Thursday, 20 November 2025

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:34): My question is to the Minister for Housing. Minister, the Flemington estate is home to two of the first public housing towers slated for demolition. 12 Holland Court on Flemington estate is nearly vacant, with a small number of residents now facing increasing pressure to leave, and it is at 12 Holland Court that Homes Victoria has recently installed security cameras on every floor and around the perimeter of the estate, installed electronic steel gates on every floor and rewired and added sensors to the lighting on every floor.

We have also heard that at the Richmond public housing walk-ups, which are almost empty, Homes Victoria has installed multiple security cameras around the building. Minister, how much money has Homes Victoria spent on these cameras, gates and lighting?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:35): Thank you very much, Ms Copsey, for that question. One of the things that we know is of paramount importance, that I would hope everybody in this chamber, including the Greens, knows, is that safety is of primary importance where the residents of any of our social housing homes are concerned. We continue to make safety upgrades to our housing stock not just in the middle of Melbourne and not just in our suburbs. We also want to make sure that across the state we are taking care of the needs, the concerns and the priorities of residents when it comes to access, when it comes to security and when it comes to perceptions of safety, and there is always more work to do.

When it comes to making sure that we are securing the assets, the homes and the stock, we also want to make sure that as we develop our housing towers in accordance with the housing statement – to treble the density across these sites and to make sure that we have an uplift of at least 10 per cent in social housing across those sites – and as we prepare for demolition and do that pre-demolition work, we are securing sites against perhaps efforts to occupy parts of those sites for improper or unlawful reasons.

Katherine Copsey: Defending public housing.

Harriet SHING: I will pick you up on that interjection, Ms Copsey: ‘Defending public housing’. Well, you know what – one of the things that we are continuing to do is to work with people who have already relocated. We are talking about more than 85 per cent of people who have relocated and who are in many instances looking forward to a right of return – but they do not have a right of return while housing is being blocked from being delivered across these sites. One of the things –

Katherine Copsey: On a point of order, President, the minister is getting up a head of steam, but the question was how much money Homes Victoria has spent on these cameras, gates and lighting.

The PRESIDENT: I have a concern – similar to a question to Mr Erdogan – about the level of detail. There is precedent where a number of other presiding officers have said it is much better that that sort of level of detail be provided via a question on notice. So I will rely on those rulings.

Harriet SHING: One of the things that we are doing within the expenditure that already exists for Homes Victoria for security and maintenance is making sure that we are preventing people from unlawfully squatting when it comes to decommissioned homes. I would really hope, Greens, that you would send a really clear message, unlike some members of your political party, that squatting in and occupying unused homes is in fact getting in the way of people being able to have homes that are bright and modern and energy efficient – homes that they deserve – rather than making cheap political points for the purposes of grandstanding.

Anasina Gray-Barberio: On a point of order, President, this is not an opportunity for the minister to attack the Greens. Stick to the question.

The PRESIDENT: I will uphold the point of order and encourage the minister not to respond to interjections.

Harriet SHING: Well, Ms Gray-Barberio, I recall seeing you at one of the protests calling for people to occupy those particular towers and calling upon people to fight against the development of these sites. Ms Gray-Barberio, how sensitive you are when it comes to a measure of accountability to deliver housing for people who most deserve it. When are you going to stop turning your back on people who deserve better?

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, the minister is required to speak through you, President, and I ask that the minister do that.

The PRESIDENT: She has finished, but I will also uphold that point of order.

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:39): Minister, thank you for touching on security arrangements at tenanted public homes. There are plenty of reports that demonstrate how public housing residents – current residents – including those who have lived and still live at 12 Holland Court and the Richmond walk-ups, have endured a long history of Homes Victoria failing to respond to their maintenance requests. Residents at the Albert Park tower are concerned that their security cameras have not worked for 12 months. Now we have Homes Victoria spending up big on nearly empty residences – a move to protect an asset, as you have touched on, when they seemingly do not care to spend the time and money to protect actual residents. What do you say to those residents who are concerned that their maintenance and security requests have been unmet in the face of this expenditure?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:40): Thank you very much, Ms Copsey. The supplementary question appears to go perhaps a little to a point that is beyond what you talked about in the substantive question, but what I will say is that making sure that people in public housing are made and kept safe includes making sure that strangers who do not live in those estates are not looking to occupy them unlawfully through a squatting exercise that seeks to circumnavigate the process of demolition and building new homes.

On the question of maintenance more broadly, what I would say to you, Ms Copsey, is that this is a priority of the work that we have been doing, and we have done checks to more than 64,000 dwellings at a cost of $245.6 million across 2024–25. We undertake more than 350,000 maintenance checks every year, including requests from renters and essential safety checks as required under the Residential Tenancies Act.

Katherine COPSEY: On a point of order, President, in relation to my substantive question, you were pondering whether the minister had sufficient detail available to answer that specific question. She does seem to have quite a level of detail available about the figures on security expenditure. I am wondering if it would be possible for my substantive to be reinstated and perhaps for the minister to provide an answer to that.

The PRESIDENT: I pondered at the time whether the supplementary was in line with the substantive or a separate topic. The minister is responding to the separate topic compared to a quantum at one particular housing estate. I will call the minister, with 7 seconds to continue.

Harriet SHING: You complain if we have maintenance and you complain if we do not have maintenance, but I keep getting letters from you talking about the fact that the towers and the housing stock need to be upgraded, while you continue to oppose their development.

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:43): I move:

That the minister’s answer be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.