ray White Real Estate, says investors will have to raise rents by about 30 per cent to cover their losses. Mortgage applications are down, and housing availability is down. What does it look like outside in the real world, outside of the Labor owned policy machine?

It looks like a family in Bourke who can't afford to pay their rent. It looks like a couple in Narrabri who must move to save enough money for the impossible dream of owning their own home. It looks like a single mother who cannot find anywhere affordable enough to put a roof over her children's heads.

Housing should be a simple right in Australia, and, under this government, the home among the gum trees is looking more like a home on the streets.