Wednesday, 4 March 2026

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:30): My question is for the Minister for Housing and Building. Minister, Brendan Ryan was earlier this year found dead at a Rosebud campsite after reportedly waiting two years for housing. Also, recent data from the Productivity Commission shows that after a decade in government, Labor has increased the Victorian public housing stock by just 36 dwellings. It appears that while the government has been turning a blind eye to corruption, ordinary Victorians like Brendan have been left to die on the street. I therefore ask: how many more Victorians have to die waiting for a home before the minister admits Labor’s housing system is broken?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:31): What a shame, Mr Davis, that amongst a number of legitimate questions and concerns to put in this forum, you have sought to commodify and to extract cheap political mileage out of the death of a vulnerable person. You are an absolute disgrace, Mr Davis.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, it is a simple question. The minister should just answer it rather than attacking the opposition in the response.

The PRESIDENT: I think that if the question can be quite provocative, sometimes you can expect an answer in line with that.

Harriet SHING: So, Mr Davis, as I said –

Georgie Crozier: She doesn’t like that one.

Harriet SHING: Well, Ms Crozier, I do not like that one, because the way in which the question has been framed is seeking to commodify an issue of real vulnerability.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, it is a simple question. The minister should just answer the question rather than debating the question.

The PRESIDENT: I am just struggling with the ‘simple question’ bit. I will ask the minister to continue. I ask members not to interject and the minister to ignore interjections.

Harriet SHING: Thank you, Mr Davis. As I said, I am not going to turn the deaths of vulnerable individuals into political fodder. I am not going to do that. It would not be fair to them or to their loved ones to do that. Of course we take reports of anybody’s death very seriously. I want to offer my sincere condolences to this gentleman’s loved ones and to the people who called him a friend.

On the matter of housing and delivery of housing, we have made a record investment into new housing across the state. Mr Davis, you would be well served to have a look at the figures that show that we have nearly 12,000 social housing homes either completed, approved or in construction. Mr Davis, we have an investment of more than $8 billion when we combine state and Commonwealth programs, with a commitment to deliver around 16,000 additional social housing homes. Mr Davis, there is an inventory of more than 91,000 social housing homes across the state, and as part of our record commitment we have 3200 public housing homes complete or underway through our programs. At the same time, we are taking housing that is no longer fit for purpose offline. That includes the developments that we are undertaking across a range of sites, including the Carlton red-brick towers and the work to densify 39 hectares of land across the inner urban environment, changes which you opposed and which you continue to oppose when you block and oppose the development and the delivery of social housing across the state, Mr Davis.

I just want to out of an abundance of caution in answering this particular question make it very clear for anybody concerned about the blocking and the opposing of public and social housing in this state that it was in fact you, Mr Davis, who was here for the blocking and the opposition of the Markham estate public housing in Ashburton. You were on the record in opposing this housing. You and your colleagues have continuously opposed the delivery of social housing, and that has got to stop.

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:35): CFMEU corruption has cost taxpayers $15 billion. Not having a house probably cost Brendan his life. With Victoria’s public housing waiting list growing and net public housing increasing by just 36 homes in a decade, how can the minister justify Labor’s failure to provide safe housing to people who are literally dying waiting for help?

The PRESIDENT: I think it is a very similar question to the substantive, but I will let the minister, if she wants to, answer the same way.

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:36): We are in the process of meeting our commitments under the Commonwealth housing accord. We have an investment of between $8 billion and $9 billion to deliver social housing. The Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion fund from the Commonwealth, is assisting us through the social housing accelerator program to deliver around 769 additional homes. That is a fund which, had he had his way, Mr Dutton, whom a number of your colleagues have had views about in recent times, would have scrapped. So we have record investment. Again, we are determined to continue to invest in supports, including $300 million annually for homelessness support services across Victoria. The Bayside Peninsula area, which includes the Mornington Peninsula, receives the highest investment of homelessness services of any area across the state, with over $54 million in 2025–26. This is including funding of 17 agencies to provide support. There is always more work to do, but under you it would never get done.

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:37): I move:

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

Motion agreed to.