Thursday, 18 June 2026

 Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (17:11): (1721) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing and Building, and the action I seek is for the minister to implement a program to purchase existing vacant homes in regional Victoria for those who have already spent years on the priority housing waitlist while new build projects are carried out. Across regional Victoria we are experiencing a housing crisis of unprecedented proportions. Every week my office is confronted with families living in cars, women escaping domestic violence with nowhere safe to go, older Victorians facing homelessness for the first time in their lives and parents desperately trying to provide stability for their children while trapped on waiting lists. Time and again we are told there is a priority housing list, but what does that actually mean to the people on it? What comfort is there in being told you are on a priority list when there is simply no housing available? More importantly, what hope is there for those who do not meet the threshold for a priority status and are left wondering whether they will ever have access to a secure house at all?

The Allan Labor government regularly points to its housing investment as evidence of progress. It says it has spent $6.3 billion and delivered 13,300 homes, yet by its own figures that investment has resulted in only 7000 families being housed. If those figures are correct, taxpayers are entitled to ask some serious questions. By any measure that represents an extraordinary cost relative to the number of families ultimately accommodated. At a time when thousands of Victorians remain on waiting lists, many of them in desperate circumstances, the government must demonstrate every dollar is being spent in the most effective way possible. Meanwhile throughout regional Victoria there are existing vacant homes available right now. In many communities across my electorate they can be purchased for significantly less than the cost of delivering a new government house. Most importantly they could be housing vulnerable Victorians most in need on that priority waitlist. Every month spent waiting for lengthy construction projects is another month families remain homeless, another month women fleeing violence remain at risk and another month that children are denied the security and stability that comes with having a home. The government must stop measuring success by announcements and start measuring success by priority-waitlisted people actually being housed. This immediate-fix program should be run in parallel with a long-term construction pipeline.