Thursday, 19 February 2026

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:08): This week I visited the Inkerman Street, St Kilda, towers with the members for Southern Metropolitan John Berger and Ryan Batchelor. I am incredibly grateful to every resident who took the time out of their day to talk with me, particularly Rhonda, Irene and Tom, who had some really valuable feedback about where they would like to live when they move and what we can do to make the towers more comfortable in the meantime. These visits are part of supporting towers residents with facts and supporting them through the high-rise redevelopment program so that when they move their rent settings will not change, that every household will have a dedicated relocation officer and all the support that they will need and that every household will have a right of return to the homes at the new towers or the neighbourhood if they want to come back.

We are rapidly approaching 12,000 homes complete or underway through the Big Housing Build and Regional Housing Fund. The high-rise redevelopment program represents a brand new pipeline of homes for 30,000 Victorians through to 2050 across 18 of Melbourne’s neighbourhoods – 39 hectares of land. But of course there are certain commentators who say this program should not proceed. There are certain property barons, who may or may not be elected, who will say we desperately need more affordable housing, but this – the high-rise towers redevelopment – is not the answer. Our government is doing the hard work of building more and better homes for Victorian families in the places where they want to live. The Liberals and the Greens are happy to say we need more homes, but what follows then is always, ‘But not in my backyard.’