Winning Back the Lost Australians

On Friday, it was my pleasure to speak at the inaugural CPAC event in WA.

My message to attendees was simple: in order to secure a return to good Liberal Government in WA, we need to focus on one of the key Liberal principles - home ownership.

My speech is below, I hope it is of interest:

THE LOST AUSTRALIANS 

Let me start with a hard truth. 

The Liberal Party is losing the outer suburbs. The Liberal Party is losing families. The Liberal Party is losing aspirational Australians. 

Just as John Howard did 30 years ago, today, the Liberal Party has to focus on these Lost Australians. Our electoral success depends on it. 

I call these people “the lost Australians” not only because the Liberal Party are losing them, but also because they feel lost.  

They’re losing faith in political parties, they’re losing trust in government and institutions, and, perhaps most tragically, they’re losing hope.  

Not long ago I was speaking with a young couple in the outer suburbs. Paul and Denise. Two incomes. No fancy lifestyle. They’ve done what they were told to do: study, work, save, sacrifice. 

And they said to me, “We can handle hard work. What we can’t handle is feeling like the finish line keeps moving further away from us.” 

That sentence should haunt anyone who believes in a fair go. As Howard said all those years ago: "I've always believed in an Australia built on reward for individual effort.”  

Because once that finish line moves beyond the reach of individual effort, people stop believing that effort matters. 

Because if you lose the people who work hard, do the right thing, and just want a fair shot — you don’t just lose elections. 

You lose the very purpose of our movement. 

WA STATE LIBERAL PRINCIPLES 

In Western Australia the State Liberals have stripped our message back to our core principles. 

The State Liberals believe: 

• If you work hard, you should be able to get ahead. 

• In a fair go for everyone. 

• Home ownership should be within reach. 

• In tough consequences for breaking the law. 

• Good governments get the basics right, then get out of the way. 

  
  

Tonight, I want to focus on that third principle — home ownership - because right now it’s the one slipping away from too many West Australians. 

HOUSING CRISIS — AND WHAT IT DOES TO A SOCIETY 

The Cook Labor Government love to say that they are pulling every lever, that they are tackling the hospital crisis from every angle, that they are diversifying the economy through Italian soccer matches, a racetrack at Burswood and a movie studio without any bookings. 

But we hear almost nothing about what the worst housing crisis in this State’s history is doing to the social fabric of Western Australia. 

Because housing isn’t just an economic issue. 

Housing is societal issue. 

Access to affordable housing is a major factor in whether a young couple believes the system works for them — or whether they decide it never will. 

When a whole generation of West Australians loses hope of ever owning a home — the impact is not contained within the housing minister’s portfolio.  

That loss of hope turns into frustration. 

It turns into anger. 

It turns into distrust — of politics, of institutions, of the entire idea that hard work leads to a better life. 

That should keep politicians up at night. I’m not sure if it keeps Roger Cook up at night, but it certainly keeps me up at night. 

Because a society where home ownership for my children, or my grandchildren becomes a permanent “maybe” is a society that slowly stops believing in the future.  

Then there’s the young people that are losing hope of ever owning their own home. 

What is the Australian Liberal cause without one’s own home? Without private property rights? Without a place to call your own? “Your castle,” as the famous Darryl Kerrigan once said. 

This fundamental aspiration is increasingly beyond reach. Why? Because a getting a mortgage for an entry level house or a house at the median price is impossible or beyond their ability to make repayments.  

And saving for a deposit takes years and years.  

The great Australian dream of home ownership is rapidly fading for young Australians. 

And when that happens, you don’t just break the housing market — you break trust. 

WHY LIBERALS CARE ABOUT HOME OWNERSHIP 

Now, some people on the Left talk about home ownership like it’s a lifestyle preference. 

To Liberals, it is much more than that. 

Home ownership is freedom made real. 

It is the ability to say: “This right here is mine. I’ve earned it. I’m responsible for it. I’ll improve it. I’ll protect it.” 

It is — in the most practical sense — national sovereignty expressed at the level of a family and a front door. 

CPAC’s own philosophy puts it plainly: “Sovereignty resides in the Person.” 

That’s not an abstract slogan. 

That’s the difference between being governed and being grounded. 

Between being perpetually dependent and being genuinely independent. 

THE COMMON THREAD: HOWARD, REAGAN AND THATCHER 

And this is where the legacy CPAC points to matters. 

Because Howard, Reagan and Thatcher governed different countries and had different challenges — but they shared the same moral intuition about home ownership. 

Margaret Thatcher put it with the clarity you’d expect, owning your home gives you a sense of independence and a stake in your country. 

Not a handout. Not a favour. A stake. 

Her principle was that the right way to meet housing needs is to help families become home-owners “rather than to subsidise them indefinitely” as tenants. 

That is a core Liberal argument in one sentence: help people build independence — don’t trap them into permanent dependency. 

Ronald Reagan, across the Atlantic, made the same case in American language. 

He said: “Home-ownership and decent housing instil pride in our citizens and contribute to the vitality of communities throughout America.” 

 Pride. Vitality. Community. 

And he called home ownership “an essential part of the American Dream,” praising the “efficiency and success of free enterprise” in responding to housing demand. 

That’s a wider view than just an economic view: free people, free enterprise, and a nation strengthened because citizens have something to stand in and on — literally. 

And here in Australia, John Howard spoke about home ownership as a foundation of security and stability for families. 

He said, “If it means that I think home ownership is a very important part of families’ security and stability … I’d be very happy to plead guilty to that.” 

He also described his government’s core promise as bringing “within the reach of more families the prospect of good jobs, home ownership and rising living standards.” 

That is our mission statement: dignity through work, stability through ownership, and opportunity that reaches beyond the inner city. 

 So, across three leaders — three countries — you get the same moral thread: 

• Ownership creates independence. 

• Ownership creates responsibility. 

• Ownership creates a stake — in community and country. 

• And when ownership becomes unreachable, society becomes unstable. 

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA — RIGHT NOW 

That’s the conversation we need today in Western Australia. 

Because right now, too many young West Australians feel like the deal has changed. 

They can do everything we tell them to do: get educated, work hard, save carefully — and still be told, “Sorry. Not enough.” 

Or they can buy, but only by moving further and further away from jobs, schools, and the support networks that help make family life easier and stronger.  

Or they can rent indefinitely, watching inspections, rent rises, and insecurity become their new normal. 

That is not the Australia we were raised to believe in. 

Because in this country, the reward for hard work, discipline and responsibility was supposed to be simple: 

• You save for a deposit. 

• You buy a home. 

• You own it. 

It’s yours. Not leased from the government. Not gifted by a politician. Earned. 

A home to raise your family. 

A home to retire with dignity. 

Something you can be proud of — because it came from your effort, not someone else’s permission. 

A real asset that can help your children in the future. 

LIBERAL ANSWERS: MAKE OWNERSHIP POSSIBLE AGAIN 

So, what does a Liberal agenda on housing look like? 

It starts with a simple principle: 

Government should stop being the barrier between hardworking people and a home. 

That means focusing on supply — not slogans. 

It means infrastructure that keeps pace with growth — so new suburbs are liveable, not stranded. 

It means freeing up land where it makes sense, and allowing density where communities want it — rather than choking development with delay, duplication and bureaucracy. 

It means backing the people who actually build houses: tradies, small builders, subcontractors, suppliers — the risk-takers and entrepreneurs who turn a block of dirt into a family home. 

Because without those people, there is no housing plan — there is only a press release. 

And it means being honest about the difference between helping people buy a home and inflating the price of the same home. 

The goal is not to keep feeding demand into an already constrained system. 

The goal is to make the system less constrained. 

Make it easier to buy something affordable. 

Make it easier to build. 

Make it faster to build. 

Make it cheaper to build. 

Make it easier to move and downsize. 

THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCE OF A BROKEN HOUSING DEAL 

This is also about politics — and everyone here knows it. 

If we want to win the outer suburbs again, you need to be able to look a 30‑year‑old in the eye and say: 

“Yes — you can still do what your parents did.” 

Not “maybe.” 

Not “only if your parents help you.” 

Not “only if you move 90 minutes away.” 

You can. 

And we have a plan to make sure you can. 

 Because if we don’t, those Lost Australians will keep drifting away. 

And some of them will drift not just away from the Liberal Party — but away from liberal democracy itself. 

They will listen to anyone who tells them the system is rigged against them and the whole thing needs to be torn down. 

And that is exactly how strong societies get weak. 

CONCLUSION:

Let’s make home ownership normal again. 

Not for the privileged few. 

For the people who keep this State running. 

For the people who do the early shift and the late shift. 

For the young couple saving every fortnight. 

For the single mum who wants stability for her kids. 

For the apprentice who wants a backyard, not a lifetime of inspections. 

Because home ownership is not just a personal dream. 

It is the bridge between work and security. 

It is the foundation of a confident middle class. 

Thatcher knew it, Reagan knew it, Howard knew it – and the WA Liberals know it. 

Thank you.