QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Ms O'NEIL (Hotham—Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities) (14:01): I appreciate this very broad ranging question from those opposite about what's going on in housing. We've got a housing crisis confronting our country that's been cooking for 40 years. That is why our government has built the biggest agenda for housing that a Commonwealth government has had since the postwar period.

That agenda is framed around three big national problems. We've got to build more homes for Australians, we've got to help renters get into a better position and we've got to get more Australians into homeownership. We are making a stack of progress against each of these three goals, but we recognise that we've got a lot more work to do here.

Coming to our policies, the combined effect of our supply measures as a government is going to build an additional 400,000 homes for Australians. A big part of that is our push on social and affordable homes. We have a fundamental belief on the Labor side of politics that the government has got to be involved in the task of housing Australians.

On those 55,000 homes—we had a question here that relates to supply—do you remember how many homes they built in nine years of government? Three hundred and seventy-three homes. It helps, when you come into this parliament and ask questions, to have a leg to stand on.

I've touched on affordable housing, Speaker, and I'm happy to move on. The SPEAKER: Order! The minister was asked about a range of government policies that she is responsible for, and she is going through them one by one.

So it's going to be a little tricky to raise a point of order on relevance, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Member for Goldstein. Mr Tim Wilson: The point is on relevance. It was a very simple question.

Can the minister confirm that Labor is on track to miss its housing target by at least 330,000 homes? Mr Burke: To the point of order, the preamble dealt with supply, it dealt with rents and it dealt with prices. Speaker, you've previously said to members that it's an abuse to simply take a point of order and pretend that only part of the question was the entirety of the question.

Mr Pike interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order, Member for Bowman! We don't need the continual commentary from you. I'd like to hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Tehan: The question wasn't about the opposition, and I think that's why the point of order was taken. It was about your policies and the fact that you're not meeting your housing targets. The SPEAKER: As I said before the point of order was taken, you mentioned the government's policies, which the minister was going through one by one.

Yes, she did make a statement about the opposition, and I'll make sure that she doesn't stray into that. But, to be fair to the minister, she wasn't talking about the opposition; she just made a reference. She was talking about affordability.

She was talking about the housing policies that she's delivering and she was asked about. She'll continue, and I ask— Mr Tim Wilson interjecting— The SPEAKER: Member for Goldstein, we don't need any commentary. We're just going to get back to the answer.

Ms O'NEIL: I've talked a little bit about the building challenge. Don't forget that we've got an enormous set of policies that are about helping renters around Australia. I note that occasionally we hear a flicker of interest from those opposite, when it suits them politically, on renters.

We have decades of commitment within our party to supporting this one-third of our population. That's why you saw our government twice raise Commonwealth rent assistance in excess of the legislated increase. They're looking outraged over the other side of parliament.

I'll remind them they didn't do that once while they were in government. They didn't do a single thing to help renters in the entire nine years. I want to finish on homeownership because this is something that my party passionately believes in.

We see a broken housing market where a young person or a young low-income couple in our country is half as likely to own their own home as they were in the year that I was born. This tells us something really important. Housing is not just about the nuts and bolts of what goes on in this important part of our economy.

This is about opportunity and aspiration for every single Australian. We've helped 270,000 first home buyers into their own home through our fabulously popular five per cent deposit program, and those tax changes that we made in the budget will reverse 10 years of decline in Australia's homeownership rate. Very briefly, let's remember the nine years.

For most of that time, those opposite couldn't even be bothered having a housing minister. We see a broken housing market, and that's why we're standing up and delivering real change for Australians.