Thursday, 30 November 2023

Ministers statements: housing

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:36): On the question of renewable energy, energy efficiency and lower household bills across social housing, I was so delighted to be at Dunlop Avenue in Ascot Vale at the beginning of this week. It is one of our recently completed Big Housing Build sites. It has got 200 new social and affordable homes. They have been expertly designed, and they are energy efficient and equipped to meet tenants’ needs in a range of different ways.

This particular location also has the most beautiful communal open spaces, including a community garden. It was wonderful to meet with Omar, one of the residents there, in that great garden, which the renters have planted out with all sorts of things, to talk about the impact of the local energy network arrangement, which is, in partnership with Energy On, delivering renewable energy and energy efficiency to that site, including through 405 kilowatts of solar energy coming from PV panels. These sites are, across the board, required to have at least 5 per cent components of electricity from onsite solar, and the remainder is sourced from offsite renewable energy. We are doing this across a number of parts of Melbourne. This includes in Ashburton at the Markham estate, which the coalition alongside the Greens actually opposed; Ascot Vale; Heidelberg West; Hawthorn; and North Richmond.

What we will be doing is seeing that renters continue to save hundreds of dollars a year below the Victorian default offer, which then means that they have an opportunity to meet the cost of living in another way through that measure of assistance. It is also important to note that renters have the opportunity to opt out, but in the case of Dunlop Avenue, not one has asked to do so. And a big shout-out to Eliza and Malala from Evolve Housing, who showed me around this wonderful estate.