Lucy Breaden:
The government says it will provide more than $165 million to the Tasmanian Government, which, along with councils, will also provide land and further funds. The program will fund infrastructure in Brighton, Sorell and the Meander Valley to enable the construction of around 2,700 homes. But there’s more to this story.
So, let’s get the latest now with Clare O’Neil, who is the federal Housing Minister and joins me now in Hobart. Hello, thanks for your time.
Clare O’Neil:
Hi, Lucy. I’m so pleased to be here with you and your listeners.
Breaden:
A lovely autumn day. You were at Brighton today as well. You kind of went around parts of the state to make this announcement. There is quite a bit to get through, though, because we’ve got 4,000 new homes. We’re hearing the figures of the money that we will receive. Can you break it down for us a little bit? What’s being built, what’s already here? Yeah, what can you tell us?
O’Neil:
This is fulfilling an election commitment that the Albanese government made during the 2025 election campaign. We said that we would invest $10 billion all over the country to build 100,000 homes reserved just for first home buyers. So, this is about bringing more affordable housing online more quickly and making sure that it gets to the people who need it most, which is our young people struggling to get into the market.
So, we’ve been working with the Tasmanian Government here for quite a few months now to land a deal with them about how we’ll deliver that portion here in Tasmania. As you mentioned, it’s 4,000 homes overall. About half of them will be set aside for first home buyers. And the funding that the Commonwealth is contributing is paying for the kind of boring but important bit that holds housing up – it’s things like water infrastructure, electricity, roads and footpaths. And we’ll be funding that part of – those parts of the developments. In exchange for that, the Tasmanian Government will build the affordable housing we need and make sure it gets to the first home buyers.
Breaden:
Okay. So, the government, the local – the Tasmanian Government will build those first home buyer homes that you mentioned, around half – 2,000‑ish?
O’Neil:
Yeah, so the Tasmanian Government will build – it’s a bit complicated. The Tasmanian Government will build a portion of that housing, and some of it will be built by the private sector. But the agreements that we make here are that the Commonwealth pays for part of these. In exchange, the building parties build affordable housing and agree to sell it only to first home buyers.
So, this is actually a really brilliant way to manage the housing issues we’re facing as a country. Your listeners probably know the reason we’ve got a housing crisis in Australia is because we have a housing shortage. We haven’t been building enough homes for 40 years. This helps us build more homes. It helps us build the kind of housing we need, which is affordable housing, and we make sure that housing gets to first home buyers, who aren’t getting a fair deal today.
Breaden:
Lucy Breaden with you on 936 ABC Hobart. This is the federal Minister for Housing, Clare O’Neil. We’re talking about new homes coming online. When do you actually envision or see them – what is your timeline for having these homes open?
O’Neil:
This is a program that will start delivering homes next year. And that was a really important point for us in working with all the states and territories, that we want to see housing brought online quickly. So, we’ll see the housing start to roll out next financial year, and effectively that’s an 8‑year program. So, over the 7 years beyond the rest of the housing will be delivered.
Breaden:
And have you had that guarantee from the state government?
O’Neil:
We have. We have. We’ve signed a formal financial deal with the state government, which sees the Commonwealth investing $165 million – a really big sum of money – here to get that housing online. And, again, in exchange, the government has agreed here to build affordable housing and to sell it to first‑home‑buying Tasmanians.
Breaden:
How do you make sure these homes are affordable? Because we hear so often how hard it is for first home buyers or anyone to crack the market?
O’Neil:
Yeah, look, it’s really hard for the first home buyers and I think of our builders as well, who are facing ongoing issues with construction costs, so it’s a really important question. We make that part of the contract of agreement that we want that housing to be affordable. So, the Tasmanian Government is responsible for making sure that gets delivered.
Effectively, we’re asking them to build housing that’s below the median house price, so that’s below the normal Tasmanian home, is the cost of this new housing. But it will vary a lot in cost because it will be very different housing. There’s a lot of greenfield housing here, but some of it will be medium‑density, and that’s obviously going to cost less.
Breaden:
You’ve mentioned as well that you don’t want to see any competition for investors. I mean, how are these homes set aside, earmarked specifically for first home buyers?
O’Neil:
The Tasmanian Government is in the process at the moment of setting up a system where they will run sales for these homes separate to normal homes. So they will – I’ll let Kerry Vincent, the Housing Minister, come on and talk to you about the detail, but what they are planning to set up is a register that people can put an expression of interest forward and effectively to run closed sales for those homes which are only eligible to be bought by first home buyers.
Breaden:
Okay. If you’ve got a question, get in touch on 0438 922 936. I’d love to hear from you. Lucy Breaden with you on 936 ABC Hobart. Clare O’Neil is my guest, the federal Minister for Housing. We’re talking about this big investment today from the federal government investing around $165 million to the Tasmanian Government, which, along with councils, is going to provide land and further funds.
So, where will these properties be built? I mean, what kind of areas in the state have been laid out, you know, set aside?
O’Neil:
It’s really important for us to build homes right around the country and really in every corner of Tasmania. And that’s where these homes are. So, we’re talking about Brighton, Derwent Valley, Clarence, Burnie, Devonport, West Tamar, George Town – that’s just a handful of the suburbs. So, some of these are going to be big developments where there’s hundreds of homes on one site. Some of them will be much smaller.
Breaden:
How do you determine where they are being built? I mean, who makes those decisions?
O’Neil:
The state government has made those calls. They are, you know, the level of government that’s going to have that feel about where suburbs are best to accommodate growth. So, they’ve come to us with a set of sites and suburbs, and we’ve effectively checked those off, agreed to them, and the funding will start to flow.
Breaden:
You also mentioned about unlocking these sites. I mean, what does that mean to the average person? It can be a bit confusing.
O’Neil:
What a great question, I know, we use so much jargon in politics. What it really means is that for someone to be able to build and sell a home, they’re often held back by big, expensive works that have to happen before even anyone even lays a brick. So we’re talking about things like laying water pipes is a really big expense. You know, connecting electricity to homes, things like footpaths and roads are a really expensive part of building a home.
What the Commonwealth is coming forward and saying we need that housing online right now, so we will actually pick up some of those costs, and all we’re asking of developers or of the state government here is that the housing that you end up building using our investments has got to be affordable, and it’s got to be sold to first home buyers.
So, it’s actually a really fresh way of delivering housing for Australians, but we’ve got to start to think outside the box here. You know, we’ve been doing the same thing for a long time. That’s how we ended up with a housing crisis that’s been with us now for almost 40 years.
Breaden:
That’s something that Ben Price from the Housing Industry Association said was really important. They said I think it’s called like last mile infrastructure, talking there. And I’ve got a little snippet there of what he had to say. He spoke to Rick Goddard on the Breakfast Show today, just saying, you know, that’s something quite important to Tasmania.
[Excerpt]
Rick Goddard:
Some real challenges when you’re talking about penalising the first movers. You’ve got opportunity for expansion of more housing, and we’ve seen some really good examples of that in Midway Point and Sorell areas, as well as Brighton. But when you’re talking to developers, if they want to put houses in those areas, they’ve got to unlock that infrastructure, and that comes at a really significant cost.
[End of excerpt]
Breaden:
So that cost will – developers will not bear the brunt of that cost?
O’Neil:
Yeah, that’s exactly right. And what the Housing Industry Association have said there is absolutely right. One of the issues is that it takes that first developer – whether it’s the state government or a private developer – they’ve got to pay the cost of connecting water down the street, and then suddenly the suburb or the street can be unlocked for everyone. This is the Commonwealth saying we will pick up that cost for you, but, again, in exchange, you’ve got to build the right type of housing, and you’ve got to sell it to the people who really need and deserve it.
Breaden:
If you have just joined me, Lucy Breaden with you on 936 ABC Hobart. This is Clare O’Neil, the federal Minister for Housing. In the state today, in the state’s south, talking and visiting areas that will have new homes built eventually, down the track from anywhere from next year, and, yeah, how do you ensure that those houses will come online? There has been – it has taken a little while to see these new homes kind of come online. Construction has taken some time. We’ve got a stadium that’s going to be built one day soon. We haven’t necessarily got the workforce for it yet. Are you confident in the workforce that Tasmania has to make sure this happens?
O’Neil:
Look, this is a challenge right across the country. And I would say I’m confident in our ability to get this done. The reason this is a bit different from other types of housing announcements that you might be thinking of is that this is one where the government is actually genuinely in control here. We’re the one that’s funding the works. In many cases, it will be Homes Tas actually building the homes. So you’ve got that really direct accountability. Sometimes, you know, we make housing targets that depend on lots of things that the government doesn’t control. This is not one of those. This is something that’s quite controllable by the partnership between the Commonwealth and the state government.
And, you know, Lucy, we’ve got to get this done. I think about the young people I talk to in Tasmania and all over the country. For many of them, housing is the biggest issue in their lives, and the Commonwealth stepping up, building homes and making sure that they get to the right people, it’s a really important part of our work.
Breaden:
And one texter says they are all in areas with little public transport or jobs. I guess that might be the next step. Is that up to state and local governments?
O’Neil:
Look, I mean, yes, but I say that without trying to shirk responsibility for trying to build housing in the locations where it’s most useful. You know, we’re just actually touching on one of the reasons that I came to Tasmania. You know, there are other housing investments that we’ve made and announced today that are, you know, in locations where I think are a little bit closer into the action. The truth is, this is an enduring challenge for our big cities. Lots of people would much prefer to live in a standalone house than in medium‑density housing. And the places where the growth is available are on greenfield site that tend to be a little bit further away.
What we really try to do at the Commonwealth level is make sure that we’re building more housing of every different kind. Lots of young people will be very happy to live in an apartment if they can be in the middle of the city centre and close to the action, whereas you’ve got other housing needs for growing families. I think the bottom line is we’ve got a housing shortage, and that shortage applies to every single type of housing there is. We try to make sure that we’re building lots of variety to manage lots of different situations.
Breaden:
Judy from Margate says, ‘It’s taken 7 years for a block to be sold at Huntingfield. I hope this is a different model.’ Many more texts to get through. I’ll touch on them in a moment. But before you go, you’ve – there’s also been an announcement today about more crisis and transitional housing for women and children right across Hobart. What can you tell us about this?
O’Neil:
This is a really important one. One of the things that Tasmanian women tell us is that one of the main reasons they don’t leave a violent partner is because they don’t have stable housing to go to. And that should not be happening in a country like Australia. So, our government is stepping up with a $1.2 billion commitment right across the country to build more crisis housing.
Today, we inspected the outcome of millions of dollars of investment in Hobart Women’s Shelter. This is refurbishing a lot of their counselling rooms and support areas where families recover from what have been incredibly traumatic incidents, especially for children. We’re also building 15 new homes on site there. Now, 15 homes is a big number when it comes to crisis housing. That will help around 260 women and children each year. A really big number. And we’ve got to keep making more of those investments.
But I went out to the shelter earlier today and, you know, housing changes lives, but this type of housing saves lives. It is so important, and it is just incredible to see the work that these people are doing to support women and children who are in these desperate situations.
Breaden:
Yeah, every dollar counts there. We know that it’s – what – 8 out of 10 women and children that are turned away. Whether that’s every day or every week, I know it’s a huge number. So, I’m sure this will certainly go a long way to helping. Thank you so much for your time today. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
O’Neil:
Thanks, Lucy. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Breaden:
Clare O’Neil, federal Minister for Housing, talking there about a few of those big announcements.