Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Housing

Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:33): My question is for the Premier. New documents have confirmed that the Victorian Labor government is keeping thousands of public homes empty right now here in Victoria. A list 89 pages long obtained –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Could the member for Richmond start again, please.

Gabrielle DE VIETRI: My question is for the Premier. New documents that have been obtained under FOI confirm that the Victorian Labor government is keeping thousands of public homes empty right now in Victoria, with a list 89 pages long of vacant properties while 125,000 people wait for a public home. In my electorate in just one building I counted 27 apartments, many of them newly renovated, sitting for months and months and some over a year empty. That is 14 per cent of those apartments that no-one is living in, and the Productivity Commission reported a 6.3 per cent public housing vacancy statewide. Will the Premier explain to the 125,000 people waiting for a place to live why her government is keeping public homes empty in the middle of a housing crisis?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:34): I thank the member for Richmond for her question. When it comes to supporting the construction of more public, social and affordable homes in this state, we are doing everything we can to build more homes. I would love it if just once the member for Richmond stood up in this place and talked about how she would join with us in that work to build more public, social and affordable homes. The Fitzroy Gasworks is a terrific example of where we are wanting to build more homes, but unfortunately I do not think we are on a unity ticket with the member for Richmond on that one.

In terms of what the member for Richmond has referred to, I will seek some further advice from the Minister for Housing. Of course the Minister for Housing is very busy at the moment with the $6.3 billion that we have invested through our Big Housing Build to build more public, social and affordable homes, but I will seek some further advice from the Minister for Housing on this matter.

Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:36): It is really puzzling that the Premier, in the middle of a housing crisis that she insists is all about supply, is unaware that or unable to justify why her government has not been able to take these empty homes and these people needing a home and put them together. I can think of two possible reasons why. Either this government is incompetent and has defunded and deprioritised housing to such an extent that the department cannot do its job, or this government is deliberately keeping these homes empty for years and years to make it easier to demolish them without a fight and hand the land over to private developers. Which is it?

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, on the question, it is important that questions are factual, and also they cannot be speculative. I suggest to you that that was not a question from the member for Richmond but a rant and that she was making it up as she went along. I ask you to ask her to rephrase her question.

Sam Hibbins: On the point of order, Speaker, it was a very clear question from the member for Richmond. It may have gone unheard by the members of the government, who again talked all the way through the member for Richmond’s question – a constant tactic of theirs – but it was a very clear question outlining and asking for the reasons behind why the government is leaving these houses vacant. I ask that you rule the point of order from the government out of order.

The SPEAKER: I ask the member for Richmond to rephrase her question. It was based on a hypothetical.

Gabrielle DE VIETRI: My question is: is the 6.3 per cent vacancy rate in state owned and managed public housing due to inadequate funding, making it impossible for the department to do its job to actually fill those homes, or is it in anticipation of this Victorian Labor government’s plan to privatise that land in order to be able to demolish those buildings empty?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:38): The answer to the member for Richmond’s question is no and no. Can I be really clear: we are proud of the work we are doing to build more public, social and affordable homes in this state, and where from time to time that involves working in partnership with investors and developers to build more public, social and affordable homes, we will do so.

Sam Hibbins: On a point of order, Speaker, this is not a question about property developers or building, this is a question about using the existing public housing stock that is available. It is a very clear question, and I would ask you to bring the Premier back to answering the actual question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question, and she has concluded her answer.