Housing
Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (14:32): My question is to the Premier. In my electorate of Ringwood there are several large vacant sites with permits in place for residential developments where construction has yet to commence. In the Ringwood metropolitan activity centre alone Maroondah council has advised that these approvals collectively account for nearly 1500 dwellings. In fact in the past eight years permits for over 2000 dwellings in the Ringwood MAC have been issued; however, just 364 dwellings have been built. This amounts to a staggeringly low completion rate of just 18 per cent. Given the critical need for more affordable housing in Victoria, can the Premier explain what, if anything, the government is doing to address the economic challenges facing the building industry that are the root cause of these projects being shelved?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:33): I thank the member for Ringwood for his question, and I remind the member for Ringwood that the Parliament this week has passed our more homes bill, which delivers off-the-plan stamp duty concessions. I know the Liberal Party did not support the more homes bill on its way through the Parliament. They attempted to block the bill’s passage through the Parliament, but we were determined to have this bill pass through the Parliament to provide support to the industry and to buyers. Just this week we have taken action to address one of the challenges that the industry have told us are impacting on their ability to build more homes. The 13 successive interest rate rises and the inflationary pressures that they have caused as a consequence right around the country are impacting on a range of industry sectors. It impacts everyone at the supermarket; it impacts every industry sector as well. That is why we are doing the work – the hard work, the detailed work – to work with industry and communities and councils to build more homes, whether it is the activity centres, whether it is the off-the-plan stamp duty concession, whether it is making it easier to subdivide to build a townhouse or two on suburban blocks of land, whether it is the 10-year land supply release, whether it is the programs to invest in the infrastructure that we need around these communities, and of course support to renters as well.
We listened to industry, and they told us to provide immediate support to industry to get those developments away, like those that the member for Ringwood referred to. They needed support now, which is why we brought about the off-the-plan stamp duty concession. We put the bill through Parliament. It is through Parliament, and buyers and developers have that certainty. And we know it is working, because just last week the planning minister and the Treasurer and I were at a billion-dollar development site in Docklands, and the work has started. As the group CEO of the GURNER Group Ahmed Fahour said, this is getting away now because of this stamp duty concession that is being provided. That is the immediate support we are providing – immediate support that comes about from listening to industry and understanding what you have got to do to build more homes. The behaviour we have seen this week demonstrates the Liberal Party will keep blocking. We will continue to focus on building more homes.
Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (14:36): The Premier referred in her answer to activity centres and subdivisions. The concerns in my community are that these changes will deliver more permits but they will not deliver more houses, so specifically: what changes are being made to the economics of new developments to move them from mere permits into actual buildings? And when the Premier undertook to get advice about McDowall Street, Mitcham, in her answer to me back in August, what was the outcome of that advice she sought from the housing minister?
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Ringwood asked two questions. Which question would you like the Premier to answer, member for Ringwood?
Will FOWLES: I would like the Premier to address how the government’s planning changes will actually deliver more houses and not just more permits.
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:37): Well, I –
Members interjecting.
Jacinta ALLAN: True colours can continue to shine through. That is okay. The true-blue Liberal colours can continue to shine through. Just like we have seen them shine through in the courtroom, we are seeing them shine through here in the Parliament as well.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker: standing order 118 – from the runner-up Premier.
The SPEAKER: Member for Brighton, I ask you to raise your points of order succinctly, without commentary. The Premier to be relevant and to not attack the opposition.
Jacinta ALLAN: I say this in answering the member for Ringwood’s question: the community of Ringwood, like all Victorians, have seen this week and every week that we will be focused on building more homes while others play their blocking games and their political games and carry on in their true-blue way. In terms of the support for industry, I have outlined how the off-the-plan stamp duty concession is making a meaningful difference now, and we will continue to support the building of more homes for more Victorians.