Housing
Katie HALL (Footscray) (09:59): There is no more important issue in our state and our nation right now than housing, and the Allan Labor government’s housing statement delivers our long-term strategy to build more affordable public social housing. I am so thrilled to have been appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary for Housing, because housing is one of the reasons I got into politics. In my community we see the impact of a shortage of housing every day. We are transforming this system with the housing statement and introducing the toughest protections in the nation for renters: better public housing; housing with dignity; energy-efficient, light and bright homes; more social housing; and better, faster planning decisions – decisions with community and people at their heart, not developers. Housing should always come first – it is a human right – and this sort of reform is what brave, bold, committed Labor governments do. We do the hard policy work to make sure that generations to come will benefit from these reforms. In Footscray, for too long land banking has been a scourge in my community, and I will continue to fight for better outcomes for Footscray.