Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (13:49) 

In the Hunter we know what it means to work hard—to put the hours in at the coalface, on the tools, in our small businesses, on our farms and in the best vineyards and wineries in the world—but still feel like buying a first home is unfortunately just out of reach. Too many young people have been stuck renting, paying somebody else's mortgage instead of building a future of their own. That's why Labor's five per cent first home deposit scheme is such a game changer. From October, first home buyers will only need a five per cent deposit, and—guess what—they won't pay a cent in mortgage insurance. That means you can get into a place of your own years earlier.

It's not just talk; it's already working. Since May 2022 almost 2,000 locals in the Hunter electorate have taken up the Home Guarantee Scheme. That's young couples in Cessnock finally getting their keys, parents in Kurri Kurri securing a safe place for their kids, and families in Singleton and Lake Macquarie putting down roots in their own communities. We're tackling the housing crunch from all angles, cutting deposit hurdles, training up more tradies through fee-free TAFE and delivering the biggest homebuilding program in our nation's history. Every family in the Hunter deserves the security of a place to call home, and, under this Albanese Labor government, we are certainly making that dream possible again.