Thursday, 19 October 2023

Ministers statements: housing

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:35): I want to take this opportunity to address some of the misinformation being peddled by some in this house and indeed across the Parliament about the redevelopment of the 44 housing towers announced as part of the housing statement. It is very easy to comment from the sidelines. There is an awful lot of pride and connection, often across many generations, for people who have lived in and have called these towers home. It is also, however, very, very easy to be nostalgic and to romanticise the idea of social housing when you do not live in it yourself.

Our older public housing high-rise towers are coming to the end of their operational life, and it is no longer feasible or cost-effective to continue to repair these buildings to the standards that renters need and the standards that they deserve. Independent advice from structural engineers and from an assets and facilities management consultant has estimated that it will cost $2.3 billion just to keep 42 of these towers in a habitable condition. That is a habitable condition for 20 years, and that is to maintain the status quo and not to improve them in a way that improves disability accessibility, the capacity for people to get to their homes without needing to take two lifts and issues associated with ventilation, with insulation, with energy efficiency and with the amenity that people really do deserve no matter where they are living and no matter the circumstances in which they live. We want to make sure that we have built upon the ongoing upgrade program of the last 20 years but also that we face the reality that, with these towers coming to the end of their lives, the investment we are making is not only sensible and necessary but a vital part of managing growth now and into the future.