Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Housing

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (17:17): Talk about ‘Keep your hair on’. I am grieving today for the people of Victoria, who really deserve a Parliament that is focused on their needs during a housing crisis, yet we have a situation where only one side of this house is focused on an incredibly important issue like housing. To use a fine Malcolm Tucker expression, the omnishambles that are the Liberal Party are paralysed by their internal politics, and while they are focusing on themselves they are ignoring the most important issue for people in Victoria, which is the housing issue, be it housing affordability or social housing. We have seen the farce played out when they could not even get up a leadership challenge, because a third of the party room wanted the gig for themselves. It is like some really bad rugby match with 15 players on the field and six substitutes just desperate to get on, but the real tragedy is that in the lower house they do not even have the numbers to form a rugby team.

While they were arguing about whether it is okay to be at an anti-trans rally with neo-Nazis in court, the Allan government was getting on with addressing the real concerns of our community. They were in court for four weeks. What was our Minister for Planning doing in those four weeks? I will tell you what she was doing. She was approving 915 new homes in Docklands, 538 new homes for young people in North Melbourne and 365 new homes in Hawthorn. I will get to this later, but I do believe that the interim opposition leader objected to those when they first came along.

Michael O’Brien: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I would encourage the member on her feet to use members’ correct titles.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Edbrooke): I uphold the point of order. I ask the member to use correct titles.

Michaela SETTLE: As I say, while they were in court trying to decide whether they should be walking with neo-Nazis and campaigning against trans people, our wonderful planning minister was out there getting approvals done and making sure there were more homes for Victorians. We are tackling housing affordability with a suite of innovative ideas, and they are just playing groundhog day, an awful merry-go-round of leaders and Lib spills. If I was a betting woman, I would bet that ‘Lib-spill’ is bound to make it into the Oxford dictionary soon as a frequently used word.

But the evidence is in that the Allan Labor government is effecting real change to help provide homes for families. So while they squabble, we get on and do it. The ABS data published last week confirms that Victoria is building thousands more homes than any other state. In the last 12 months Victoria has built more than 60,000 homes. That is nearly 15,000 more than New South Wales and 27,000 more than Queensland. When it comes to home approvals, Victoria continues to set the national benchmark, approving 10,000 more homes than New South Wales and 18,000 more than Queensland. These results – they did not just come from nowhere, they came from our extraordinary Minister for Planning at the table and all of the work that she has done to contribute to the housing statement. This is no mistake. This government has set its view to addressing housing affordability, and we have done just that. The Minister for Planning has used her powers to intervene or fast-track homes to approve 10,700 ‍homes in the past 12 months, a more than 100 per cent increase on previous years. We are getting on and doing the job.

Yet the only contribution that I have heard from the other side on this important issue has been from the current Leader of the Opposition, which is a threat to repeal the short-stay levy. He is happy to protect his rich investor mates but cares nothing for people living in regional Victoria, because it is we that bear the brunt of the impacts that the short-stay accommodation has on rental properties. Fifty per cent of Airbnbs are in the regions, and that is taking away vital housing.

Vicki Ward: Housing for workers.

Michaela SETTLE: Absolutely. We know that the Leader of the Opposition takes advice and money from Jeff Kennett, and I suspect that he also shares Mr Kennett’s charming view that regional Victoria is the toenails of the state, because this is the sort of thing that he will do to regional Victoria. His threat to repeal the short-stay levy is nothing but a slap in the face. He is happy to leave regional towns with no healthcare workers and no teachers, because they cannot find a house. I was really delighted to speak on the short-stay levy bill just last sitting week, because it matters to me a lot. My parents live in Anglesea, and I have seen what has happened in that town. In Anglesea there are about 300 Airbnbs, and that represents about 10 per cent of the entire stock. That is 10 per cent of houses that could be filled with families and could be filled with skilled workers. To be honest, I was there recently and I walked along the street and they were empty houses, because they are investors from Melbourne who want to make a quick buck during the holiday season. It leaves the town without the ability to house their skilled workers and families.

While the Liberals would leave skilled workers homeless so their mates can reap the rewards, this government has taken real action. I was absolutely honoured on Monday to represent our wonderful Minister for Regional Development in the other place, and I was there to announce one of the projects in the first round of the Regional Worker Accommodation Fund in Beaufort. I really want to give a shout-out to my gorgeous and hardworking colleague the member for Ripon. I know that this is a project that she advocated so, so strongly for, because she does listen to her community. She knows that her community needs housing so they can get skilled workers into the electorate.

Vicki Ward interjected.

Michaela SETTLE: Unlike the previous member, indeed. I was delighted to be there to announce 15 units that will be built by the Pyrenees Shire Council to house skilled workers. That is just one of the many projects that are going to roll out across the state under the Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.

While we are building worker accommodation, the opposition would rather preserve their holiday homes. They are so out of touch that they have suggested that the Airbnb tax is a tax on the family holiday. Can I remind them that the average Airbnb is $300 a night. I do not know what happens in Hawthorn, but I can assure you that people who live in the regions are not booking family holidays and people in the regions cannot afford $300 a night to take their family away. They are much more likely to be taking advantage of that great announcement last week by our Premier that camping in our parks is free.

One of the many young pretenders to a fairly tarnished crown is Sam Groth, the Shadow Minister for Tourism, Sport and Events. He said of the short-stay levy:

This tax will impact regional Victoria and the tourism economy. Every dollar on Labor’s tax is one less that can go into businesses …

I would really suggest that he gets out of the party room and into the regions, because if you talk to businesses in the regions they will say we have critical worker shortages – somewhere like Anglesea. My son worked at a restaurant in Anglesea, commuting from Melbourne, because they could not get workers. He could stay at his granny’s, but they could not get workers in, and that is how difficult it is. I think perhaps if he got out of the party room and spoke to businesses he might understand. I point out that in his very own electorate we have seen a drastic fall in available rentals. Ten years ago, before we had short-term stays, it had a healthy market balance of about 3 per cent and now it is at a staggering low. It is 0.7 per cent because those houses have been taken up by Airbnb. You know what, they are the numbers that he should be counting. They are the numbers that are important. But rather we had to listen to him pontificate in the Herald Sun about his tilt for leadership, saying:

I don’t sit here in this place wanting to be the next Jeff Kennett, or the next Robert Menzies or the next John Howard. I want to be the first Sam Groth and do things my way.

That is a great little speech, and we are looking forward to him doing it his way. But, as I say, I wish that his focus was on the numbers in his own electorate of the people that cannot rent a house. They are so concerned with themselves that they are not interested in what is happening in their electorates. Let me tell you, if the member for Rowville feels double-crossed, imagine how regional communities feel to hear that the current Leader of the Opposition would repeal important legislation that not only frees up rentals but also sees 25 per cent of that money raised being put into social and affordable housing.

The housing statement introduced draft housing targets for councils to support them. I had another fantastic gig on Monday representing Minister Tierney in the other place, and that was to announce an extraordinary collaborative project with Yarriambiack, Loddon, Buloke, Hindmarsh and Swan Hill shire councils and it was about getting municipal building surveyors into the region. It is a really innovative idea to try and support councils in the regional areas.

But above all else we know that the Liberals do not support social housing. The Leader of the Opposition does not believe in social housing. Some of those approvals that we passed in the last four weeks while he was sitting in court – he spent time in 2021 on the back of a ute in Hawthorn opposing that public housing building. I do not know why they hate social housing. Well, I have got an idea, and I am saving it until last. But it is such an important approval to get through to have public housing. As our wonderful Minister for Planning says, we want to put that housing where people have access to schools, work, public transport. We do not think that they should be shoved out into some dim dark place like people on the other side.

The Liberal Party have consistently shown their opposition to new homes, and amongst the young pretenders let us just have a look. In 2017 the member for Brighton opposed a development in Hampton of 207 new apartments. In 2018 he supported the former member for Brighton’s opposition to a new public housing development delivering 300 new homes. Another young contender: in 2021 the member for Sandringham opposed a proposal to build 1048 apartments in Highett. There is a pattern in Highett. In 2018 he opposed another development, which was the former gas and fuel site in Highett. And our very own Richard Nixon, the member for Caulfield, opposed the development of 46 new social housing dwellings in Balaclava, but of course we got on, and we got them built. Let us all remember that the last time Pesutto’s Liberals were in government every single budget –

Michael O’Brien: On a point of order –

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Edbrooke): I remind the member to use proper titles when referring to members.

Michael O’Brien: You anticipated my point of order, Acting Speaker, thank you.

Michaela SETTLE: I apologise, Acting Speaker. The last time the Liberals were in government, every single budget that they delivered had significant cuts to housing assistance, social housing and support for disadvantaged Victorians to access the rental market. Every single budget that they delivered cut out –

A member interjected.

Michaela SETTLE: I can go through them if you would like. $348 million from social housing; $1.8 million, housing assistance; $13.1 million, housing assistance; and 210 dwellings cut. You certainly did it. But let us never forget in this place what I think encapsulates and really drives the Liberals, the reason they will not get behind our social housing and the reason that I grieve for Victoria if they ever get in, what we heard from the former Liberal housing minister in the other place, who believed low-income families had no place in Brighton. Let us remember those words:

There is no point putting a very low income, probably welfare-dependent family in the best street in Brighton where the children cannot mix with others …