Thursday, 17 October 2024

Ministers statements: housing

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:46): Every Victorian deserves a safe and comfortable place to call home, and that is why our government are using every lever we have to give them exactly that, and I can tell you that in coming days we will have a lot more to say about how we are going to focus on building more homes for more Victorians. We have made those big investments in social and affordable housing, building and unlocking homes and also providing more opportunities for more Victorians to get a home close to where they want to live.

But we also know that this is a big task. This is a big task because the demand for housing in this country has never been greater. We know that alongside investing in bricks and mortar, alongside building homes, we also have to look at the existing homes, the existing spaces that can be made available for more Victorians. Homes that sit vacant for months on end in the middle of a housing crisis are homes that are locked up. These homes could be in beautiful parts of our state, like Halls Gap – three-bedroom homes that are locked up in Halls Gap. They are homes that might be familiar to some in this place because they own them and run them as Airbnbs. But, again, further evidence of the complete lack of trust any Victorian can have in those opposite is that whilst he was advocating for Airbnb the Shadow Treasurer failed to disclose that he owned and operated an Airbnb.

This is a further example of just how deeply untrustworthy those opposite are. They do not trust each other, nor should Victorians trust them. We also know that when it comes to the question of building more homes for more Victorians we have the blockers opposite, who want to block every effort to build more homes to provide more opportunities for more Victorians to get a roof over their head.