Housing
David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:32): (516) My question is for the Minister for Housing and is related to heritage overlays and the government’s housing statement released last year. There are some good things in the housing statement which have already been acted on, such as streamlining the process for building a second dwelling on a property, otherwise known as the granny flat reform, and there are also some good aspirations on streamlining planning processes, creating more certainty and releasing more public land. Allowing more development around public transport and business hubs is also good, although it is not particularly novel; our planning strategies have done this for 20 years. But at its core one of the key pillars of the statement amounts to a plan to make a plan, so my question for the minister is: when will the long-term housing plan be released?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:33): Thank you, Mr Limbrick, for that question. It does actually traverse a whole range of different portfolios. When we talk to the matters that you raised around the granny flat – no disrespect to grannies, because they may in fact have to cede that ground to teenagers, who also want to remain home for longer as part of intergenerational living – noting that where you have got a building of at least 300 square metres you can have a second dwelling of up to 60 square metres without need for a planning permit, that is the sort of thing that actually goes to the planning space itself. When you refer to heritage – and again the planning minister has made a number of comments in that regard – that is subject to the Heritage Council’s work and to its remit under the act and the legislation there.
I am very happy in the interests of providing you with detail about the progress of delivery of the housing statement and the various planning changes and streamlining programs and resources to get you some further information from the Minister for Planning. To the extent that that crosses over into social housing and that continuum that exists all the way from homelessness right through to ownership of a home, that is something again that I will be very happy to work with you on, alongside other ministers.
Just for the benefit of the house, the housing statement itself covers a range of portfolios, including the Minister for Planning; the Minister for Regional Development, as that relates to regional worker accommodation and that $150 million fund; the work that I do within social housing, homelessness, crisis accommodation and transitional housing, along with some of the affordable work that is happening; consumer affairs within the residential and tenancies arrangements, as held by Minister Williams in the other place; and of course transport infrastructure and precincts, held by ministers Pearson and Brooks respectively. So when and as we do get questions around the way in which housing matters within the housing statement are developed and delivered, I am really happy to work with you to make sure you have the information that you need.
I also want to say thanks to the many members of the crossbench who have reached out for briefings. I am still waiting for a request from Dr Ratnam after all of this time to assist her with further information about the housing policy and about how that actually rolls. It may well be of assistance to her in other endeavours that she is seeking to engage in. But I am very happy, Mr Limbrick, to make sure that you can get some detail on that.
David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:36): I thank the minister for her answer, and maybe this next question is one of those questions that also overlaps. But over the last year or so we have seen the emergence of a new advocacy movement with the launch of the Yes In My Backyard, or YIMBY Melbourne, organisation. One of their four key policy pillars is related to reforming heritage restrictions. While many people value the heritage of some of Melbourne’s buildings, over the past 20 years we have seen local governments in collaboration with heritage consultants pass planning scheme amendments that lock up significant areas of Melbourne under broad heritage overlays. What YIMBY Melbourne has demonstrated is that when residents are actively informed and mobilised to get involved in the process, they do not actually want these expansive overlays. There are whole sections of inner and middle Melbourne that are restricted to single-storey dwellings. Up-zoning around train stations is great, but if we want to get serious, we cannot make Melbourne a museum. Minister, will the long-term housing plan be considering reforms to heritage rules?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:37): Thank you, Mr Limbrick. And again, the preamble to your supplementary question canvassed a number of issues that cross a number of portfolios. As it relates to what you are asking about – namely, any speculation around amendment to the heritage laws as they currently operate in Victoria – I will get you some further detail. But again, you did refer to the yimby movement, ‘Yes in my backyard’, and we are indeed seeing that as we lean into the challenges of population growth, which will see us hit 7 million over the coming years and being the population of London by 2050, we do know that further work needs to be done. We are seeing that there are a number of councils who are doing a power of work to make sure that development, particularly in and around those core precincts, is proposed to address a number of the challenges around affordability and availability. Just as an aside, it is really important to note that these levers are all intended to create the best possible environment for expansion – for growing up as well out – and that is really careful work that will of course consider the heritage implications in decision-making.