Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Housing affordability

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (18:35): (1235) My adjournment matter is for the attention of the Premier. I listened to the Premier and I read her press releases last week about housing. She wants to be the Premier that gets millennials into housing What that actually translates to is that she knows she has a large cohort of voters that she has let down and now needs to scramble to find some way to appeal to them. I am a millennial. There are other millennials in here as well. I am calling out the Premier’s words because that is all they are: hollow, cheap spin. She has had 10 years as a senior minister in this government, and now as Premier, to do something about housing affordability. Stamp duty has increased over that time. Land tax has increased over that time. Housing affordability has continued to decline because the Premier and her team does not have the foresight, let alone the competence, to plan ahead for new housing in this state.

Then there are those that are forced onto the rental market and have little to no hope of getting out of it – perennial renters who have all but lost hope of achieving that dream of owning their own home. Even renting has become more difficult thanks to excessive regulation, taxation and landlords being treated like some awful property baron. But what would the Premier know about housing stress? She owns multiple properties. Maybe the only stress she knows is about managing them all. She is certainly not in touch with millennials – you only have to look at her social media for that.

The action that I seek from the Premier is to consider these tips that I have got for her: (1) actually talk to millennials instead of assuming you know better; (2) reduce stamp duty; (3) reduce land tax; (4) abolish windfall gains tax and do not just do it for one year, not a one-year sugar hit – lock it in and have a long-term vision for tax reform and property tax reform in this state; (5) help developers bring more land online instead of getting in their way; and (6) reform cultural heritage processes because they are a roadblock to getting more houses online. Lastly, but most importantly, consider regional Victoria to take the majority of the growth instead of always focusing on Melbourne. This Premier is supposed to be from regional Victoria. Well, it is about time she starts acting like it.