PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr NG (Menzies) (11:17): We welcome this motion by the member for Fadden because it gives us the opportunity to compare our record with the coalition's record and our plan with the coalition's plan. As the saying goes, don't threaten us with a good time, because it's a contest we'll win every day of the week. We on this side recognise the importance of stable, secure and affordable housing.
It's a foundation for being able to thrive in life. It's so important for health and mental health, for engaging in education and employment and for being able to put down roots and become part of a community. There are some who make calls for housing to be recognised as a human right.
Those are important calls, but at the very least we can all recognise that housing is a fundamental human need—the need for shelter. Some people choose to invest in housing, and that's fine, but governing is about priorities, and we prioritise having a home of people's own somewhere, as I said, where people can build a life and become members of the community.
Our record on housing is that we have the largest housing agenda of any government since World War II, with $47 billion dollars focused on increasing supply. A lot of that is through the National Housing Accord, our ambitious target of 1.2 million homes across the country. Those opposite criticise the ambition of the National Housing Accord.
They criticise the ambition of these targets. But I've met with the Property Council and the Master Builders Association—both important organisations, peak bodies that are representing the property industry and the people who work in the building industry—and they welcome our focus on housing and these ambitious targets. The National Housing Accord has us working with states and territories, and we're incentivising the reduction of red tape.
Of course, there's a patchwork of different housing standards and approvals across the country, so it's important that we work with the states and territories to reduce the amount of administration. We recognise that that's an important part of what we need to do to speed up building approvals and to speed up constructions. That's work that is already underway.
We're also investing in last-mile infrastructure. Now, the coalition, those opposite, have also made some commitments around last-mile infrastructure. That's part of the motion the member for Fadden has moved.
But we have already, in the last budget, increased funding for last-mile infrastructure by a further $2 billion for things like sewerage, electricity and plumbing. That takes our total commitment of last-mile infrastructure to $6.3 billion. So we've already exceeded what those opposite claim they're going to deliver as part of their plan.
They're already way behind. And we know as well how our record compares with their record: for most of the nine years that they were in government, they didn't even have a housing minister. They completely vacated the field on housing.
We know that this crisis in housing has been building for a long time, but I tell you what: completely doing nothing on housing at the federal level for almost nine years will only exacerbate that housing crisis. So they have to take their responsibility for how far behind we are in housing supply. But that's something that we're absolutely addressing.
We're addressing increasing supply because we know that's the surest way of increasing the affordability of housing. We're also making sure that we're looking out for the more vulnerable members of our community through things like the Housing Australia Future Fund, which will build 55,000 more social and affordable homes for people who need it most. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get into a home.
We know some people need a bit of a leg up, need a bit of help to be able to have stable and secure housing. As I said, it is very important for helping people get back on their feet or making sure that they're able to build a life. And so we're investing in this really important infrastructure—essential infrastructure in a lot of ways—to make sure that people in difficult situations are still able to get into the housing market.
But affordable homes are also for those who in previous generations might have been able to get into the housing market—people like nurses and teachers, who on their wages now, because the price of housing has outstripped wage growth by so much, will have real difficulty getting in. In my community in Box Hill, we've built 102 social and affordable homes. They're already delivered in Menzies.
We've got another 11 under development. And how does that compare with the coalition's record? In their nine years in government, they built only373 homes.
In my electorate alone, we have almost as third as many as the total number of social and affordable homes that they built. That really demonstrates their lack of recognition, and even in this motion there's nothing on social and affordable homes.