Making Homes & Families Possible

A home is more than four walls. It is the base of a stable life. A place to raise your kids. A place to build your future. It is often your biggest investment. Australia was built on the idea that hard work leads to home ownership. Right now, that promise is broken.

Strong families are the foundation of a strong Australia. Policy should make it easier, not harder, to raise children and build a life.

Housing pressure, rising costs and tax settings are making it harder to start and grow families. That is part of why birth rates are falling.

Australia now has the most unaffordable housing in the OECD. To fix it, we have to be honest about what is broken. We have to act on all the causes, not just the easy ones.

Under the Albanese Government, home ownership is out of reach for young Australians. Rents have skyrocketed. Labor is failing to meet its housing build targets. At the same time, it is bringing in record numbers of migrants. That adds even more pressure to the housing market.

Tens of thousands of housing blocks are not being built. The reason is a lack of water, roads, power and telecommunications. That is why the Nationals support unlocking new developments. We will deliver one off support for the basic infrastructure needed to build a new home. The goal is to get young families into their own home sooner.

We need to build about 240,000 new homes a year to keep up with demand. In 2024-25, only 173,800 were built. That is a shortfall of more than 60,000 homes every single year. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council says we are on track to be 375,000 homes short of the 2029 target.

There is no single fix for the housing crisis. Supply must rise. Demand must be managed. And we need to use the homes we already have more wisely. All three things together are the only way to make homes affordable again.

Every year we delay, the gap gets wider. The gap between what Australians earn and what a home costs. The Nationals back housing policy that is honest, fair and based on evidence. Fair for first home buyers. Fair for older Australians who just want a home that suits their needs.

The Nationals will:

• Manage demand by cutting migration. Match migration settings to our ability to build homes and deliver essential services.
• Grow regional towns and cities with better services and infrastructure. Give families the option of a home with space to raise kids.
• Help local councils release more land. Fund the trunk infrastructure like water, power and roads. That lowers the cost of opening up new areas for homes.
• Back more remote and flexible work in regional Australia. Bring a wider mix of jobs to country towns. Give families who move real choices.
• Invest in regional infrastructure and essential services. Including childcare, health and aged care.