Wednesday, 4 February 2026

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:14): Last week we announced the next phase of the high-rise towers redevelopment program following a day of intensive engagement with tower residents. I was really pleased to visit the Layfield Court tower with the member for Albert Park Nina Taylor and speak directly with residents about what this program means for them. Over the coming weeks and the coming months I will continue to meet with residents and to listen to them about the issues that are most important to them. I will do that just like I did last year alongside Homes Victoria – to have a cup of tea with them, to talk through their questions, to hear their feedback and to take action items on board to come back to them with.

Let us be really clear: last week represented just the start of a careful engagement process. Over the coming months and years we will continue to engage with tower residents, including older residents, to understand where they would like to live and how we can best support their needs – that they can move to the same building and even the same floor as their neighbours, that they have a right of return to the redeveloped towers if they want to go back when the new homes have been built, that their rent settings will stay the same when they move and that Homes Victoria will arrange movers and pay for their relocation costs. And we will be launching the Hand in Hand community support program, a buddy system to enable current residents to connect with others who have already moved.

Homes Victoria will continue to engage really closely with residents over the coming months, together with our community partners, just as we have done to date, and I will continue to engage directly with residents to answer their questions, to hear their concerns and to make sure their feedback is taken into account, just as I have always done. We will also continue to engage with residents across towers that are not being affected by this latest announcement, because we all know that accurate and timely information is of critical importance to this multidecade project as it continues.