Thursday, 23 February 2023

Rental accommodation

Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:17): My question is for the Premier. Right now, in the middle of a housing crisis, over 60,000 homes across Victoria are sitting empty for most of the week because property investors are able to make sometimes double the amount of rent from leasing their properties through unregulated short-stay platforms like Airbnb. Meanwhile renters in regional towns and the inner city are facing record low vacancy rates and skyrocketing rents. As more and more families, retired women, young people and essential workers become desperate for a home, will the government make thousands of existing homes available right now for those people struggling to find a place to live by introducing urgent short-stay regulations to cap the number of days that a property can be listed for a short stay?

Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:18): I thank the honourable member for Richmond for her question, and whilst I have no announcements to make today in relation to residential tenancy matters, I will point out to the honourable member that the government has embarked on the nation’s biggest ever investment in affordable housing. That is a point of pride for us, and I will take the opportunity that the honourable member affords me to thank every single worker that is out there, as we speak, building thousands of homes for vulnerable Victorians and giving them the security, the safety and the platform to build a better life, to be safe, to be certain and to be secure. That is the first point.

On the issue of the Big Housing Build, I know question time is not an opportunity for me to ask the honourable member a question, but I would ask a favour: please get on to some of those Greens political party councillors and ask them – and if the member for Richmond is not happy to ask on her own behalf, just say I asked you to ask them – to stop blocking public and community housing. Stop voting against affordable housing for victim-survivors of family violence, for First Nations Victorians, for mentally ill Victorians and for many others who simply want an opportunity to live in local communities that have, for this purpose, the misfortune of being governed by members of the Greens political party. You cannot be from a show –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The Assistant Treasurer will come to order.

Sam Hibbins interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for Prahran can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Prahran withdrew from chamber.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! When I am on my feet, the house will come to order.

Daniel ANDREWS: I would be indebted to the member for Richmond if she could pass that along to all of those Greens councillors who steadfastly, consistently, shamefully vote against, frustrate and in some instances have prevented the building of affordable housing to deal with exactly the cohort that the member pretends to care about.

Tim Read: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the Premier has blundered off the field and needs to be led back onto the topic of the question.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, the question went to the availability of low-cost and affordable housing, and the Premier is being entirely relevant to the question and simply pointing out that some more of that housing may well have been available if it were not for the opposition of the Greens political party.

The SPEAKER: The question related to affordable housing and the availability of it. The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Daniel ANDREWS: Thank you very much, Speaker, for that guidance. I will again make the point: if you want to come into this place, of all places, and ask questions about affordable housing, then you need to get out there and make sure that your comrades, your colleagues, those that are in your political party perhaps actually come from a political party that is interested in affordable housing. Just get out of the way – get out of the way.

Ellen Sandell: On a further point of order, Speaker, the Premier has been in this place long enough to know that question time is not a time to attack members of other parties in this place.

The SPEAKER: I ask the Premier to come back to the question.

Daniel ANDREWS: I have not been here nearly long enough, I reckon. Anyway, the member for Richmond also asked me about short-stay issues. With the greatest of respect, she also talked about the number of buildings, the number of homes, the number of facilities that lie empty throughout the week. Now, this question would perhaps have more credibility if the member for Richmond’s electorate office was open five days a week. If she was not running her own little short-stay long weekend every single week, this question might have much more credibility.

Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:23): I thank the Premier for detailing the buildings that this government plans to build, but right now 110,000 Victorian households are experiencing rental stress and the crisis is set to get worse. Just yesterday economists predicted that rents will rise by another 11.5 per cent this year. That is on the 10 per cent that they rose last year, the sharpest annual increase on record. Rental vacancies are at an all-time low of 1 per cent. I hear from renters that are lined up for two blocks to inspect a property, people going to five inspections a day. Desperate people tell me they are offering –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wendouree can leave the chamber for 1 hour. The member for Eltham can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Members for Wendouree and Eltham withdrew from chamber.

Gabrielle DE VIETRI: Desperate people are offering a year’s worth of rent up-front to secure a substandard property. Berlin, Dublin, Tokyo and New York have all introduced short-stay regulations as part of the solution. New South Wales has regulations, as have councils in Victoria. Will the Premier – (Time expired)