Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Department of Families, Fairness and Housing

Report 2021–22

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:20): I rise to speak about the social housing waiting lists in this state. These are lists that are normally published quarterly, but this government is keeping these lists secretive. We got a June quarter figure in about, I think it was, December. It might have been November, but it was very late last year. But we have not seen the quarterly report for the September quarter, nor have we seen the quarterly report for the December quarter. I know, as a former housing minister, that those reports are available to you on a daily basis. You can get the exact figures on each day. It was always agreed between former housing ministers and the opposition that the figures would be released within at least a month of the end of the quarter, when they are still relevant. But how relevant is last September quarter’s figure when we have already gone through the December quarter and we are two months into the March quarter? We are two-thirds of the way through the next financial year and we only have the figures for the end of the last financial year.

Not only are they hiding the number of people on the waiting list, they are also hiding additional data that is required to be published as part of the annual report. That additional data for the last annual report, for June 2022, is still not on the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’s, or whatever it is called today, website – surprise, surprise, hiding more information. But what we do know about the public housing waiting list from June last year is that in the time that the Andrews government had been in power, from November 2014 until last June, the public housing waiting lists had increased by 59 per cent. That is 20,425 applications, and bear in mind that every application is a family.

Also, what is really distressing is the increase in the priority housing waiting list. These are the most vulnerable people: the people who are living with a disability, the people who are homeless, the people who have special housing needs, the people escaping domestic violence. That actually increased by 208 per cent – 20,776 additional applications, additional households, additional families on that list. The priority list is now at 30,766 applications, up from 9990. Mind you, when I say it is ‘now at’ it is not ‘now at’; it is now higher, but at June last year the total list was 55,043 applications. That is an absolute disgrace.

I know that in my home town of Shepparton in June last year there were 2433 families who had indicated that they wanted housing in Shepparton; 1362 of those families had a priority status. They are supposed to be housed within weeks, but they are still languishing on this government’s waiting list – and this government could not care less. In Wodonga 1323 families had indicated they wanted housing; 672 were on the priority list. In Wangaratta there were 919 families, 513 of which were on the priority list. In Benalla there were 644 applications; 358 of those were on the priority list. In the City of Bendigo 3113 families were languishing on the list, 2014 of which had priority status but were left to languish on a list without housing because this government is failing in the public housing sector. I can go on and on about the number of people in my electorate. There are 992 families in Mildura, and 536 of those have priority. In Swan Hill there are 404 families, 257 with priority.

This government should be ashamed of itself. It is failing in public housing, and it must release the last two quarters’ figures so that the Victorian people know the truth.