Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:15): (2395) My adjournment is for the Minister for Housing and Building, and the action that I am seeking is for the minister to provide me with an update on how the Allan Labor government is delivering housing that Victorians need. Last week we finally saw the Liberals come out with their housing plan, and what a shocker it was: 300,000 less homes than under the government’s plans. They want to reverse the planning reforms that we are undertaking, the planning reforms that are already seeing Melbourne property prices now amongst the lowest of all the capital cities, making it actually a little bit more accessible for young people to get into housing. Earlier this week, as many members often do, I was delighted to welcome students in from the broader south-east – high school students – and they know all too well the challenges that they are going to face in getting into the housing market. There is a government here that is actually taking action to make housing more affordable by making the supply of housing broader and making it so that if you want to live in the outer suburbs, in the regions or – yes – even in the inner suburbs, you can do so. And that is what happens when you have the planning reforms, including the activity centres that those opposite are so determined to block. They do not want to give young Victorians any opportunity to get into that market or any opportunity to live where they may want to live, whether that be near their parents – even if that is in Preston or Brighton or Camberwell. This government, on the other hand, supports the housing aspirations of young Victorians.

What is even worse about the Liberals’ announcement last week is that, yes, there will be some densification they want to do in the very core of the city, but apart from that, there is no further support for development anywhere else in Melbourne until you get to the growing outer suburbs. What they want to do is unlock all the precinct structure plans in one go, bring that forward, with no plan to deliver the infrastructure or the services they need. These growing communities, some of which I am proud to represent, know all too well of the growing challenges. In Clyde North, for example, we have opened six new schools – six new public, primary and secondary schools – in the last three and a half years, and in that time the demand has fully gone up to fulfil those schools. And it is continuing to happen. We see it with roads, with the new hospitals that we are building, with the expanded hospitals and with the public transport upgrades. We are seeing huge growth in these areas, and we are meeting that demand as much as we can. But we acknowledge it is very hard to keep pace, and that is why we are shifting the balance, putting more of that support for Victorians in growing the middle- and inner-ring suburbs. But the Liberals just have a plan for putting more Victorians into the outer suburbs of Melbourne, with no plan for how to provide the services or infrastructure for them to get around.