Housing affordability
Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (10:24): Today I rise in relation to the cost-of-living crisis happening throughout the state of Victoria and particularly through the areas of Casey and Cardinia. One of the things that is coming through our office more and more is we have got a lot of people who are struggling to find affordable rental properties out in Casey and Cardinia, including people who are working. It is no longer just an issue of people who are currently receiving welfare, it is also people who are in the working environment who cannot get access to affordable living and affordable rental properties. The government will try and say this is just an ongoing issue throughout the country; however, in Victoria we are the highest taxed state by far, particularly when it comes to land, and the increase in land tax every time this government puts it on is an increase in rental prices here in our state. How does that impact? Each time these families either are applying for a home or do get a home and the rent goes up 12 months later, they find themselves in a position where it is becoming unaffordable.
It is time the government committed 100 per cent that at this state budget they will start to focus on this cost-of-living crisis so that we work out ways to get more land onto the market through the current Minister for Planning so we can ensure that prices do come down genuinely when it comes to blocks of land. This is the only way we can encourage investors and ensure the private sector stays in that investment market, and that is the only way we will put genuine competition into the rental market throughout Casey–Cardinia and give people an opportunity to live affordably in areas they love.