Thursday, 28 November 2024

Ministers statements: housing

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:09): There is another area that Victorians want our government to be firmly focused on, and that is building more homes, because we know that building more homes is one way to make sure that millennials and young Victorians are not locked out of homes, locked out of opportunity, locked out of the chance to build their long-term wealth. We do that by building and approving more homes for more Victorians – more homes than any other state in the nation, more homes for renters, more homes if you want to live near the people you love or if you want to start afresh and move to a new town, move to a new suburb or move to a smaller house.

It is pretty simple – we have been getting some lectures today about simplicity: supply and demand. When you block, you shrink demand. Do you know what you also do? When you block, you not only shrink demand but you shrink hope, you shrink opportunity and you deny millennials particularly the opportunity other generations have had to find a home, to build their long-term wealth and to live near the people they love. That is why we are getting on and building more homes. That is why we are looking at using every lever we have, and that is why we will say to the blockers, ‘You won’t stand in our way either,’ because we know we have got to get on with the task of building more homes. We are building and approving more homes than any other state, more homes for more Victorians, and that is what my government will remain firmly focused on. The blockers can block; the builders will build.