Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Department of Treasury and Finance

Budget papers 2024–25

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (17:40): I rise to speak on the state budget papers and specifically in regard to the funding allocation for programs to do with the housing statement. Up-front we still have not got to the 80,000 homes a year that were promised in several government media announcements and 17 or 18 times in Hansard by several members in this chamber. I know Mr McIntosh repeated it a couple of times, and it was said three times at least by the Minister for Housing – that they would deliver 80,000 homes each and every year for 10 years.

We saw a little stunt today from my friends across the way mentioning me and my views on housing, but I would like to take people like Mr Galea and Mr McIntosh for a walk down memory lane so they can understand what their government has done in regard to development. One of those is to do with Carnegie. I want to point out Steve Dimopoulos, the member for Oakleigh. We are getting called blockers. You would think a member of cabinet would not be a blocker, would you? I was surprised to see the member for Oakleigh talking so negatively about the Carnegie activity zone that we bought in. He then apparently advocated for and introduced two-storey height limits in Carnegie, only for it to reemerge as an activity zone about seven years later. If you want to talk about who slowed development, it is literally the Labor Party. It is just like the Preston activity zone: we put it forward – ‘This is a great place for growth’ – Labor scrapped it and then came up with their own Preston activity centre.

Let us remind those opposite also of the changes they made. I was reading through the contributions made in 2015 on the, wait for the name, Planning and Environment Amendment (Recognising Objectors) Bill 2015. We had Mr Brooks, who is the member for Bundoora and Minister for Development Victoria and who is calling everyone blockers, saying it was so important to talk to residents who were impacted and listen to them. Residents were ‘good people who just want a fair go’. ‘Transparency is a key thing,’ and there was a need to be ‘mindful’ of residents’ voices. We also had the member for –

Michael Galea: On a point of order, President, a point of clarification: does this now mean that Mr Mulholland’s Liberal Party is no longer opposing activity centre developments?

The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order.

Evan MULHOLLAND: Mr Dimopoulos said that the Carnegie activity zone was a honey pot for developers and that a building like the one in Carnegie in the City of Glen Eira was ‘entirely inappropriate’ – again, a blocker who is singing in cabinet. Richard Wynne was for mandatory height limits in places like Brunswick while Jacinta Allan was sitting around the cabinet table. Let us not forget that the current Premier, who claims that she is in the ‘fight of her life’ for housing, sat around the cabinet table when they introduced the Planning Environment Amendment (Recognising Objectors) Bill 2015, giving more weight to residents who she now calls blockers. She is in the fight of her life on housing – how pathetic, what a hypocrite. Seriously, you have got the Premier claiming this is now an issue but she sat idly by and did nothing while this government opposed developments in places like Preston, in places like Brunswick and in places like North Fitzroy.

You have got government member after member. Who else spoke on it? Mary-Anne Thomas. Jaclyn Symes also saw the need for communities to be involved in the planning process, and of course Ms Kilkenny, to give local communities a voice. If you want an answer to the people who caused the housing crisis – hypocrisy, thy name is Labor.