Tuesday, 29 October 2024

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (13:27): The state government’s housing statement is more like a house of cards. We need a sensible approach to housing growth that stretches beyond metropolitan train stations and outer suburbs and considers regional areas. The Labor government has decided to cram 50 per cent of Victoria’s population growth into three Melbourne city councils in high-rise apartment buildings, while local residents in Niddrie are asking how. Schools are full. There is no hospital, no train station, not even a bike lane. Funding for the Growing Suburbs Fund has been cut from $50 million to $5 million, a 90 per cent cut in just two years. This fund was critical for local community infrastructure needs in the fast-growing outer suburbs. Likewise, the suburban revitalisation program was discontinued in the last state budget.

Victoria should become a state of cities, not a city-state, and we need affordable housing statewide. Labor says it will deliver 1300 social and affordable homes across regional Victoria through the $1 billion Regional Housing Fund. That is almost $800,000 to build each one, significantly more than the cost of a standard house-and-land package in regional Victoria. It is clear that Labor cannot manage money, and that is why Victoria has the highest debt of any state in Australia. But Labor hope that they will tax their way out of debt. In the last decade Labor has introduced 55 new or increased taxes; 29 of them apply to property, which just adds to the cost and complexity of providing more homes in Victoria. Add land tax to the mix, with bills being sent to people who do not need to pay it, and it is clear that the housing crisis in Victoria is one of Labor’s making.