Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:14): (1176) My question is for the Treasurer. Treasurer, in a housing crisis, Melbourne currently has more vacant homes than it did a year ago. The 2025 speculative vacancies report shows a sharp rise in vacant homes in Melbourne. Using water usage data, they have identified a 16 per cent increase in totally empty homes over the past year – now 31,890 dwellings, according to the report. A further 69,055 homes were underused, bringing the total of these homes that are sitting empty or barely occupied to over 100,000. That number of properties could house every applicant on the housing waiting list almost twice over. Whitehorse recorded the highest number overall at 2677, which is one out of every 30 homes in that municipality. Treasurer, does the number of vacant homes being taxed accurately reflect the number of real homes that are sitting vacant in Melbourne?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:15): I thank Ms Copsey for her question and the opportunity to talk about the policy rationale for the vacant residential land tax.

Harriet Shing: And the short-stay levy.

Jaclyn SYMES: Thank you, Minister. That is all about addressing the concerns that you have raised. We know – and my predecessor brought this in – that there is arguably an unacceptable amount of vacant homes that could be activated, particularly for the private rental market, which takes pressure off all of the cascading areas, leading to social and public housing as well. That is the rationale for that policy objective.

As you have indicated and offered up in your question, one of the mechanisms to identify vacant properties is data matching with inputs from other agencies. One of the ones that the SRO tell me is the most reliable is water usage for properties, because effectively it is pretty difficult to demonstrate that someone is not turning on a tap if they are there. That is probably the best example of being able to identify and send inquiries to home owners when properties seem to be vacant. That is an enforcement and investigative function that is part of the SRO. I certainly cannot and would not expect the taxes applying to vacant residential lands to have captured all, because it is an ongoing process to indicate that. I think your question is very timely. I think it is a good opportunity to remind people that if they have got a vacant residential property, then they will be taxed unless they sell it or put it up for private rental, which is, we would hope, an incentive and an outcome of those policy settings.

As Minister Shing interjected, there are also other policy measures that we are bringing in place through the tax system to incentivise people to bring their homes. Whether they are vacant or whether they are put on a short-stay platform, we would like to see those properties made available to the rental market, and where they are not we can obtain a revenue, which we can put towards our record efforts in building more homes in Victoria.

Members interjecting.

Evan Mulholland: On a point of order, President, I cannot actually hear the Treasurer because of the noise on that side.

The PRESIDENT: I think there was a bit of noise on that side and a little bit from this side too. As I have said before, there was none from the side that actually asked the question. Maybe respect the person asking the question and the minister trying to answer. Unless they want to join in on the interjections – then maybe it is a different thing.

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:18): Just over two years ago, during negotiations on the State Taxation Acts and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2023, the Greens secured a commitment from the government to trial an enforcement pilot program so that properties covered by the tax were assessed for liability. 1779 homes were taxed in 2024, up from 1013 in 2023. Outside of this trial, the government has failed to significantly curb widespread non-payment, leaving the vast majority of estimated vacant properties untaxed. Following the pilot program of increased enforcement, will the SRO permanently increase their monitoring and compliance activities to strengthen the effectiveness of this tax, to your knowledge, Treasurer?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:19): Ms Copsey, I think the best answer to your question lies in some of the material that I provided in my answer to your substantive question, in that the SRO are always looking for ways to better communicate people’s obligations; it is literally their job. They continue to use data-matching activities, and that is now a permanent feature of the way that they will try and communicate with Victorians. As I said, our policy settings are all about ensuring we make more and more homes available for Victorians. That is what the vacant residential land tax is all about, and enforcement efforts are always something that I speak to the SRO about. But in relation to directing them, I am confident that the measures that they are taking and any future innovations are always front of mind in the considerations of how they run their business.