I rise to update the house on the progress of the housing affordability task force in making buying a home more affordable for Victorian families.

Housing affordability is one of the most complex and, might I say, urgent public policy issues confronting modern Australia. Home ownership is slipping beyond the reach of our young families.

The median price for a house in Melbourne today is $688 000 — nearly nine times the average wage. In 2005 it was $330 000 less than that. Yesterday’s national housing finance figures showed that nearly one in six home loans issued in April went to a first home buyer.

The Andrews government is committed to looking at this issue properly. We are also increasing supply, with the Housing Industry Association projecting a record 60 000 housing starts this year.

That is three times more than in New South Wales. But sadly this is yet another area where positive reform is being stymied by inconsistent messaging and glib one-liners from the federal government.

At the last Council on Federal Financial Relations, the federal Treasurer said he was ‘alarmed at the inability of young people to be able to access the housing market in a way they previously have been’.

 But apparently this is no longer the case; he is no longer alarmed. The federal Treasurer’s comments yesterday suggest that he thinks the problem has gone away. In fact he said:

The starting point for a first home buyer is to get a good job that pays good money … then you can go to the bank and you can borrow money …

If only it were that easy in the real world. Perhaps he would have our young people go to work at Ford or Holden momentarily.

The Andrews government understands the challenges that young people face when seeking to start out. We are going to make it easier for them in the long term.