Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Housing

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. Labor’s housing statement set a target to build 80,000 new homes every year for a decade. Will 80,000 ‍new homes be built this year?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:01): It is always good to get a question from the Leader of the Opposition, playing right up against the net as he is today. We are really proud that last September we released a housing statement that brought together every element across government, looking at using every lever we have as a state government to build more homes. I will refer to some of the data that has been published recently that talks exactly to the problem we are tackling as a government. We know not enough homes are being built. Not enough homes are being built here in the city, in the country and indeed right around Australia. We know not enough homes are –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Kew is warned.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this was a very, very simple and clear question. Will 80,000 new homes be built this year?

The SPEAKER: The question referred to Labor’s housing statement as well. The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: On the data that has been released, there have been a number of different datasets, but they all speak to the same issue: that not enough homes are being built. We could have, as others have done, sat back and admired the problem or indeed, as others have done, opposed housing developments in their communities. We have taken a different approach. We have taken the approach that a responsible government should take and looked at what we need to do, whether it is the great work that the planning minister is doing to make good decisions faster, looking at how we can make decisions more quickly through the development facilitation program or looking at how we can clear the backlog with local councils to see more homes being built. Indeed the planning minister and I were in Hawthorn not that long ago, where the minister was giving an update –

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, just on relevance, I ask that you draw the Premier back to the question.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order. The Premier, on her feet, was being entirely relevant to the question about Labor’s housing statement and the number of houses that we are working to build.

James Newbury: On the point of order, Speaker, Rulings from the Chair has made it very clear that a minister cannot respond generally; they must respond to the substance of the actual question. The question was very clear – it was a very simple question – and I submit to you that the Premier is speaking generally but the Premier is not responding to the actual question that the coalition has asked.

The SPEAKER: The Premier had strayed somewhat from the question. I do ask the Premier to return to the housing statement and the question that was asked.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was asked about the housing statement.

John Pesutto: No, that was in the preamble; that wasn’t the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: As you should know well – you have been here on and off for a little while – the preamble is absolutely part of the question. I put to you: guess what is in the housing statement. A target to build 800,000 homes over the next decade, which is exactly what the Leader of the Opposition asked about.

Unlike others who jump on the back of a ute in their local electorate and oppose housing developments, like the one on Bills Street in Hawthorn, we are going to get on and use every lever possible, whether it is the planning levers or whether it is building more homes on government land or working on putting more homes around activity centres, particularly around our great public transport network, those level crossing sites where there are plenty of opportunities. I know the member for Caulfield knows those opportunities – he has opposed a few of them as well – to put more homes on those level crossing removal sites. We know that this is a big and difficult job. That is why we released our housing statement, that is why we have the industry partnership and that is why we are getting on and working with the industry to deliver more homes.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): January saw the lowest monthly detached housing approvals since October 2013. After almost a decade under a Labor government, why is it now harder for Victorians to buy or rent a home?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:06): This is exactly the sort of data I was referring to and speaks exactly to the reason why we have released a housing statement that contains actions across government but also in partnership with industry, because we know the housing industry here, like the housing industry across the country, is facing workforce challenges and supply challenges. It is also facing the pressures of successive interest rate rises. Additional pressures also would have come to the housing industry if a policy to lock up 15 well-located, well-serviced inner suburbs to development had proceeded like the policy that those opposite took to the last election – a policy to lock out development in suburbs in the Leader of the Opposition’s own backyard.

Peter Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, it is very hard for someone that is looking for a house to live in a housing statement, and I would ask you to bring the Premier back to actually answering the question.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Premier has concluded her answer.