Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—A decent house with stability of tenure is a very basic need, but unfortunately over the last 12 years it has become more in the nature of an aspiration, a source of stress and an unrealised hope that is out of the reach of many. Let us just take a minute to remind ourselves of the housing situation of many of our fellow citizens. There are 105,000 Australians on any given night who are homeless—unable to afford to live in a house. That number increased between 2001 and 2006 despite increased wealth in the economy. Then there are 1.1 million low- and moderate-income earners in housing stress who are paying more than 30 per cent of their total income on rent or their mortgage which does not leave them with enough money to live a decent life. This includes many who are living with the daily strain of mortgage stress—people who earned enough money to buy a house in the first place, but for whom 10 interest rate rises have made home ownership a financial struggle.

It was clear to the Labor Party in opposition that there was a huge problem with housing affordability and that the problem was not merely cyclical, or solvable by the market over time, as the former government claimed. It was clear to us that it was both socially and economically irresponsible to ignore the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Australians who were either locked out of home ownership or locked into paying large slabs of their income on mortgages—or, even worse, locked out of a house altogether. It was socially irresponsible, even heartless, because of the numbers of Australians who through no fault of their own were forced to endure very high levels of stress just to keep a roof over their head. And it is economically irresponsible because rising housing costs are contributing to inflation and undermine labour market mobility.

So we decided in opposition to get together the best minds in the country on all matters housing and hold a housing affordability summit. Kevin Rudd, Wayne Swan and many other colleagues joined with me to hear economists such as Saul Eslake, developers such as Harry Triguboff, industry representatives such as the Property Council of Australia and the Housing Industry Association, and developers such as Lend Lease to hear about solutions. There are solutions but none of them will work overnight. All of them involve new, complex ideas and careful policy development, and all involve a certain level of risk. Clearly something had to be done. The Howard government had dropped the ball—had clearly decided that housing was something that they had no time or commitment to do anything about. There were some clear policy solutions that came out of the Housing Affordability Summit, and we made a commitment to the Australian people to introduce them. In the 10 months we have been in office we have been doing exactly that.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister and I launched the Housing Affordability Fund. The fund addresses the barriers to the development of new housing. Early on, $30 million was set aside from the HAF to progress the rollout of electronic development assessment. These funds will bring a 19th century system of paper based processing into the 21st century, with important gains in the efficiency of our development assessment process. The Housing Affordability Fund tackles two major impediments to housing supply—holding costs which result from planning delays, and the impact of infrastructure charges. The Housing Affordability Fund will give local councils the chance to improve housing affordability in their communities. It is all about local solutions for local communities. Applications opened yesterday. I know there are a lot of local councils out there, as well as developers, who are gearing up to apply. I would encourage them all to get a copy of the guidelines and start preparing their submissions. This is because there is a huge, unmet need for more affordable homes to be built in many communities around Australia.

The Housing Affordability Fund has been welcomed by local councils and industry alike. An Australian Local Government Association representative said yesterday:

We are pleased that funding can be made available to help councils facilitate affordable housing projects.

We are particularly grateful that the Australian Government are prepared to fund community infrastructure related to HAF projects.

I am particularly pleased this funding is available, as it has been a long time since the federal government was prepared to acknowledge that housing costs were spiralling out of control, and that this is something the government can affect.

The Housing Affordability Fund is not a one-way street: councils will be expected to implement more efficient planning processes and to work in collaboration with builders and developers to cut out red tape that adds to the costs of building. The government’s most important criterion when assessing projects, whether under the National Rental Affordability Scheme or the Housing Affordability Fund, will be value for money. In making decisions about applications for grants under the Housing Affordability Fund, the government will be asking how much new home buyers will save in return for government funds. This is all about leveraging the benefits of competition—getting the greatest public benefit from the best ideas in the community.

The government expects funding will be sought for a wide range of projects. Some will involve planning reform across a whole local government area, which will deliver modest savings to all future home buyers across the jurisdiction. Others will fund specific pieces of local infrastructure, which will deliver larger savings to a defined number of lots. Just as no two communities are the same, this is not a one-size-fits-all policy that imposes a certain way of improving housing affordability for any communities. We are explicitly inviting local communities, through their councils, to put forward innovative projects that need some federal assistance in order to be realised. There are many exciting ideas that have simply had to be shelved for years, as the former government was not interested in assisting low- and middle-income families to achieve their dream of home ownership.

I am pleased to inform the House that industry are right behind the government’s plan. For example, Caryn Kakas, the Executive Director of the Residential Development Council, said yesterday:

The Housing Affordability Fund is strongly focused on achieving systemic cost reductions and the guidelines encourage best practice in local government in respect of residential development assessments and planning processes.

Housing Affordability Fund funding has the potential to improve development processes and should have long lasting, long-term benefits … which can achieve cost reductions not only across one development, but also across entire local government areas, regions or whole states if taken on in a cooperative manner …

Wilhelm Harnisch, the Chief Executive Officer of the Master Builders Association, said:

The HAF is a welcome return of the Commonwealth into this vital part of the Australian social fabric and the economy. There has been a decade of policy neglect in addressing the supply side barriers and the HAF is supported by industry as a first and vital step in redressing this area of policy neglect.

The Housing Affordability Fund is just one of the $2.2 billion worth of housing commitments contained in the last budget. The government has also established the National Rental Affordability Scheme. This scheme will provide tax incentives to help build 50,000 new homes to be rented to low- and moderate-income earners at 20 per cent below market rent. This scheme is a direct response to the group that is under greatest pressure in our community—long-term renters on low and moderate incomes.

The first call for expressions of interest closed on 4 September—less than 10 months after winning government. I am extremely pleased that industry and the not-for-profit sector have applied for over 12,000 incentives. We have applications with start dates spread over the next three years that will make a practical difference for low and moderate income earners stuck in the private rental market. These applications are currently being assessed and I look forward to being able to announce the successful applicants. The government will call for two more rounds under the National Rental Affordability Scheme this financial year. I look forward to continued strong interest.

From 1 October onwards, the government will also deliver on its commitment to establish first home saver accounts. First home saver accounts offer young Australians a major incentive to save for a home. This is an innovative policy to encourage long-term saving rather than short-term spending by our young people, with a huge funding commitment by the Australian government. Major banks and a large number of smaller providers have already indicated their intention to provide these accounts, which will be open for business next month. I would encourage all members of this House to inform young people living in their electorates that they have the chance to receive government support to start saving for their first home through this exciting government scheme.

The government was elected to tackle the problem of housing affordability. Over the last 10 months we have taken that mandate seriously and delivered on our commitments. There are no overnight solutions in this area. There are no silver bullets. But with innovative ideas soundly implemented we can lighten the burden of housing unaffordability for struggling households.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Farrer to speak for nine minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Farrer speaking for a period not exceeding nine minutes.

Question agreed to.

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