Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Motions

Big Housing Build

Debate resumed.

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (14:52): I am rising to speak on this housing motion because I am really quite frustrated to hear the spruiking from the Labor government saying that they are getting on with building more houses when, frankly, the reality is starkly different in South-West Coast than what I am hearing in this chamber. The reality is that over 900 families are on a waiting list for housing in South-West Coast – 900 – and this government spruiks about how much money, millions of dollars, they are putting into the area for housing.

I see women coming into my electorate office who have been assured through public campaigns of the support they will receive, if they are victims of domestic abuse, from the Andrews Labor government, and they come in and they tell me that they are on the street or living in the car with their children. I have even had a woman with four children sleeping in their car. The organisations like St Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army – I might add someone from our good Salvation Army community was on the steps today, Lindsay Stow; I met with him earlier on the steps of Parliament –do a fantastic job. They are so desperate to help people in this housing crisis and to get the government to listen to the fact that we need more social housing, not just the talk but actually delivering on the promises, that they have come all the way down here to protest on the steps and point out to the government that they are failing. Thank you to the organisations that do do so much work, so much frustrating and very challenging, hard work. When you see the devastation and despair on people’s faces that we see that come into our office, saying ‘Can you please help? We have got nowhere to go. We are getting kicked out of the hotel that we have been in’ or the caravan or ‘We have been offered a tent’. These are the stories that are just not able to be coped with from the point of view of even the staff at the Salvos, who must struggle, like we do in our office, because it is just too heart-wrenching.

The government had an article in the Standard recently saying they had built 75 homes. But the truth is in 2017 this state had a collection of 86,813 homes on their books, because the government owns the most homes for rental properties and manages these properties. By 2021, because we do not have any figures past then of the actual net situation, the figure was 86,887. After all the billions of dollars they have spent on this big build that we keep getting told so much about, that is an improvement of 74 homes – just 74 homes. Now, there are 900 families. Families in our electorate are often four people, so that is a lot of people – a mum, a dad and two kids is probably more normal than the 1.2 of the state average in South-West Coast would be my guess. Places like Terang I do not think even have any social houses, but we do have people trying to help.

I met with the Women’s Housing association, and they are building houses in Portland and Heywood. Midfield Meat, a local family-owned enterprise who do a lot for our community by way of social good and philanthropy, are actually trying to solve the problem themselves by building a housing complex for their workers, which will take the pressure off the housing market. Whether it is rental, whether it is social housing or whether it is people trying to buy, there is a real supply issue. My colleague at the table, the member for Kew, continually shares with the government that it is a supply issue and we need to actually do more to improve the supply. You get businesses like Midfield Meat, who are going ahead and trying to do that, and they are held up by government regulation instead of being supported and assisted in the process of making sure permits are given where they need to be in a timely manner.

Or take on board our suggestion, which we had as a policy before the last election, of a flying squad to go around and help the councils. We do have a challenge with accessing staff, and it makes sense at times to use centralised people like planning people in the council who can use the department’s expertise, because it is often very hard to attract people to the regions. And when you do not have housing to attract them, the problem just continues to compound. So having that flying squad concept is something I think the government should still be taking up as an idea. It does not hurt to take up good ideas and swallow your pride sometimes and say ‘That’s a good one. We should adopt it’. Then we can get a bit more land available, because in places like Warrnambool there just is not the land available to be able to increase the supply, and the more roofs we have over people’s heads is where we start to really solve the problem.

It is time to stop just spinning the wheels on this spin that comes out of the government’s mouth and actually start to deliver. Things like false promises like the Commonwealth Games. We were not going to get anything in the South-West Coast region from a Commonwealth Games perspective, because it was Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong that were going to benefit mainly from our part of Victoria. But the reality is that the legacy is something we do need that was promised. These houses – we need them and we need them now. With the Commonwealth Games, those promises were meant to be delivered by 2026. The government needs to stick to that promise with the legacy and deliver by 2026. There is no reason and no excuse not to, with the disappointment that the communities are struggling with as a result of the government being told they could have run the games for $1.4 billion but insisted on $2.6 billion, which they now claim to be $7 billion but will not evidence, and when we have to pay $1 billion to now get out of contracts. For $1.4 billion we could have had the games and now we are getting nothing. It just economically does not add up, and that is what the problem is with this government: they do not understand economics. Having all the spin in the world cannot take away from the fact that people are homeless and people are struggling. When we were in government last, in 2014, we had 9900 people on the priority waiting list – that was way too many, no question about that. Now, in March this year, there were 37,079 people on that priority waiting list for houses. Now, this is a government that has been in government for 20 of the last 24 years, and in that time the priority waiting list for families to go into housing has tripled.

This is a government who says it has been getting on with it and delivering for the community of Victoria and that it cares about our most vulnerable. Well, I do not know how you can triple the homelessness figure and say you have been delivering. Just yesterday in the Parliament the Deputy Premier was talking about all the work they have done – all the changes they have made to legislation – to improve the situation for renters. The evidence is clear: there are less people able to rent properties. They have failed. All those changes have clearly not worked, because we are in a rental crisis. I struggle to see when this government is going to realise that the smoke is clearing and the mirrors are not really showing what it hopes it will see, because it is becoming too clear for everyone, and the evidence is just landing at our feet. The evidence is just too clear: there is a rental crisis, when a government says it has done wonderful things to change legislation and improve that; homelessness figures are increasing; and priority housing lists have tripled from when we were in government to now. And this government uses the language ‘We’ve been getting on and delivering’. In South-West Coast alone we are in the top 50 areas of homelessness, with an increase in homelessness of 44 per cent. That is not something to be proud of. I really struggle with this motion that says the Andrews Labor government are doing a wonderful job delivering on social housing. I think it is a complete and utter failure. It does not matter what I think – the evidence is in figures, and the figures have tripled. That is quite clear.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

Roma BRITNELL: It does matter what I think – thank you, member for South Gippsland, you are right. Everybody is valuable; you are quite correct. But the reality is the figures speak much more loudly than my words, and the figures are damning, especially the figure of 37,079 families that are on a priority housing list. The government have failed. They have failed our most vulnerable. The government, who say they care, clearly do not care, and those women who have been promised that they will be looked after if they are in a vulnerable situation of domestic violence and need to leave have been absolutely failed. They need to stay in their communities, they need to stay in towns like Terang, but there just simply is not the social housing to assist them. They have been let down. This is not a government that cares. This is not a government that cares about our vulnerable, it is not a government that cares about our homeless people, and it is not a government that cares about women.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (15:02): Acting Speaker, I hope you appreciate my being a gentleman before in getting the smooth running of the house going after lunch. I did have the call. It is great to stand here today and speak on a motion given to us by the Minister for Housing –

Danny O’Brien: We always appreciate you, Paul. Always.

Paul EDBROOKE: You always appreciate me – thank you. I have had a little bit to do with the Minister for Housing in the past couple of weeks. The Minister for Housing has announced a project with Kids Under Cover in Frankston, which will provide housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth at risk, and Kids Under Cover of course is a fantastic stakeholder to work with and a good stakeholder to partner with. We have also been to visit 3PE Engineering in Yarraville. You have heard me talk about 3PE and Charlie in this house before, but they make modular housing systems which would provide governments and other stakeholders many, many opportunities to make an impact on the housing crisis across the nation.

As we have heard people across the aisle say today, the numbers speak for themselves. Labor and only Labor knows what a strength and a support it is for people to have a safe and secure place to call home. It is obviously a solid foundation from which to thrive, especially for people at risk. Our $5.3 billion Big Housing Build is delivering more than 12,000 social and affordable homes across metropolitan and regional Victoria, and we have already passed the halfway mark. Twelve thousand social and affordable homes – and that is creating more than 10,000 jobs a year, which is incredible. More than 7600 homes have been completed or are underway, with 2800 homes already completed and welcoming renters. Our affordable housing rental scheme will deliver 2400 affordable homes across metro and regional Victoria. The first development in Kensington has welcomed renters, and renters are moving into Markham Avenue, Ashburton and Dunlop Avenue, Ascot Vale. Additionally, we have heard of the $1 billion regional fund that will deliver more than 1300 social and affordable homes to Victoria’s regions.

So it will not be a surprise to anyone that someone on this side of the house, someone who is very passionate about housing, can take umbrage at some of the scenes we saw yesterday, especially with the Greens. I notice that we are talking about something very important – most of us would say the most important issue in our state at the moment – housing, and yet, where are the Greens? They have not really been in here at all today. It seems they are not interested. They are interested in being influencers and getting votes but not in actually putting roofs over people’s heads.

We heard the member for Richmond yesterday talk about a lady who had no place to go, could not get a roof over her head and went to her office. The member for Richmond was in tears about it, and I do understand that. That is a very trying issue, and she obviously had to go through quite a few phone calls to reach the goal of putting a roof over that person’s head. But to that member I would say, ‘Congratulations. Welcome to your workplace’, the workplace that we all have. We are not there just four days a week. We do not take Fridays off. This is often a seven-day-a-week job for most people, and I am talking across the board to our Liberal and National friends over there as well. When you are passionate about your community, you help your community, and that is your job. So welcome to your job. There will be people that come to your electorate office with complex needs, very difficult needs, things that you need to help them with. That is your job.

I must say, it must be a bit of a privilege to live in a more metro area, because in some of the areas like the south-east we would not have the amount of services that the member for Richmond called out yesterday. So that is a bit of a privilege. I guess across the state, though – and I am sure we can all agree on this – homelessness does not take an RDO. Homelessness does not take Friday off. It just does not. Facebook posts do not give people housing, okay? There is a difference between being a political influencer and wanting to put your green triangle stamp on everything and actually delivering housing.

It is here that I point out something very ironic – very, very ironic – about the member for Richmond. You know, I do not like making things personal, but it has got to be called out. It was in 2020 that the Greens-dominated Yarra City Council voted against a Collingwood social and affordable housing development that would have seen hundreds of additional homes added to local housing stocks, which might have put a roof over the head of the person that came to the member for Richmond’s office the other day. That would have helped local renters and homebuyers. Who was the mayor of Yarra council in 2020 when this decision was made to knock housing off the agenda? Who was it? It was the member for Richmond. So for her to stand here and act high and mighty is just unbelievable. If you are not morally corrupt, if you have ethics, how can you stand in the way – or how can your party stand in the way – of a bill before the Senate in the federal Parliament that will provide 33,000 homes for Australians, ready to be built? People could move in within months. We have got someone who is not in the house at the moment, unfortunately, who is telling us that we should do more, that we are not doing enough and they are the doyens of housing. This is the former mayor of Yarra City Council talking, the mayor that knocked back hundreds of new homes for people in her electorate.

So it is shameful that we have to sit here and listen to people who have killed off housing projects. Who else in this house has killed off a housing project? It does not look like any of you have. Have you, member for Ringwood? I do not think he has killed off a housing project. The people that are killing off housing projects are the ones that will be in this chamber right now, bringing a matter of public importance this afternoon telling us we are not doing enough, when we have told them a number of times that we would listen. We want to go through consultation. We would rather that they, instead of being social media influencers, actually be policy influencers, meeting with the government and meeting with the housing minister to actually get things done. When we say ‘get things done’, I will say it again: the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build is delivering more than 12,000 new homes.

Again, a Greens member before, the member for Brunswick, said, ‘Oh that’s kind of a medium build, not a big build.’ Well, I did a bit of googling before. I did not need convincing, but I thought I would do the googling anyway. We have the biggest housing build in the nation – of any state – at the moment. We have also, from my study, got a larger housing build than most Commonwealth nations at the moment. We are leading not just nationally but some might say internationally, and I assume that soon we will have people coming from other nations to see how we did it, how we dealt with the housing crisis, which is not just something that Victoria is going through, it is not something that Australia is just going through as an isolated incident, it is across the globe.

The minimum investment guarantee by local government area from the Big Housing Build is another thing I would just like to bring the house’s attention to. The minimum investment for Ballarat is $80 million. The minimum investment for Bass Coast is $25 million worth of housing; Baw Baw, $35 million; Golden Plains, $15 million; Greater Bendigo, $85 million; Greater Geelong, $180 million; and I could go on. I could go on, but I will not because this has all been in the media. This has all been out there for people to read. But what we have seen in the last couple of days is an ideological view which does not really connect to anything at a grassroots level. To be surprised that it is your job to help people is a bit of a shock to me. Even when we do have regular housing stock and there might be no-one that needs that house, we will still have people coming to our offices and asking for different types of accommodation – people who are at risk, people who are in trouble and people with certain needs. It is our job as local MPs – all politics is local, as JFK said – to help people.

To come into this house yesterday and talk about how Labor as a government is not producing any more housing is an absolute joke, and it is misleading our whole community. To talk about a member of your constituency who you helped while being the person who as mayor of Yarra council killed off hundreds of housing stock from being built is shameful. I just bring that to people’s attention because that is something the people of Yarra might not know. They might not have put those two things together. But it certainly shows who from this side of the house is actually delivering and who from that small side of the house over there is just talking and has never delivered anything. If you could make bricks out of Facebook posts, they might be able to build one house, but misleading your constituents is very low. I commend this motion to the house.

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (15:12): Despite the best efforts of this government’s marketing team, the big build is hardly contributing to better outcomes for regional communities and families. New figures released by the Victorian Housing Register show that nearly 67,000 Victorians are on the public housing waitlist as of March 2023, an increase of close to 4000 people over the previous 12 months. This is a 300 per cent increase since the government came into power. It is failing our most vulnerable Victorians. Average waiting times for those on the waitlist have blown out, with the urgent public housing category now nearly a two-year wait. Despite claims of record investments, public housing stock remains stagnant as more and more vulnerable Victorians are added to the waitlist each week. This situation is particularly dire in regional areas, including my electorate of Euroa. Right across my electorate we have waitlists for housing that are completely out of control. There are hundreds of people urgently waiting for housing in towns across the region, including Seymour, Benalla and the Broadford district. I am regularly contacted by people who are in desperate need of housing, and they are continually being told that there is simply no supply to house them.

$2.8 billion has only got us 74 new dwellings in our state on a net basis. This is simply not enough. It is another example of the Labor government’s inability to deliver their promises and manage the costs of a project. The shortages in public housing are having a significant impact when accompanied by the current cost-of-living crisis. Residents are already struggling with out-of-control rental increases, shocking house prices, soaring utility bills, exponentially rising interest rates and an ever-growing cost for their groceries and day-to-day items. Stable housing is essential to helping those in need to get back on their feet, but under the Andrews Labor government things are getting worse, not better. Housing stress is a major factor that impacts the livability and community benefit found in our towns.

Sadly, 25 out of 40 of the most disadvantaged locations in this state are regional areas. This includes towns in my electorate like Seymour, Benalla and Rushworth and nearby towns like Shepparton and Bendigo. These people are already doing it tough with struggling health systems, a lack of education and childcare providers, limited economic opportunities, domestic violence and many, many other factors. Addressing the housing stress in these towns is critical to improving the lives of many people in these areas. Vulnerable Victorians deserve better than a tired government that only delivers longer waiting lists, longer waiting times and no significant increase in new homes.

Today the Minister for Housing called it a ‘social housing emergency’. You would think that if there was genuine concern about this matter, the minister would bother to respond to my questions on notice. All the way back in March I asked the government about housing in my region. I asked simple questions. Through the big build, how many houses have been built in our region? How many are under construction? Not a single response, so I asked again in May. Still no response. We desperately need solutions, but it seems like the necessary actions are not being taken.

The increasing number of people struggling to find affordable housing and facing homelessness is heartbreaking. We need real tangible efforts to tackle this crisis and support those who are most vulnerable. Unfortunately, despite the spin, today has revealed we do not have a government capable of tackling this issue. At the very least we need a minister who cares enough to respond to these cries for help. With all the claims of the government’s big build, it is unclear if we have even seen a net increase in the number of houses in our communities.

Clearly the minister is too busy to respond, so I want him to hear directly from my community why this truly is, in his words, a ‘social housing emergency’. The Benalla homelessness response group has been recently set up by volunteers to support the homeless in the area with absolutely no funding. The group formed because of increasing stories of the silent homeless, those who are couch surfing, people sleeping in cars near the lake, at the showgrounds and under the Benalla library as well as those sleeping rough and bush camping out of town. The group’s hope is to set up a soup kitchen and gradually expand to offer accommodation, thanks to the selflessness of the local Benalla Lions Club volunteers. But once again we are leaning on our community volunteers to address the problems caused by the incompetent government. The Benalla homelessness response group was formed because this government has failed to help our most vulnerable Victorians yet again.

I recently had another resident visit my office and plead for housing help. A single father of four children, including a disabled child, was told there was a two-year waitlist and was encouraged to get a caravan. This is not good enough. Victorians deserve better. I want locals to be able to grow up, raise their family and own a home in their own community without having to save for decades. Unfortunately this is just not a reality at the moment.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the median house price across regional Victoria has increased by over 45 per cent. The median value of a home in Kilmore has increased from $470,000 to $600,000 – that is a rise of 28 per cent – while the median price of homes in Broadford has increased by $145,000 over the same period. With strong growth in regional areas like the Mitchell shire, this government must work to level the playing field by increasing the housing infrastructure and education funding for regional areas. The issues in regional housing in terms of affordability, rental markets and public housing are out of control, and more needs to be done. Whether it is taxes, interest rates, borrowing capacity or the supply of homes, every metric for housing affordability is in reverse under the Andrews Labor government.

Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (15:19): I am very pleased to rise to contribute to the housing motion put by the Minister for Housing. Can I thank him for doing that, because it gives us an opportunity to focus on what is important in electorates like mine in Geelong. I am really passionate about housing and particularly about affordable public housing. I had the great privilege of growing up in public housing. I know how important it was to have that security, the affordability, for a family of eight. We were cramped into a three-bedroom house, but it was our home and it provided that security for my family for many, many years. As I said, I was born and bred in public housing, and I have always appreciated that. I think everyone has a right to secure and affordable housing, there is no doubt of that, but what we are seeing is a housing situation that is really difficult and challenging – right across the board, but I am talking about my electorate of Geelong. The difficulties people are experiencing – it is not only low-income people but people on middle incomes that just cannot find affordable accommodation in Geelong.

We do have a real issue there, and I think we need to start looking at how we address this problem. We cannot just keep saying, ‘Let’s build more public housing.’ There needs to be a range of different opportunities put to people, not just maintaining the status quo, and that is exactly what this government is doing. We are looking at not only public housing but community housing and the social housing that we know many people are enjoying now and have done for some time. I know we have some great programs in Geelong. We have the Northern Geelong Rental Housing Cooperative, which was established back in the 1980s. Many families enjoy that safety and security of tenure in their social housing, and it has worked very, very well. There are lots of different opportunities that have been established over the years in my community of Geelong, and we need to be broadening our view and looking at what housing options can be delivered not just by government but by developers out there that are keen to build and provide affordable and social housing in their developments. We have seen that in the seat of South Barwon with Armstrong Creek. There are developers out there that have included not only social housing but accessible housing for people with disabilities as well. There are developers out there that are prepared to do what they can to provide good, secure, affordable accommodation for people in our community.

A target has just been reviewed to have 16,000 residents living in the CBD of Geelong as part of the revitalising Geelong program. That is really important, and we will rely on the private sector to deliver that housing but also social housing, community housing projects and of course public housing. This is a really important issue for my community. We know that safe and secure housing provides a solid foundation for people, and there are difficulties in regions like Geelong. We have had hundreds of public housing and social housing properties delivered in recent times. We know that the 1300 properties to be delivered across regional and rural Victoria will make a huge difference to communities like mine, to communities in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, all those communities that are screaming out for housing.

It is not just that focus of providing housing, it is about accommodating workers as well, and we know the housing shortage for our workforce is a particularly difficult one at the moment, particularly in the Geelong region where you have the Bellarine and the Surf Coast, which are on the outskirts of the region and which rely on public servants to come into their communities, whether it is police, teachers, nurses, whatever it might be. They need somewhere to live too, so this is a challenge right across the board. It is not just about providing secure and affordable housing for those that need it. It is about the workforce as well, which is really important.

The $5.3 billion Big Housing Build is delivering more than 12,000 social and affordable houses across metropolitan and regional Victoria, and we have already passed the halfway mark, which is really exciting. As I said, in my electorate alone there have been a couple of hundred properties delivered. There are more on the way, but we have also created nearly 2000 jobs across the Geelong region. It is so important that we remember that these things make such a difference in our community. People can actually get jobs which provide money for them to pay for affordable, secure housing. These are really important matters.

We have some amazing organisations in my community, and I want to mention them today because, as I said, we do have a homelessness problem in not just Geelong but right across the country. We have amazing groups like the Outpost, who provide support to homeless people – they provide meals for them of an evening. The Outpost is an amazing organisation. It is led by a woman called Amy, who is determined to keep that program going even though the City of Greater Geelong are looking at evicting them from the space that they are using. The Premier announced that we would support them in finding other accommodation to provide those meals every night to those people that need them. We have the Barwon network of homelessness in Geelong. This is a group of homeless organisations that are working with people who are homeless and providing valuable support to them and raising the issues and coming up with ideas about how we address the matters at hand in relation secure and affordable housing.

The government delivers housing; the Greens do not. That is the key point here. They can mouth off all they want. I thought it was interesting that the member for Brunswick raised that we are not talking about public housing. Well, we are talking about public housing, but we are also talking about social and affordable housing.

Vicki Ward: That’s right. We can walk and chew gum.

Chris COUZENS: Yes, that’s right. We can provide both but also look at what the private sector can deliver in terms of social and affordable housing as well. They can say all they like. They are not in government and probably never will be, but they will take the credit when we deliver great outcomes for our communities. I just want to make that point.

We also have many other organisations, such as the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative, who provide housing support to their community, to First Nations people. They want to grow their ability to do that. The Lazarus Community Centre, Neami, Meli – they are all providing such a valuable service to my community, but they are also very positive about what this government is doing. They are not condemning us the same way some are. What they are saying is that they want to work with government to come up with the solutions to provide housing support for those that need it.

As I said, we need to be focused on that variety of housing options. We need to be looking at the future and how we might manage some of that. When you have got the Greens in the federal Parliament blocking legislation that will provide thousands and thousands of homes for people in this country, it is really disturbing that they can get away with it, or think they can get away with it. But all of us know – I think my community certainly knows – the work that this government is doing and how important it is that we continue down that track. We will have a considerable number of houses for my community through the 1300 houses that have been allocated for regional and rural Victoria. We have quite a few public housing properties that have been spot purchased in my region of Geelong. There are all sorts of activities going on. Clearly we need to work hard on this, and I commend the Minister for Housing for the work that he is doing and all members on this side of the house that are actively working on this, acknowledging that we have a problem. Let us solve it. Let us work together with all in our community to ensure that we have a good resolution to this. I commend this motion to the house.

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (15:28): It gives me pleasure to rise today to talk on the housing issues we have. Being the only builder in the chamber, hopefully the government will listen to me and learn a couple of things along the way – probably not. But I will start off by saying this: there is probably not a lot I agree on with the government. Probably I do not agree a lot with what the Premier says, but there are two things I have in common with the Premier. One is golf and the other is my opinion of the Greens. I have listened to the commentary today, and honestly I have never seen a party in my life that has done its utmost to make housing unaffordable. Every decision they make, every policy they put forward, makes housing construction go up in cost, and that is a big part of the problem and why we are here today. I will get back to this debate, but I wanted to get that out there at the start, because there are a lot of comments that have come from that side of the house today that I actually agree with.

Let us talk about the supply issues we have at the moment. Part of the supply issue, I believe, is planning and the Green councils that continually jam stuff up so that we cannot get these houses out there and get them built as required. What we have to look at today is the history of the government and their delivery. This is an interesting fact about priority housing: back in 2014 there were 9900 people on the waiting list. That figure today – in March 2023 – is 37,079. That is quite an increase over the period that this government has been in power. I listened to the minister today very carefully, and this policy came in in 2020. What that tells me is the government actually wasted six years before they started this big build. They were elected in 2014 and it was not until 2020 that this became an issue, and now supply is an absolute urgency. The total number of people now on priority or with registered interest in housing is 67,985. That is a lot of people waiting, and the government have not improved these figures very much over their term in government.

What is concerning, though, is the cost. I think the minister might have jumped the gun a little bit earlier today when our side said it is $1 billion for 1300 homes. I can tell you now that as a builder, if I had known this contract was coming up, jeez, I would tender for it, because at a cost of about $700,000 a home I believe the government can do better and supply more housing. That figure is way too expensive for social housing. For those here that may look a little bit confused, I have priced social housing. I know what it costs, and at $700,000 per home you should be delivering 2½ times more than that. This government should really be delivering somewhere around 2500 homes for that $1 billion. I do not think anyone in this chamber would disagree with me when I say that if we are going to do this job, let us get the best bang for our buck. Let us get the most housing we can out of this $1 billion investment. Instead of 1300 homes, let us make it 2500 homes, because that would benefit all of us in this chamber – everyone on that side and everyone on this side.

I suppose there was one thing I did not really appreciate until I got into this job – how many people come through our doors looking for housing. Obviously it is not just isolated in my electorate; it would be every person in this room, some more than others. I know the member for Morwell and the struggles he has down in Morwell, and what he said today is so true. There are so many people out there that do not have housing. Even in my electorate, prior to me being elected to Parliament and going through the candidate process when you are meeting people, I feel a little bit ashamed, to be honest, but I had no idea that at any point in time at night in my electorate there are 500 people who are homeless. They are sleeping rough, they are sleeping in their cars and they are doing whatever they can do to stay warm. They are doing whatever they can do to get food. They go to food hubs to get food. I am so grateful for my community. I did mention just before the winter break that my community got together, and we are renovating four units for homeless women, because homeless women are a big proportion of this too. It is only four units, but it makes a difference. I am so proud of what my community is doing at the moment.

The advice I want to give the government is – I noticed today they said we have 132 different housing providers. 132 – can’t we have a better system than that? How much of your $5.3 billion budget or your billion-dollar budget is getting swallowed up in bureaucracy? 132 different providers – that is phenomenal. Why can’t you streamline that? Why can’t you make that more efficient so you have more money to invest in social housing? Because at the moment it has become one of the biggest issues in this state. As I said, the government was six years late getting out of the blocks on this. When we left government, priority housing was at 9900, and now that is at 37,000. That is too late out of the gate. I have no doubt that the Minister for Housing is a very, very busy man, because there are 67,000 people waiting. They cannot wait much longer, because things are getting worse. This situation has not improved.

So my advice to the government would be: re-look at how you are delivering these programs. Get your best bang for the buck. Let us get as many people into social housing, into public housing and into affordable housing as soon as we possibly can. My other word of advice to the government is: every time the Greens talk about building, every time the Greens even mention building, ignore them. They have no idea what they are talking about.

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (15:36): I rise to speak in support of a motion that has been moved by the Minister for Housing:

That this house notes:

since the start of the Big Housing Build in November 2020, 7600 homes are completed or underway, with Victoria on track to deliver over 12,000 much-needed social and affordable homes; and

the new $1 billion Regional Housing Fund will deliver more than 1300 additional homes.

As I said in my first speech, I am committed to working every day to help make our community a better and fairer place to live, learn, work, raise a family and retire in. However, fundamental to striving towards this socially just vision for my community is to help ensure that local people of all ages and backgrounds are afforded access to safe, secure and affordable housing – housing that is close to jobs, education, transport, health, wellbeing and social services; housing that provides a roof over one’s head and homes that provide the foundations for better livelihoods. The labour movement has long recognised that housing is a basic human right, which any responsible political party of government must strive to improve the provision of. Whether it be for first home buyers, families, young people, retirees and renters or whether it be for people experiencing housing stress or homelessness through the provision of greater affordable housing, public housing and social and community housing, every Victorian deserves a safe place to live in dignity.

In this respect I am very proud to be part of an Andrews Labor government that continues to take real action when it comes to lifting and improving housing supply and standards through a number of initiatives, including through, of course, the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build program, which is delivering that record pipeline of 12,000 new social and affordable homes, an uplift of at least 10 per cent in new social housing dwellings and 2400 affordable homes across Victoria. The fact is this is the biggest ever investment in public, social and affordable housing by any state or territory government in the history of Australia. The big build has also been accompanied by a number of other housing policies, such as the government’s previously introduced rental fairness package, which cracked down on rental bidding, improved rental property standards, helped tenants stay on longer leases and limited rental increases to once a year to give renters more financial stability.

However, it is the Big Housing Build which is particularly playing the driving role in constructing the thousands of new homes for Victorians in need whilst creating thousands of new jobs. Every new social and affordable home being built through the government’s big build program is a home that is taking pressure out of the housing market and increasing supply and stock. Every new dwelling being delivered through the big build is also providing a home to a family in need whilst improving housing affordability and putting downward pressure on overall rent prices in the private market.

In my community I am very proud to report to the house that the Victorian Labor government is taking that real action via the Big Housing Build program to improve and revitalise local public housing, social housing and affordable housing stock. Across Merri-bek the Andrews Labor government has to date invested more than $200 million via the big build to deliver and upgrade more than 800 homes – 800. However, as part of this ongoing rollout I would like to draw the house’s attention to the Harvest Square project in Brunswick West, which I am particularly proud of. This landmark $86 million big build project in Brunswick West will deliver a significant number of new homes for those who need them most.

Being delivered in partnership with Homes Victoria, AV Jennings and Women’s Housing Limited, Harvest Square will create a total number of 198 new modern, sustainable and high-quality one-, two- and three-bedroom homes in the inner north, with the development to consist of 119 new social and community housing homes, 111 of which will be new social housing apartments that will be Homes Victoria dwellings. Eight of these will be community housing homes that will be dwellings operated by Women’s Housing Limited, as well as 79 new market homes, with provision made for 10 per cent of market homes to be released for first home buyers housing, while 5 per cent of the development will include provision for Disability Discrimination Act 1992 fully accessible homes, which will include accessibility friendly drop-off areas, paths, lifts and car parking. Inside the homes, kitchens, bathrooms and storage will also be very accessible.

Environmentally, Harvest Square has been sustainably and efficiently designed, with homes to be more comfortable as well as less expensive to heat and cool, carrying a 5-star green star rating and a 7-star Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme average rating. I am very pleased to also report that Harvest Square will provide for new safe and publicly accessible open and green spaces, including a green spine running through the site delivering up to 3200 square metres of open space, which will connect Dunstan Reserve to the north of the site – home of the mighty Brunswick City Soccer Club – with Albion Street to the south of the site. The project promotes good design and incorporates the expertise of the Office of the Victorian Government Architect in its development and provides for clear visual movement linkages between public domains such as streets, footpaths, bicycle paths and open spaces.

Strategically located near the 58 tram route along Melville Road, CityLink, Pascoe Vale Road and the Craigieburn rail corridor, Harvest Square is extremely well situated for future residents to access jobs, learning, health and social services. But above all, the Harvest Square project will replace the former Gronn Place, which was well and truly past its use-by date. Harvest Square is replacing the former 82 no longer fit-for-purpose Gronn Place dwellings with 119 new world-class social housing homes, a 45 per cent increase in new social housing homes on the site – 45 per cent. I am particularly proud of the project’s partnership with Women’s Housing Limited, a statewide not-for-profit organisation that provides low-cost housing to women at risk of homelessness. As stated in October 2020 by CEO of Women’s Housing Limited Judy Line:

Women’s Housing Ltd has worked closely with the Department of Health and Human Services and AV Jennings to bring this project to life, and we are delighted to be part of this exciting housing development. The old run-down walk-ups at Gronn Place will be replaced by new energy efficient homes that are not only better to live in but more affordable for our tenants. We see Gronn Place as a great example of social housing growth in Victoria …

That is the view of Women’s Housing Limited here in Victoria. The Harvest Square project is also supporting a massive 770 jobs, with construction of the Harvest Square social housing and market apartment stage of the project having commenced in early 2022 and with the social housing stage on track to be completed by 2024. I was very pleased to have recently visited Harvest Square with the Minister for Housing as well as local councillor Lambros Tapinos on Wednesday 26 July last week to celebrate the project’s topping out milestone. I would like to also acknowledge former local MP Carlo Carli, who chaired the community consultative committee on the project, as well as Parliamentary Secretary Sheena Watt, who has done amazing work on this project.

However, while the Andrews Labor government has invested to deliver this real project, I think it is also important to note that there were others who, sadly, did actively oppose Harvest Square and, if they had had their way, would have stopped Harvest Square from proceeding. Can anyone guess which inner-city political party took this position? I wonder if anyone can guess. I am of course referring to the Greens political party and the Greens councillors on Merri-bek council and the Greens members of Parliament in this building. In this respect I refer the chamber to the minutes of the Merri-bek council meeting of 16 December 2020, which considered and voted on replacing Gronn Place with the then Harvest Square proposal. Can anyone guess how the Greens councillors voted?

Vicki Ward: Tell us.

Anthony CIANFLONE: Well, I regret to inform the house that at the 16 December council meeting, surprise, surprise, the four Merri-bek Greens councillors voted against Harvest Square being built. They voted against it, and in doing so let the record show that the four Merri-bek Greens councillors voted against increasing local social and affordable housing in Brunswick West – absolutely shameful. Luckily, cooler and more reasonable heads prevailed at the meeting, with the majority of councillors, including Cr Lambros Tapinos and Cr Annalivia Carli, thankfully voting in favour of supporting Harvest Square.

However, the Greens opposition to Harvest Square did not just start and stop at the December 2020 meeting. In fact it dates as far back as 3 June 2018, when the Greens councillors joined with the Leader of the Victorian Greens and the Greens member for Brunswick to actively protest against more social and affordable housing being built at Gronn Place. Do not just take my word for it – I encourage members to have a look at their social media pages, which promoted all of this activity. It was also Greens state parliamentarians who regularly and loudly voiced their opposition to Harvest Square, and basically what the Greens are doing now with Barak Beacon in Port Melbourne is exactly what they did with Harvest Square in Brunswick West. On 24 August 2019 the Greens member for Brunswick organised a protest on the site to oppose Harvest Square. In this respect I refer the house to the contribution of the Leader of the Greens in the Legislative Council on 28 August 2019 in which she talked up the Greens opposition that had taken place. I refer to her comments where she said:

On Saturday, 24 August 2019, local residents joined with my colleague Dr Tim Read and me as we came together to protest the … so-called public housing renewal program …

‘There is nothing progressive about this program’ is what she said. Hypocrisy from the Greens at its finest, agitating fear and uncertainty amongst the community and claiming that 119 new social and community dwellings – a 45 per cent increase on the site – was not progressive policy.

It is hypocrisy from the Greens to also claim that the new social homes dedicated for women’s housing and women in distress, as supported by Women’s Housing Limited, is not progressive policy. It is hypocrisy from the Greens to oppose increasing housing stock to support people in need, first home buyers and people with disability in the northern suburbs. How is that not progressive policy? What is even more hypocritical is that if you go to the website of the Greens member for Brunswick, he specifically lists six of his policy priorities as a local member, including that he supposedly supports ‘housing development that works for people’. The Greens plan for housing includes fairer housing, including building more affordable housing. According to that doublespeak Greens logic, however, Harvest Square does not fit the bill. I am very proud to be here supporting this project.

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (15:46): I rise today to speak on the housing motion moved by the government. In the 2020–21 Victorian budget the Andrews Labor government announced a $5.3 billion housing build, promising to ensure that more Victorians live with roofs over their heads. Such a formidable name, the Big Housing Build, yet so far we have only seen gross incompetence by this Andrews Labor government and a little build. This is particularly the case on the Mornington Peninsula where public housing stock has gone backwards by a net minus 13 over the eight years since the Andrews government came to power in 2014.

According to reports received by the Mornington Community Support Centre and in-person evidence, around 30 per cent of this current stock is also vacant, sitting empty and not being repaired. Seemingly, not much of the big build has come to the peninsula thus far, all while homelessness on the peninsula sits at 1000 to 2000 people on any given night, with the peninsula now having the sixth highest level of homelessness in Victoria. In addition, we have seen the Andrews government announce a $1 billion Commonwealth Games patch-up Regional Housing Fund set to cost $770,000 per home, plus land, to build only 1300 homes. The peninsula is classed as metropolitan, but I do not think we will be seeing any more homes built locally under this program either.

Right across Victoria we have had a massive increase in housing waiting lists for homelessness, and 1300 extra homes in the regions will not come close to resolving this problem. The latest figures show 67,120 Victorians are waiting urgently for a home or are otherwise in dire need of relocation due to inadequate or unsuitable housing. Numerous Victorians are trapped in limbo as the wait for public housing has hit an all-time high. In comparison, the waiting list was about 34,500 when the coalition left government in 2014. That is more than 30,000 more people added to the waiting list since then. In addition, the priority list was around 9900 in 2014, but as of March this year it was 37,079 and these are families, not individuals.

So much for the big build. This is a crisis. Yet Victoria’s pool of social housing has only grown by 74 units in four years. Data from the latest Department of Families, Fairness and Housing annual report shows that there were 86,887 social housing dwellings across Victoria as of 30 June 2022, a net increase, as I mentioned, of 74 since 30 June 2018 when there were 86,813. Also as mentioned, so many pre-existing public houses are sitting vacant and unutilised. New South Wales has a population of 8.18 million and they have over 160,000 social houses. In comparison, Victoria has a population of 6.65 million and about half the number of social housing dwellings at just over 82,000.

In fact Australia’s ‘most progressive state’, Victoria, has the lowest social housing stock across the nation as a proportion of residential properties. Social housing now makes up just 2.9 per cent of households, whereas when the coalition left government in 2014 it was 3.5 per cent. The minister is claiming nearly 7600 state-owned homes have been built or are underway, but they have actually only completed much less than this and they have still not reconciled how many have been sold or demolished and have not published the latest stocktake, which is now nearly two years late.

The Andrews Labor government is also selling off an average of two public housing properties every week, despite the ballooning waiting lists. Far too often I am writing ministerial representations to the Minister for Housing on behalf of my constituents in desperate need of public housing properties or in dealing with public housing issues. One example was from February 2023, on behalf of a number of residents in relation to a violent incident and a family that was at risk. Despite now writing three times to the minister over the last several months, I still have not had one response.

This week, in the lead-up to Homelessness Week next week, from 7 to 13 August, homelessness services and community groups across Victoria have been coming together to raise awareness of homelessness. The Southern Homelessness Services Network is a network comprised of funded specialist homelessness services, who are here in Parliament and who I caught up with over the lunchbreak. I also met with CEO Ben from the Mornington Community Support Centre just yesterday, and again today in Parliament, to discuss homelessness and the housing crisis in and across the Mornington electorate and across the Mornington Peninsula more generally. The Mornington Community Support Centre is an invaluable local organisation that provides resources and advocacy to support vulnerable community members – including those in Mornington, Mount Eliza, Mount Martha and Moorooduc – and they have been doing so for around 40 years. We discussed the housing crisis in the Mornington electorate and across the peninsula, specifically the many public houses that remain vacant on the peninsula and the high level of people who are homeless people, including now many families.

It is nothing short of disgraceful that we have hundreds of state-owned homes sitting vacant while the most vulnerable members of our community, including children, sleep on the streets, couch surf or have uncertain accommodation arrangements. I will continue to request that the government provides concrete statistics on the number of vacant public houses, albeit we already know that the extent of the issue is gargantuan. I would guess that the data is not publicly available on this because it is a point of shame for this Labor government, and that the stats would merely reflect what we already know on good authority: that there are hundreds of vacant homes.

I wrote to the Minister for Housing in April and asked him to provide me with further data on the number of vacant public housing properties in the Mornington electorate and urged him to address the issue of vacant housing in our electorate. Unfortunately, we still have absolutely no clarity from the government on the number of vacant public housing properties in the Mornington electorate and on the Mornington Peninsula. In fact the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, who are also here today for a showcase in Parliament and who I joined during the lunchbreak, recently passed a motion on 2 May 2023 to request again that the government puts a spotlight on the unaffordability of housing by declaring a housing crisis. They mentioned that the cost of owning or renting a home on the Mornington Peninsula is rising fast. It is now more expensive to live on the peninsula than in Melbourne, with the median rent for a home now significantly greater than the greater Melbourne average.

Rental increases in lower socio-economic townships are worsened by rental property shortages, as many holiday home owners are moving here and working from home. This will not be helped by Labor’s land tax increases. Basically it is a renters tax that will reduce rental stock and put upward pressure on prices. And a rental freeze will make things worse by pushing owners to sell and reducing rental stocks further, putting upward pressure again on prices when landlords do increase rents. The number of people waiting for social housing on the Mornington Peninsula is not getting better, it is growing. There are now over 3900 households on the waiting list across the peninsula, and 90 per cent of applicants are eligible for priority access.

I was involved recently in a forum with over 100 participants to tackle the homelessness crisis on the Mornington Peninsula. I look forward to the report soon being shared with everyone who took part in that forum as well as all of the key stakeholders in our area and the greater community with recommendations and ideas. Locally, I am informed that we also have some, as I said, empty public housing waiting to be filled, which is difficult to understand. I understand a number of these properties are apparently newly built, and I have asked the minister to investigate why they are sitting vacant. Every property that remains closed to the public should be available for use, and every property that is not available means one more person is living rough, if not more. We continue to read headlines as reported on the front page of the Mornington News on 25 July 2023 entitled ‘Nightly search to find shelter’. Aldo Taranto, local constituent and also a rooming house outreach worker, mentions there is an ever-growing number of homeless people accommodated in rooming houses or boarding houses in south-east Melbourne, including on the Mornington Peninsula.

I believe the housing crisis is in part a supply and demand issue, and it is concerning that we have so many properties on the Mornington Peninsula that are vacant when the shire is the sixth-worst area for homelessness in Victoria and where we need much more public housing being built. We need to be doing a lot more around public housing and the housing crisis. I urge the Andrews government to take this issue seriously and particularly to take action on the Mornington Peninsula, where many locals are suffering.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (15:56): I am pleased to rise to speak on this critical issue of housing. We know that nothing is really much more important for a human being than having a secure place to live. I just want to note and thank locals from my area who have taken the time to come here today, including from Park Towers and other areas across the seat of Albert Park – that is lovely. I know that we have a shared concern and passion for seeing Victorians safely housed, so it is lovely that people have made the effort to be here today. That is really wonderful and part of the transparency of Parliament as well.

I think what is really important in this discussion is also making sure that it is truly factual. Our $5.3 billion Big Housing Build is delivering more than 12,000 social and affordable homes across metro and regional Victoria, and we have already passed the halfway mark while also creating – and this is the other thing when you think about Labor and Labor values – 10,000 jobs a year. That is the issue: when we are looking at these big build projects or indeed any of the projects that Labor invests in, we look holistically, because obviously having a job is an important part of being able to buy the things you need – food and shelter and otherwise.

Now, when we look at where we are at, 2800 homes have already been completed and are welcoming renters. I think this is in stark contrast to some of the, can I say, distorted narratives and commentary that I have heard of late. I find it extremely disturbing, because for the benefit of fellow Victorians, they deserve to know what is actually happening. So I will just repeat that again: 2800 homes are already completed and welcoming renters. More than 7600 homes have been completed or are underway. That is really important, because I personally find it very disturbing when there is a misrepresentation of what is actually happening in our state and the good work by those constructing the houses as well. We know that they are quality builds. They have to be energy efficient. We also have a significant investment in specialist disability elements for these builds, because we know that accessibility is incredibly important. So we are providing energy-efficient homes which have accessibility and also have a community-minded aspect. They definitely have that centralised focus of making sure that the community is united and that all is one at the end of the day, because we are all Victorians when it comes to it.

I want to say as a further point before the time runs out, every new social and affordable home built through government investment is a home that is taking pressure out of the housing market as well as providing a home to a family in need. This investment also puts downward pressure on overall rental prices in the private market and improves housing affordability. So there again you can see the holistic approach to this issue.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.