Thursday, 19 June 2025

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:13): Victoria’s housing statement demonstrates a landmark commitment to rural and regional Victoria by setting a target to build 425,600 homes in those communities by 2051. We are taking every possible action available to us to meet this ambitious but achievable target. Through the Big Housing Build alone, our government is investing $1.25 billion in rural and regional Victoria for social and affordable housing. Included in this particular investment, the Big Housing Build alone commits to a minimum investment guarantee in 18 regional and rural LGAs totalling $765 million. I am pleased to advise the Parliament that 14 of the 18 councils have met or exceeded their minimum investment guarantee. That includes regional centres like Greater Bendigo, Ballarat and Greater Geelong but also rural and semirural communities like Wangaratta, Horsham and Moorabool. In Latrobe we have got 192 homes, in South Gippsland, eight, and East Gippsland, 94, with a total of 294 new social and affordable homes as far as those investments are concerned. That includes regional centres along the path of future growth and development and key projects completed thanks to the Big Housing Build and various investments like the 44 homes at Templeton Street in Wangaratta that have been delivered thanks to $13.5 million under the Big Housing Build, and the Golden Square project in Bendigo, which delivered 35 social homes thanks to a $16 million investment. Across the Big Housing Build we have seen more than 3900 homes completed or underway in rural and regional Victoria since the Big Housing Build was announced, and this is on top of the $1 billion Regional Housing Fund, which will deliver at least 1300 additional social and affordable homes across rural and regional Victoria. Work is progressing on a range of projects, and I am looking forward to continuing to see those completed so that people can move into bright, modern, energy-efficient homes that really do them proud.