Clare O'Neil
Hotham · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“What a great question from the member for Bass. As we come to the end of question time for today, what a stark contrast this draws from the question that was just asked by those opposite—a hardworking local member who comes into this parliament week after week to advocate for her constituents, especially those who aspire to their own home…”
“I'm asked about alternatives, and the three right-wing parties of the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation have opposed every measure that our government has put in place to support first home buyers.”
“When they found out they were eligible for this program, Christy said they were over the moon. They've been able to get into their own home. Now, they're living much closer to town, their 10-year-old son no longer has a long bus ride to school, and he gets to ride his bike instead.”
“They want to scrap help to buy, which helps 10,000 people a year into their own home, and they want to double down on taxing every person in this country to subsidise investors to outbid first home owners in every auction in this country. As we come to the end of the budget sitting, this is becoming abundantly clear.”
“Today I want to pay special tribute to a pivotal and unique leader in my community, John Charles Saunders, who, tragically, passed away in March this year. John served our country in the 3rd Division Signals regiment and continued that service over many years as secretary of the Clayton RSL and region 2.”
“He brought with him that real specialness and that wisdom and humour that we get from that very unique Australian generation who saw challenges face this country, the likes of which my generation has never had to experience.”
The complete record
Every one of 306 lines we hold for Clare O'Neil, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 7.
“They feel it in the lack of power they have in negotiating with their landlords, and a very distressing share of the nation's renters tell us they are actively fearing becoming practically homeless, and that should not be happening in a country like Australia. One thing that the member for Wentworth has been constructive on, when working with the government, is understanding the crux of this issue facing our rental population—that is, for the 40-year period, our country hasn't been building enough homes. For a long time in Australia, the Commonwealth government washed its hands of this problem. For most of the time those opposite were in government they were so checked out of housing that they didn't even have a housing minister to negotiate with.”
“I thank the member for Wentworth for her question. It's a really good one, and I think it reflects the real seriousness with which she engages in the housing debate. For many of the wonderful people on the crossbench here, housing is a critical issue in their community, and they work collaboratively with our government, and the member for Wentworth is one of them. The member for Wentworth asked about the situation facing Australian renters, and I agree with her. This is a really critical concern for our government. We've got a housing crisis in our country that's been cooking for 40 years, and the people who are bearing the biggest brunt of this are people in rental accommodation. They're feeling it in rents going up too fast and too frequently.”
“We have now helped 197,000 Australians get into a home of their own, and I want every single one of them to know that, if it were up to the coalition, they would still be renting. I want the member for Wright to say to the 2,256 Australians in his electorate that he would prefer that they were still renting, not having the home ownership opportunities they're getting under our government. Those opposite might have given up on the great Australian dream, but our government hasn't. To Australia's first home buyers: we see that you are struggling. You face a big challenge, but we are on your side, and we always will be.”
“It might be around the time they gave up on the idea of lower taxes—remembering that this so-called lower taxes party went to the election saying they were going to increase taxes on every single Australian. They've given up on budget discipline. They gave us nine budget deficits and a trillion dollars of Liberal debt to manage. They've given up on environmental conservation. They support government-funded nuclear power plants, not the cheap renewables that the market prefers. I increasingly find myself looking on that side of the House and thinking: what on earth is it that connects this disarray? Now, they may be in total dysfunction. We are focused on delivery. Our government backs first home buyers.”
“We promised we'd back in first home buyers, at the election, and not only did we deliver that promise we did it three months earlier than we said we would. The member asked me about alternatives. There is an alternative sitting opposite. But, I have to say, on housing, I am starting to find it really difficult to know what it is that the coalition stands for. This is a party that says it supports homeownership. It does not have a single policy to support the young people of this country to get better housing opportunities. We've got a coalition here that opposes our government's expansion of homeownership opportunities to young Australians. When did the Liberal Party of Australia give up on homeownership for Australians?”
“I thank my friend the member for Gellibrand for his question. In part because of his strong advocacy, 2,060 Australians in his electorate alone have purchased their first home with the support of our government. I know there will be many more to come after our government's historic expansion of homeownership opportunities which took effect on 1 October. Our country is in the midst of a housing crisis that's been building for 40 years. After a decade of neglect, our government has built the most ambitious housing agenda that a Commonwealth government has had since the postwar period: $43 billion to build more homes, to get renters a better deal and to get more Australians into homeownership. We are delivering on those promises.”
“I'm thinking of a woman who I met in Adelaide recently, who was looking at becoming homeless late in her life. She's in a Housing Australia Future Fund home. It's changed her life and the life of her family, and we're going to do it 55,000 more times.”
“So I'd say to the honourable member I'm really pleased to come and talk to you and your community about that. And I will just say, to the parliament, all of us represent local electorates where there's housing need that's particularly acute. We've all got people in our communities that need and deserve extra support from our government on housing. After a nine-year period where the coalition built 373 social and affordable homes, we're building 55,000 over five years. Whatever you might like to say about housing, this is a really meaningful contribution to a national problem. I meet the tenants who live in these homes. I hear how their lives have been radically changed overnight because, for the first time their lives, many of them have got access to secure housing.”
“What I would say to the honourable member is that Housing Australia has a requirement to deliver housing around the country, but I'd offer him the opportunity, if he'd like, for me to meet with his community housing providers to talk about the remainder of the HAFF money. There are two really important funds that are being expended at the moment. One is the remainder of the Housing Australia Future Fund. The other is part of the $1.2 billion commitment that our government has made to building crisis and transitional accommodation around the country. I might add that that's 20 times what the coalition spent in nine years, and we're expending that in our first five years in government. This is another thing that the member for Calare might be interested in.”
“The homeownership statistics in your part of the world are looking pretty good—I think there are about 1,300 people in the member for Calare's electorate who've got into first home ownership with our government's backing—but home building is going to continue to be an issue. The Housing Australia Future Fund is the centrepiece of our government's commitment to building 55,000 social and affordable homes around the country. Five thousand of those homes have already been constructed, and most of those have tenants in them. We've got about 25,000 that are in planning or construction. The remainder of the Housing Australia Future Fund has not yet been committed.”
“Can I thank the member for Calare for his question and the really powerful advocacy he provides for people in his part of the world. He's absolutely right. I'm on my feet often, talking about the shape of this national housing crisis that's been cooking in our country for 40 years. It has a very, very important regional dimension, and I thank those—particularly on the crossbench, and I'd include Dr Haines in this—people who are consistently coming to me and speaking the voice of regional Australians and the need for us to continue to work with those of you in the bush who are struggling with housing.”
“According to him, the coalition didn't have a housing minister because there was no problem with housing under the former government. Let me be really clear. The reason they didn't have a housing minister wasn't that there was no crisis; it was that they didn't care. Under those opposite, house prices in Sydney more than doubled, rents skyrocketed and an entire generation in our country gave up on the idea of homeownership. They spent nine years doing absolutely nothing about this problem. They then went into opposition, and they've spent the last three years trying to block and delay things that will help. They're now doing everything in their power to show all of you in the public gallery that they are not even remotely concerned with your problems; they are just concerned with their own.”
“You will remember that, when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister, he said the answer for young people trying to get into their own home was that parents should shell out to help their kids, which doesn't help much if your parents aren't millionaires. When Joe Hockey was asked what advice he'd give to a young person struggling to get into housing—get this—he said, 'Get a good job that pays good money,' as if the housing challenges facing our country are some kind of personal failing of the young people around the nation. We know that, for most of the time the coalition were in office, they were so uninterested they didn't even bother having a housing minister, and yesterday the member for Wright said the quiet part out loud.”
“We have got a long way to go on housing, but we're seeing some really important progress. Our government knows that people need help on housing right now, and that is why we are so proud to see a massive expansion in homeownership opportunities. Our government has now helped 197,000 Australians around the country get into their first home with our five per cent deposit scheme. The member asked me about alternative approaches, and we do see from those opposite a completely different attitude to housing. They are completely out of touch, not just with energy policy but also with the housing experience of Australians. In fairness to those opposite, this is not a new feature of the 48th Parliament.”
“I thank the member for Petrie for her question. Since our government was elected in 2022, almost a thousand of her constituents have bought their first home with the support and backing of our government, and there will be many more to come. Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis that's been building for 40 years. We know that the long-term fix here is that we've got to build more homes. The majority of our historic $43 billion housing agenda is devoted to doing just that. The more housing we build, the more affordable housing becomes for Australians. We got some good news just yesterday: we learned that building approvals around Australia are up 15.3 per cent on last year. These are meaningful numbers, and this number has been growing fairly consistently now for 20 months.”
“This is an amazing organisation, and I want to give a shout-out to Kim-Son Vu, Trung Doan, Tan Nguyen, Hue Linh, Thuy Tran and Anh-Dung Tran and thank them for all the work they do in supporting our community and sharing their beautiful culture with the rest of us who live in Hotham.”
“This is a community of people, many of whom arrived in Australia in 1970s and 1980s with nothing but the clothes on their back, who are the backbone of entire suburbs in the south-east of Melbourne today. They've gone from a community of many people who arrived with very little education to a community that urges their children and grandchildren to take every advantage and opportunity that we have in our beautiful country. The doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and community workers of my patch of south-east Melbourne are, in so many instances, come from this beautiful, vibrant community. I had the great pleasure of joining them for the Mid-Autumn Festival hosted by the South Eastern Melbourne Vietnamese Associations Council—or SEMVAC, as we know them locally.”
“Thanks to a $2 million commitment from the Albanese government, along with very significant support from the Victorian government, an historic commitment from our Monash city council and the support of the Oakley Cannons themselves and their community, we have just built the best football stadium in a suburban club in the whole of Australia. Mark my words on that. If you've got a better option, come and show me. But I actually reckon we've taken the cake there, so I cannot wait to spend so many fantastic evenings at the pavilion and cheer on the mighty Oakleigh Cannons and Chisholm United. That's not where the celebrations end with Hotham. I am so lucky to represent a truly remarkable Vietnamese community in my electorate.”
“The Cannons chair, Kon Kavalakis, pulled out these elaborate plans for the new stadium that they wanted built. There was no funding; there was no pathway. It was just a dream. Yet, from that moment, the three of us took away this project and said, 'We have to work together, across three levels of government, to make this a reality.' Together with Kon, Cannons president Stan Papayianneris, Steve, Paul, Monash council and every club member, we achieved something truly extraordinary for my local community.”
“It has been such a joyful few weeks in my electorate of Hotham. I recently helped open the new pavilion at Jack Edwards Reserve. This was the delivery of a 2022 Labor election commitment, and it was a hugely emotional moment for me and for my community. The journey to getting this pavilion built started a very long time ago. My friend Ann Barker, one of the greatest champions for south-east Melbourne, asked me to go down to the Oakleigh Cannons and meet with their club president to hear their vision. Whenever Ann asks me to do something, I'm onto it immediately. I met down there with Steve Dimopoulos, our local state MP; our mayor, Paul Klisaris; and the club leadership. I vividly remember sitting in the kitchen at the Oakleigh Cannons' old building.”
“I thank the member for Barton. She is one of the brilliant, strong and energetic class of 2025, who are already having a transformative effect over the work of this parliament, and I am incredibly lucky to call her a colleague. I know how proud she is to be a part of a government that is delivering better housing opportunities for the people of her electorate. In Barton alone, over 1,000 people have gotten into their first home through our five per cent deposit program and with our government's backing. And it's not just that. We are building about 400 social and affordable homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund in her electorate. It is an epic project that the member and I have visited together.”
“We are building more homes, we are getting renters a better deal, and we are helping more Australians into homeownership. And we're going to continue to do it for the next 2½ years.”
“For those who represent the City of Sydney, young couples in your electorates are having to save for 11 years to buy their first home. Because of our government's policies, we are bringing that timeline back to two or three years. One of the things that hasn't got sufficient publicity is that in that eight-year period a couple on a normal income is going to pay a quarter of a million dollars in rent. And now, instead of paying off someone else's mortgage, they're getting to pay off their own because of our government. We will not shy away from the support that we are offering to young people around the country. The simple truth is that, after the complete bin fire that those opposite left us on housing, we are having to do all of the things all at the same time. That's why we've got a $43 billion agenda.”
“What he is really saying is that, in the context of extreme housing challenges that face young people in all of our electorates around this chamber, we should look people in the eye and say, 'We're not going to do anything to help you.' That is what you are arguing. We take a fundamentally different view. We actually talk to those young people and we say to them: 'We think it is manifestly unfair that you face different housing opportunities than your parents and grandparents. We are stepping up and we are doing something about it.' At the centrepiece of our approach to homeownership is us expanding the five per cent deposit program to every single first home buyer in the country, and we are immensely proud to be doing it.”
“We're building 55,000 social and affordable homes around our country—5,000 are finished; 25,000 are in planning or construction—and we've set a national ambition to try to build 1.2 million homes over the coming five years. The Prime Minister has stood up and taken some accountability—not like those opposite who said: 'Housing's got nothing to do us with us. We're not going to do anything about it. We're going to be so checked out of housing we're not even going to have a housing minister.' Our government has stood up and taken some accountability. The member asked me about first home ownership.”
“I thank the member for Fadden for his question. We have a housing crisis in our country that's been cooking for 40 years. If there's one thing that we can do that's important about this problem, we need to build more homes more quickly because more housing means more affordable housing for all Australians. That's why our government took a ruinous situation that was created by those opposite and, out of that, has built the boldest and most ambitious housing agenda in our country that a Commonwealth government has had since the postwar period. At the centre of that $43 billion of investment is our plan to build more homes for Australians, and we're getting on with delivering that.”
“Since 1 October, every single first home buyer around our country is eligible to get into the housing market with a five per cent deposit and our government's backing. This was, of course, an election commitment made by our prime minister at our campaign launch. We said that we'd do it by 1 January, and guess what? We've delivered it three months earlier than we promised—delivery, delivery, delivery! If our government sees that we can deliver support to Australians faster than we promised, we will make it happen. This policy is already having life-changing impacts for people who live in the member for Gorton's electorate, in my electorate and the electorates of every person around this chamber. We have now helped 190,000 Australians get into their first home because of our expansion of this scheme. It is amazing.”
“I want to thank the member for Gorton for her question. She is an extremely powerful voice for housing action within our caucus. She's coming from a very particular perspective. Not only does she represent one of the great growth corridors in Melbourne—housing is a massive issue in her constituency—but we have here a member of a younger generation who faces housing opportunities radically different from those of their parents and grandparents. She has talked to me again and again about her desire for our government to step in and do every single thing we can to help young Australians get better housing opportunities. That is why our government has made an historic expansion for homeownership support for young people.”
“I hope that in this new term of parliament the Greens have the opportunity to turn over a new leaf. We want to work across the political parties to get better action for Australians. That is exactly what the Australian people expect us to be doing.”
“The Greens have got a lot to say about this program, but I want them to look the people who use it in the eye and talk to them about their issues, because we now have 190,000 Australians who have been supported into their first home because of our government's program—190,000 Australians that the Greens political party are saying should never have got government support to buy their first home. The Greens played a disgraceful act of politics over the last three years. They came into this parliament day after day after day, saying that they were advocating for people who need housing support and at the same time doing everything they could to work with the Liberal Party to block more housing, to block housing support for first home owners—even to block better support for renters, which is one of the things they talked about most.”
“But what the Greens political party are really saying to us here is that, while we are doing that hard work of addressing the fundamental issues facing our country on housing, we are not going to do anything to help the young people of today, and that is a position that our government fundamentally disagrees with. One of the main issues that young people talk to all of us parliamentarians about is the challenges they face getting into the housing market. We've got lots of people in this parliament representing Sydney seats. In your electorates, the average young couple is saving for 11 years to get into the property market for the first time. Because of our expansion of the five per cent deposit program, we are bringing that back to two or three years. This is really meaningful support for people.”
“I thank the member for her question. We've got a housing crisis in our country that's been cooking for 40 years. The simple problem is that, for that entire period of time, our country has not been building enough homes. That's why the $43 billion package, the historic package, that our government is implementing is focused primarily on building more homes for Australians. We're doing that by building 55,000 social and affordable homes—something the Greens political party did everything to stop us doing. We're building 100,000 homes for first home buyers and we're trying to push towards this national aspiration of building 1.2 million homes over a five-year period. This is the main game: building homes for Australians.”
“We've got a $43 billion agenda building more homes, helping renters get a better deal and getting more Australians into homeownership.”
“They then spent the following three years being housing hypocrites, trying to slow us down and hold us back from addressing the crisis while complaining that not enough was being done. What worries me the most about all of this is that we're in this new term of parliament, there are fresh faces and there is fresh air in the chamber, but the same old negative attitudes prevailed. We heard the opposition housing spokesperson say today of the government's agenda, 'The government shouldn't be doing things at all.' The opposition doesn't want us to build more homes, they don't want us to help renters and they don't want us to support more Australians into homeownership. They have not a single useful thing to say about one of the biggest issues facing the country.”
“That is why our government has expanded our five per cent deposit program to make every single first home buyer in our country eligible for government support. Our five per cent deposit program will slash the average time it takes to save for a deposit from over a decade to just two to three years. I talked about some central pieces of the government's agenda just now, and I really want you to understand that none of the critical actions on the housing crisis that we are taking today are supported by the opposition, who over a wasted decade sat on the benches behind me doing absolutely nothing about the housing challenges that were growing before their eyes.”
“As part of our work for renters, the Prime Minister has ensured that every single renter in our country is today getting better rental standards because of his willingness to push the states to implement a better deal for renters. Renting is really tough. When our government thinks about housing policy, it's renters that we have in mind, so it was really encouraging to see some reporting today that rents across the capital cities have now stabilised for five quarters. This is really good news even though there is a lot more work to do. When I talk to renters, I usually get one single message from them: whatever their current housing challenges, the thing that bothers them the most is that many cannot see a realistic pathway to getting into a home of their own.”
“I thank the member for Forde for his question. The member for Forde has tens of thousands of people living in his electorate who are today getting a hand with their housing needs from our Albanese government. I know he's a passionate advocate for making sure that his constituents get into their first home. In Forde alone, more than 2,000 people have taken up our government's five per cent deposit program to get into their first home since we were elected in 2022. The member for Forde has lots of renters living in his electorate. In his electorate alone, more than 20,000 people have received an almost 50 per cent increase to their Commonwealth rent assistance. That's 20,000 out of a million households around the country. But that's not it.”
“They spent three years trying to hold our government up for doing important work. We are undeterred. We've got $43 billion on the table to build more homes, help renters get a better deal and, yes, get more Australians into homeownership.”
“This expansion is genuinely going to make meaningful shifts for thousands of young people around our country who are desperate to get into their own home, who need and deserve our government's support, but the shadow housing minister is particularly opposed to this expansion of homeownership. He's called it bizarre and ridiculous and he's said that this policy will help the children of billionaires get into their own homes. How absolutely out of touch do you need to be to make a foolish statement like that—as if the children of billionaires are taking out 95 per cent loans to buy a two-bedroom home in the member for Jagajaga's electorate. It's an insult to the 180,000 people who have already used this program and the thousands more who will get into it. Those opposite did nothing when they were in opposition.”
“They're now rising below inflation. We're supporting modern methods of construction. We're training more tradies; tens of thousands have gone through fee-free TAFE with our government's support. Perhaps most importantly of all, we're doing something that the Commonwealth has not done at scale since the postwar period, and that is that we are building tens of thousands of homes—55,000 social and affordable homes—for Australians in need. The opposition's approach to our agenda defies any sensible words. I want to point to the reaction to the five per cent deposit scheme.”
“That's why we are taking our government on a journey from the complete negligence and ignorance about the housing crisis that was demonstrated by those opposite over nine years to building the boldest and most ambitious housing agenda that our country has had at the Commonwealth level for 70 years. Of course, we know that the answer to our housing crisis is ultimately that we've got to build more homes more quickly, and that's why the majority of our government's $43 billion housing agenda is focused on building, building, building. We're seeing real progress on this. You've heard me say to the parliament before that we've got new housing starts up 17 per cent on where they were a year ago. When we took office from those opposite and their shambolic dealings with housing, construction costs were rising at a historic 17 per cent.”
“I really want to thank the fantastic member for Jagajaga for her question. I know, like everyone on this side of the chamber, she is so excited that our government has opened up a realistic pathway for tens of thousands more young people every year to get into the dream of homeownership in our great country. In her electorate, about 500 people have already taken up the opportunity of getting into homeownership through our five per cent deposit scheme. I hope to see many more over the coming three years. They will have their local member of parliament to thank for that. Our government understands that housing is a life-defining challenge for many people around our country.”
“I really want to thank the member for Bean for his question. He's a really big advocate for us building more homes around the country and he often talks to me about the really significant housing challenges that are facing his Canberra community. He's got constituents that are working hard. They're doing everything right, yet still they cannot afford to buy a home in our great country. Now, it is too hard to build a home in our country and it is too hard to buy a home in our country. That is because we have a housing system that's been in desperate need of reform for 40 years. Our government is turning that moment of national challenge into a moment of national change. Just in the last two weeks, you've seen our government deliver on a couple of really important—”
“The coalition, in nine long years, delivered 373 homes for the country. What an absolute disgrace. We are getting it done. In the member for Hasluck's electorate, there are 537 new social and affordable homes; in the member for Fraser's electorate, 795 new homes; in Jagajaga, 711 new homes; and, in Adelaide, 680 new homes. Do you know how many new homes the coalition delivered in all these electorates together? Absolutely zero. It is no wonder we have so many housing challenges, and we are getting on with the job of addressing the housing concerns that Australians so clearly have.”
“Under this Prime Minister and this government, we're building more homes, getting renters a better deal and getting more Australians into homeownership. A really important part of the work we're doing is our efforts to build 55,000 desperately needed social and affordable homes right around our country. In our government, we are all about delivery, delivery, delivery. I want to let the parliament know that, of those 50,000 new social and affordable homes, we've ticked off over 5,000 of those homes as already complete, many with tenants already in them, and we've got 25,000 of these homes in planning or construction today. I really want the parliament to understand the scale of what we are undertaking here. Remember, our government is delivering 55,000 social and affordable homes in five years.”
“We absolutely recognise that housing is a life-defining challenge for many people around our country. We hear it from an entire younger generation, who tell us, in absolutely clear terms, of the anger that they feel that they experience completely different housing opportunities than their parents and grandparents had. We hear it from parents, too. They talk to us about the deep worry they have that the younger people in their lives are not going to have the same financial future and security that they had. And, of course, we see it in all of our communities with that rising homeless population that is so distressing. Our government has a $43 billion agenda which is targeted at addressing some of these issues.”
“I want to thank the member for her question. She represents an absolutely beautiful part of our great country, and it is a part of our nation which has some really specific housing challenges. It's in part because of her really powerful advocacy that we have in Canberra today an Australian government which has the boldest and most ambitious housing agenda that a Commonwealth government has had since the postwar period. This is bringing really meaningful change to the member for Richmond's constituents. About 500 of the people she represents have got the keys to their first home because of the Albanese government's backing. There are 14,000 recipients of Commonwealth rent assistance in her community who are getting almost a 50 per cent increase on that payment because of our government.”
“I sat down with them just after they'd bought their first home with our 5 per cent deposit program, and they told me an amazing story. This beautiful couple had a young child and another baby on the way. Would you believe that these Australians weren't able to get housing stability, bouncing from family member to family member? That's when our government was able to step in and help them get into a home of their own. That family now owns a home in the member for Leichhardt's electorate. We want to see more Australians get that opportunity, and we're really pleased to be rolling out this program on 1 October.”
“That is why our government is making it easier for Australians to buy, through our expanded 5 per cent deposit program—no income caps, no caps on places and increased property price caps that better reflect where we know that Australians want to live. As you've heard me say before, our government is all about delivery, delivery, delivery. That is why we are bringing forward this announcement, because we want to get that help to Australians earlier than we were originally planning. We're bringing this forward to 1 October. Mark that date in your diary, any people in the gallery and want to get that amazing Australian dream of homeownership realised. Now, 180,000 people have already benefited from this scheme right around the country. I want to say my hello to Matt and Maddy, who are in the member for Leichhardt's electorate.”
“That's why the bulk of our ambitious $43 billion housing agenda is focused on boosting supply. This agenda is of course already delivering for the country. We've had about half a million homes been built around our nation since we came to office. On the last stats that came out from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, we saw that housing starts are up 17 per cent on where they were a year ago. We've seen construction costs stabilise—from their historic increase that was occurring when those opposite left office—and we have got now 25,000 social and affordable homes in planning or construction, with more than 5,000 completed. These are important moves to help us tackle the housing crisis from every angle. But our government also fiercely believes that the young people of this country need help with housing, and they need help right now.”