Tuesday, 18 March 2025

Ministers statements: housing

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:15): How timely it is that I have an opportunity to talk about the uplift of more than 39 per cent in social housing across North Melbourne and Flemington. That is a total of at least 700 new social homes. Thanks to this project, not only will every eligible resident have a right of return but hundreds of additional Victorians will come off the social housing waitlist and into secure housing. This plan will increase the number of social homes at Flemington from 360 to 400. That is an 11 per cent increase. Social homes at North Melbourne will increase from 143 to 300, a 110 per cent increase. That is more than doubling the publicly funded housing on this site.

We are also proposing hundreds more affordable homes to be built at these sites – 300 at Flemington alone – which means that people like teachers, nurses, community workers and more will not be priced out of inner-city living. This is proposed to be delivered under the ground lease model, which means that no land sales will occur, and every single home – social, affordable and market – will revert to Homes Victoria management in 40 years.

All of this is on top of our $6.3 billion Big Housing Build and the Regional Housing Fund. That is delivering more than 13,300 homes across Victoria, with more than 10,100 of those homes already complete or underway. Despite this good news, certain inner-city political parties need to have something dramatic to post on Facebook. I would suggest that in fact it is an opportunity for people to come together and to look at how to alleviate the challenges of affordability and availability. I would suggest that they look to the fact that the federal Leader of the Opposition will scrap the Housing Australia Future Fund if they are elected. I would invite –

David Davis: On a point of order, President, Ministers statements are not just an opportunity for complete, utter rants –

The PRESIDENT: No. In answer to questions, yes. That is why I upheld Ms Copsey’s point of order. In ministers statements, it is like any other statement.

David Davis: They’re allowed to do anything else, are they?

The PRESIDENT: Well, it is like when you do your members statement.

Harriet SHING: Rather than actually take up the federal opposition, the Greens political party has opposed social housing in the City of Darebin, at Yarra City Council and at Merri-bek City Council, including the member for Richmond who, as the then mayor of the City of Yarra, voted against social housing – not in her backyard.