Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Ministers statements: housing

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:36): I rise today in my capacity as Minister for Housing. On Sunday it was such a pleasure to join my friend and local member Ryan Batchelor to visit the newly completed housing development at New Street in Brighton. This is one of the projects that has been delivered under the nation-leading ground lease model stage 1 development.

We know that by embracing innovative opportunities for development we can achieve a significant uplift in the volume of stock that is available. This was a site which, for those who do not know, previously had 127 dwellings on it. This has been increased now, as a result of this development, to 291 dwellings. That includes 151 dwellings allocated as social housing.

On Sunday, when we were there, there were people moving in at the time to be part of this beautiful community with wide open spaces, a cafe to come, space for people to come together in a community facility. We had an opportunity to have a conversation with Tanya, a tenant who moved in last week and who has already made her stunning one-bedroom home a place all her own. It has a balcony with fresh air, great cross-ventilation, energy efficiency, double glazing, noise attenuation and of course proximity to local amenities and community. This is what we are building. This is why we are investing billions of dollars into projects that partner with community housing organisations –

Members interjecting.

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, President, I refer to Rulings from the Chair in regard to interjections. I note that today Mr McGowan has participated in a constant stream of interjections, barrages of interjections, shouting down a member with the call. It means that we cannot hear the minister and it is disrupting her train of thought. I refer to the ruling of President Hunt in this regard, and I ask that Mr McGowan stop his constant stream of interjections.

The PRESIDENT: Ms Terpstra, I am a big fan of the rulings of President Hunt. I uphold your point of order as far as interjections go. I know you mentioned Mr McGowan. I think there have been a lot of interjections from a lot of areas, so I will not single out that member now. But I did say at the business meeting – and I apologise if it was not passed on – that if someone was doing a members statement, an adjournment or a ministers statement when they have limited time and that person was not being provocative, then I will say that they can start from the start and everyone will be quiet.

I apologise that there might have been instances in the last couple of days where other people have been subject to interjections while they were doing time-limited statements and not being provocative, but I think that is a good standard for us to set. I will call Minister Shing, from the top.

Harriet SHING: Thank you, President. I rise today in my capacity as Minister for Housing to celebrate the recent completion of a beautiful new development of social housing at New Street in Brighton. This takes a site which previously had 127 homes on it to 291 homes. This is a mixture of different configurations, one- and two-bedroom and indeed additional disability-accessible accommodation. My good friend and colleague here in the chamber today Ryan Batchelor has been a really staunch advocate for this project, and we have watched it come to life over recent months. This is what we are building, and this is why we are investing billions of dollars in partnership with the community housing sector to partner with Community Housing (Vic) and also Icon, who developed and delivered this. Homes Victoria has made sure that this project has been delivered on time and on budget, and we are determined to make sure that when residents move in – and make no mistake, they were literally moving in on Sunday when we were there – whether it is social housing, whether it is private market rental, people have access to beautiful amenity. Whether it is a community facility, a cafe, open spaces or proximity to their communities, this is why we are investing what we are investing.

Tanya, who is an extraordinary advocate for the community she now calls home, moved into her beautiful one-bedroom apartment last week. She has already made it her own, and she had the following to say:

I feel secure. I have an amazing brand new apartment. I have bird life around me. It has just taken the weight of the world off my shoulders. I come from a very old-style apartment, and just seeing everything opening and closing properly, to have a view and a balcony – it is just fantastic.

After just a few short days in her home Tanya feels safe and secure. That is what she deserves, that is what social housing residents deserve and this is what we are building.