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Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (09:59): Building more houses is how we are going to fix the housing crisis, and it was therefore a pleasure to recently be with the Premier and the Minister for Housing in Hampton East – just a stone’s throw from where I grew up – to announce planning approval has been given for more than 800 new homes across our city. 693 of these homes are going to be built on sites in Southern Metropolitan Region – in Port Melbourne and in Hampton East. These homes will be located in the heart of communities – next to key transport links; near healthcare centres, schools and shopping precincts; and available for those most in need. More than half of the new homes – the energy-efficient, accessible homes to be built at Bluff Road in Hampton East and at Barak Beacon in Port Melbourne – will be social and affordable housing. There will be a 16 per cent increase in social housing at the Hampton East site and a 46 per cent increase in social housing at the Port Melbourne site for residents who desperately need access to high-quality, sustainable, affordable homes. And if these homes look anything like the new social housing that has been built in New Street in Brighton and Bangs Street in Prahran – sites which have added 725 homes to Southern Metro – they will be welcome additions to our communities. Developed in partnership with a not-for-profit consortium, land remaining in public hands – this is the sort of housing we need right across this state.