QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (14:47): Thank you to Senator Walker for that question. It's good to have a young South Australian joining the Labor team here and actually fighting for young Australians to be able to get a home. For far too long, too many Australians have felt that the housing system is stacked against them, and they would be right.

Since 1999, house prices in Australia have risen by 400 per cent. That beggars belief! Young Australians have been doing everything right—working hard and saving everything that they can for a house deposit.

But, when the average time it takes to save for a deposit has blown out to 10 years—to more than a decade—and the median home price has climbed to more than eight times the average income, it is time to level the playing field, and that's exactly what this Albanese Labor government is doing. We're setting an ambitious national target of 1.2 million homes, limiting negative gearing for residential property so it can only be used for new builds and replacing the 50 per cent CGT discount to restore the taxation of real gains.

And we've delivered on our commitments to expand the five per cent home deposit scheme, opposed by everyone over there—One Nation and the Nationals and the Liberals—delivering real change for young Australians who want to get their foot on the ladder, provide security for their families and have some aspiration for homeownership for the future. We are the only government that has been prepared to take those steps in the national interest and in the interests of young Australians.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Walker, first supplementary?