Wednesday, 19 June 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Housing

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (12:00): (565) My question is for the Minister for Housing. Last week the Yoorrook Justice Commission held social justice hearings. During these hearings on the housing crisis the deputy CEO of Homes Victoria said:

… land is the single most prohibitive cost for … increasing social housing … and this will be subject to what the outcome of treaty is. From a social housing increase perspective, that would be the opportunity for Aboriginal housing to grow …

In the past four years 16 hectares of public land worth $54 million has been sold off by this Labor government. A further 148 sites of public land, 2500 hectares, are currently being prepared for sale. This land could be used for Aboriginal housing and public housing, yet it is being sold off without First Nations consent. With a housing waitlist of over 120,000 people and your own department’s admission that it is the biggest barrier to social housing, why is your government selling off so much land that could be used for public housing?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:01): Thank you, Dr Ratnam, for your question. At the outset I am not going to share with this place the information, the evidence or the detail of what I will be saying to the Yoorrook Justice Commission when I appear before it next week. To do so, in my view, would be fundamentally disrespectful to the terms that you have just outlined in your preamble around this question. Again, I just want to be really clear about that, because your question did start with the Yoorrook Justice Commission and did refer to materials that were put in the course of that panel discussion.

David Davis interjected.

Harriet SHING: Mr Davis, I will take up that interjection. Submissions have been sought by and received by the Yoorrook Justice Commission. The very point of the Yoorrook Justice Commission is that it is in a position to ask the questions that are directly relevant to the challenges, the dispossession, the disadvantage, the inequity and the history of violence experienced by First People in systems and in outcomes. I will give my responses to the Yoorrook Justice Commission on those matters when they ask me and not before.

On a separate matter, Dr Ratnam: again, you have not actually sought out a briefing on social housing. You do not have much time. I am really happy to provide you with one before you head off, if you do indeed change your mind. Across the state the investments that we are making in a capital program and in ongoing operational costs are unprecedented. We will deliver more than 18,000 new homes across the state as a result of state and federal funding and those partnerships. We will also unlock sites for the development of housing across the state, as contemplated by and set out very clearly in the housing statement. Mana-na Woorn-tyeen Maar-takoort: Every Aboriginal Person Has a Home also sets out a range of initiatives around long-term planning and decision-making to address and to identify this disadvantage. We have very clear targets around the delivery of housing for First Peoples. We have housing providers – Aboriginal Housing Victoria and Rumbalara – and indeed we have the entry points from Ngwala Willumbong and Wathaurong. This is ongoing work –

Samantha Ratnam: On a point of order, President, on relevance, there are 30 seconds to go. I asked a very specific question. The minister has not responded to the question that I have asked yet, and I would ask for her to be drawn back to the relevance of my question.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister was being relevant to the question asked in terms of what the government is doing in the area of your concern. There are 30 seconds left, and I will ask the minister to continue.

Harriet SHING: Thank you. Dr Ratnam, you cannot stand up here and ask a question that is about one specific cohort, broaden it and then, when I am doing my best to provide answers to the two components of that question, suddenly stand up and say that I am not being relevant, because that says that there is a disingenuous basis for your question. We are talking about more than $6.3 billion in social housing. We are talking about $197 million in homelessness supports plus the $300 million that is already there. Rather than making up – (Time expired)

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (12:05): Just to remind the chamber as well, my question was specifically on public land sales, and the minister did not refer to public land sales once in her 4-minute response. My supplementary is: connected to those Yoorrook hearings we also heard the Secretary of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing talk about the public and community housing waitlist. She confirmed that those with priority access on the waitlist should have to wait 20 months on average to access a home. Those are people with priority access experiencing family violence and other significant vulnerabilities. But when asked by Justice North:

As of today, if I came along and I said, ‘I’m on the bottom of that list, how long do I have to wait?’

The reply from the secretary and deputy CEO was:

To be honest, I don’t think we could tell you.

Minister, given the scale of public land sales, and it being the biggest barrier to increasing the amount of public and community housing we have in this state, will you now commit to keeping public land in public hands to build at least 100,000 public homes over the next decade to get to the bottom of that waitlist?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:06): Dr Ratnam, here we are again. The biggest barrier to delivering homes in this place comes from opposing development, which is what you did when you voted against the Markham estate development and which is what you did when you teamed up with the Liberals to make sure that that development could not go ahead. You have a track record, and your councils have a track record, in blocking investment.

Members interjecting.

Renee Heath: On a point of order, President, the minister is debating, and I would ask you to bring her back to the question.

The PRESIDENT: I will bring the minister back to the question and remind members that you should not be pointing towards other members.

Harriet SHING: Allow me to use the open palm. The Greens voted against social housing development. The coalition voted against social housing development. We are determined, notwithstanding the ridiculous lowest common denominator political misinformation campaigns –

Samantha Ratnam: On a point of order, President, on relevance once again, I asked a specific question. I will not repeat it, given your direction previously. I can if anyone needs a reminder. I asked a specific question, and once again in the supplementary response not once has my question been referenced in response by the minister. I ask that the minister be drawn back to relevance in responding to my question.

The PRESIDENT: I will bring the minister back to the question.

Harriet SHING: Right. So while you and you continue to block developments for social housing, we will get on with that work. Why don’t you, Dr Ratnam, direct these questions around land to the Minister for Planning, which you should do if you know anything about the portfolio? The offer of a briefing stands, Dr Ratnam.

Samantha Ratnam: On a point of order, President, I ask that I receive a written response to both my substantive and supplementary questions, given neither was referenced in the response by the minister.

The PRESIDENT: I will consider that and give a response, as I always do, at the end of question time.