Page 3356 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022
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providing a decent home from all and to eliminate homelessness. We set out a range of initiatives which we believe would make a big difference to achieving this vision. Key to this is building more homes for people who need them. Key to this is shifting back to a community where we see how things are placed for people to live and build a good life, and we will continue that work.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (5.02): I am happy to rise to speak to the Chief Minister’s amendment to Mr Parton’s motion today. As the Chief Minister has said, we have been continuing to engage ministers in the federal government in our various portfolio responsibility areas and will continue to do that with regard to housing matters. Whilst at the moment there has not been an immediate outcome, which would have been our preference, we will continue to advocate to find a way for the debt to be waived and for the savings to be redirected to social and affordable housing. We have always committed to do that.
For many years, since I have been in this place, we have been calling on the federal government to waive that debt. As I said, we will continue to advocate for ways for that to occur. The more recent resolutions that were moved in the Assembly by Greens members that have supported those calls have been very much appreciated. It shows that, here at least, we have a willingness to advocate together for public housing debt waivers.
There is a big difference, though, between the new federal Labor government and the previous government. The willingness to engage and work with the territory on matters like this, which require all governments to work together across the country, is something that has, unfortunately, become unique but is a real thing for the new Albanese Labor government. Housing is one of those issues that we are working very closely on with all our state and territory government partners, as well as the federal government.
Since the Albanese Labor government has been sworn in, there have already been two housing ministers meetings, with another one likely on the way; the development of a new national plan; and a range of other commitments, including the establishment of the Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion fund to build 30,000 social and affordable homes in five years—20,000 social and 10,000 affordable, with 4,000 homes as a priority for women and children escaping family violence; the re-establishment of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council; developing the national housing and homelessness strategy, as I said; and opening a federal shared equity scheme to allow 10,000 lower income households each year to buy into their home sooner.
Over the last five years or so, since I have been minister for housing, from the Liberal coalition government there has been nothing, not a single commitment to addressing housing and homelessness across the country or here in the ACT. It has been crickets for the entire time that I have been working as minister for housing, and I definitely do not recall anything prior to that. What I find is that when I write letters to this federal Labor government on matters such as housing, we get engagement and we get
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