Thursday, 5 October 2023

Housing

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:15): (293) My question is to the Minister for Housing. Six years ago the former Premier announced that surplus government sites in Parkville, Broadmeadows, Reservoir, Noble Park, Boronia and Wodonga would be part of its inclusionary housing pilot project and sold to developers at discounted rates if they incorporated social homes. Not a single home has been built on any of these sites despite the government claiming that bypassing local councils and communities would speed up the process. When does the minister expect homes to be completed at these sites?

Harriet Shing: On a point of order, President, I would seek your guidance on this matter, which is actually for the Minister for Planning in the other place. I am very happy to refer it to her in accordance with the standing orders, alternatively for the Treasurer. I seek a ruling from you.

Evan MULHOLLAND: On the point of the order, President, the minister is the Minister for Housing, responsible, as I believe, for social housing, which is a government initiative in the housing space. I would like to know when it will be completed. That is perfectly within her portfolio.

The PRESIDENT: I am happy to rule on the point of order and further to the point of order. I cannot be in a position where I understand the executive orders completely. If a question is asked of a minister and the minister says it is the responsibility of another minister, I have to take that as the response. The minister says this question is not her responsibility but she is happy to pass it on to the Minister for Planning, and that is the response that I have to accept.

Wendy Lovell: On a point of order, President, the minister has told us that the housing statement is across five ministers, so perhaps it would be helpful to the house if the minister could table a document that outlines which portions of the housing statement are allocated to each of the ministers.

Harriet Shing: That is literally the general order.

Wendy Lovell: Some things are not in the general order, because they are not part of the legislation. Things like the housing waiting list are not in the general order. They are not part of legislation. It would be helpful to know who is responsible for what area.

The PRESIDENT: Given the points of order and my ruling, I am happy to let Mr Mulholland rephrase the question if he would like to.

Evan MULHOLLAND: Minister, six years ago the former Premier announced that surplus government sites in Parkville, Broadmeadows, Reservoir, Noble Park, Boronia and Wodonga would be part of its inclusionary housing pilot project and sold to developers at discounted rates if they incorporated social homes. Again, not a single home has been built on any of these sites despite the government claiming that bypassing local councils and communities would speed up the process. Given the government has not even rezoned many of these sites to be able to accommodate housing, what discussions has the Minister for Housing had with the Minister for Planning about this project?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:19): Mr Mulholland, that seems much better in terms of giving me an opportunity to talk about this pilot and the examples that you have talked to. If sites are vacant – just to be really clear – that is a matter for the planning minister as to how that zoning occurs. That is not a matter relating to housing and indeed in my portfolio to social housing and homelessness surveys, for example. This is a planning mechanism, and on that basis it forms part of the overarching discussions that have been had across portfolios relating to the housing statement.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Harriet SHING: Ms Crozier, I am going to take you up on that interjection. You just said it was six years ago. I have had this portfolio for about 72 hours now, so I am very happy again to fill you in on the way in which those five portfolios come together and to that end refer to the general order, which might assist Ms Lovell in understanding how these various portfolios come together. The housing statement addresses the entire spectrum of need across Victoria now and into the future. When we say that we are bringing 800,000 homes on line in the next 10 years, that is a factor that informs private development, precincts development, public and social housing and community housing and the way in which that works alongside regional development and the additional $1 billion as part of that housing boost. There is also work for suburban and outer metropolitan development.

Again, if you think that resolving housing challenges as populations grow across the state is a matter for one portfolio, then you miss the point on the complexities of these challenges and the importance of allocating resources from across the whole of government. We need to work and we are working alongside the private sector, alongside community housing providers and alongside Homes Victoria as part of delivering a record investment in social housing. We are also working, as you quite correctly identified, Mr Mulholland, to make changes to the planning system to alleviate those blockages, those obstacles, which have led to challenges around resourcing, around planners –

Bev McArthur: On a point of order, President, I am just wondering if the minister could tell us whether there is a minister for tents, since we do not seem to have a Minister for Housing responsible for anything.

The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order, but it gives me an opportunity to say that previously the house worked together, the chamber worked together, to find a way for this minister to be able to answer a question on the topic of concern. Then the people asking the question just kept yelling at her, and I could hardly hear her. So I will call the minister and maybe the whole house can cooperate in the nice way they did before and let her talk.

Harriet SHING: Thank you, President. In the three days since I was sworn into this portfolio I have been talking with and meeting with parts of the sector and my colleagues around the integrating of parts of the entire system to deliver on the whole-of-government work for housing system reform. That work does go on, Mr Mulholland. That includes the additional investments in development of sites and partnerships across the state, including right here in metropolitan Melbourne, and it also builds on the work that we have been doing for many years now. The housing statement is the culmination of many conversations. That work and that consultation will continue, of course, with my colleagues.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:23): Minister, you have mentioned yourself the government’s ambitious housing targets. The government needs to build, as I understand it, 220 homes every day, including weekends, for 10 years to meet its promise in its housing statement. Why should Victorians expect this government to deliver on this promise when it has not even met promises from six years ago?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:23): Thanks, Mr Mulholland, for that supplementary question. Again, this is the biggest reform in the housing system ever undertaken. This is about long-term reform, long-term investments, long-term partnerships and long-term certainty for residents, for tenants, for people who wish to secure their own homes, for people living in the middle of Melbourne right through to the edges of the state. This is about worker accommodation. This is about the housing continuum. This is about alleviating pressures in the planning system and the planning framework, and this is also about supporting decision-making across all levels of government. When we look to the Commonwealth social housing accelerator program right through to the work we are doing in homelessness surveys, this is enormous work which is far beyond any appetite you might otherwise have for improvement.