Wednesday, 3 December 2025

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (15:33): My question is to the Premier. How will an $11,000 new tax on home ownership improve affordability?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Member for Eureka! Member for Mordialloc, this is your last warning.

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (15:34): I am so pleased to have this opportunity provided to me by the Leader of the Opposition to talk about how we are not only building more homes in Victoria. We are making it fairer for young people and millennials to get their first home. We are also making sure we are investing in the local community infrastructure that makes these places great areas to live. You would only ask this question if you were not on the side of young people wanting to get their first home and did not want them to have great communities to live in. I take from the question from the Leader of the Opposition that what the Liberal Party is proposing is that you would not invest in local infrastructure and that you would not invest in the local roads and the schools and the playgrounds.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is required to be direct, and this was about the Premier’s great, big, huge new tax.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: I am delighted by the intervention from the member for Brighton, because it also gives me the opportunity to remind the Leader of the Liberal Party that what we have announced today is not a new regime. It is in fact taking an existing approach to making sure that local communities get the investment in the infrastructure they need and making it fairer for people who want to move into a new home close to a great train station or tram zone. You must build both new homes and local infrastructure. We know the Leader of the Opposition does not even want to see new homes being built, which is why they are blocking and stopping the planning reforms in the Legislative Council.

Brad Rowswell: On a point of order, Speaker, I renew a point of order that I made during question time yesterday. Claims such as that must only be made by substantive motion, and I would ask you to counsel the Premier accordingly.

The SPEAKER: I am not sure what the point of order is, but the Premier will come back to answering the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: The legislation that is before the Legislative Council is about stripping red tape. It is about streamlining approvals so more homes get built more quickly. When you build more homes more quickly, not only does that provide a benefit for young Victorians and millennials who want to get into their first home; it also benefits developers as well because it saves them time and money. It saves them time and money by cutting out red tape.

This is why the reforms we have put before the Parliament to slash red tape and to get more homes built more quickly right across Victoria – not locking out young people from the inner eastern suburbs like those opposite continue to do – are about giving fairness for all young Victorians to have access to a home, which is why investing in building more homes, streamlining planning approvals, cutting red tape and investing in local infrastructure is fair. That is why we are pushing on to get more homes built but are being blocked and stopped every step of the way by the Leader of the Liberal Party.

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (15:38): Both the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Property Council of Australia have said this new tax will reduce the supply of new homes. How will reducing the supply deliver more homes for Victorians?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (15:38): It is of no surprise that the member for Kew would want to see developers make profits, not build more homes, and what we are about is building more homes and better communities by streamlining the planning system and by making a fairer infrastructure contribution regime that has been done in development –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the relevance rule is becoming a farce. This was a very direct question, and the Premier is not responding.

The SPEAKER: I ask you to state your point of order succinctly, Manager of Opposition Business. The Premier is being relevant because when she answers a supplementary question she can refer to the substantive question as well in her answer.

Jacinta ALLAN: It is not fair to have homes being built without the local infrastructure around it. We understand that. The housing industry understands that. The Liberal Party clearly fail to understand that, because they also fail to understand that to get more homes built here in Victoria we have got to cut that red tape, we have got to streamline approvals and we have got to get this work done, not continue to block every step of the way every effort to get more homes built in Victoria.