Thursday, 14 November 2024

 Sonya KILKENNY (Carrum – Minister for Planning, Minister for the Suburbs) (14:47): As Victorians know, more homes means more opportunity, and the Allan Labor government is delivering more homes and more opportunity right across regional Victoria. For the first time ever, we are developing a new plan for all of Victoria, not just a plan for Melbourne, because as we plan for a prosperous and fair Victoria out to 2050, the voices, aspirations and hopes of regional Victoria matter. That is why we are getting on with the job of building more homes, more diverse and affordable homes, right across regional Victoria – homes for families, homes for young Victorians and homes for workers. It is why we have said yes to more homes in Kennington and Flora Hill in the Premier’s own electorate; yes to more homes in Swan Hill, a great opportunity to live by the mighty Murray; yes to more homes in Geelong, Wodonga, Ballarat and Moe. And it is why we are unlocking land for over 15,000 homes in Shepparton, in Warrnambool and in Ballarat to make sure Victorians get to live in these thriving communities. As we build more homes, our reforms to infrastructure funding will mean regional Victorians and communities will have the schools, transport options, parks and trees they need to live healthy, happy and prosperous lives.

Some choose to spend their time organising protests against new homes in their own blue-ribbon seats. As Mr Mulholland in the other place has so colourfully described it, they ‘swoop in quicker than a seagull to a chip on St Kilda Beach’. They spend their time writing op-eds about their plans to block new homes. Whether they are the self-proclaimed king of the developer free-for-all or the Brighton blocker, they have no plans. The opposition has no plans. It is only the Allan Labor government that is getting on and delivering the homes that Victorians need and the opportunities that they deserve.