JEROME LAXALE:
My name is Jerome Laxale. I'm the Federal Member for Bennelong, it's so fantastic to have social housing tenants moved back into Midtown and the Ivanhoe Place. This has always been an incredibly vibrant community, one that our local area has been very proud of. To see these homes now built, tenanted and our community moved back in here is something you know, not only Bennelong can be proud of, but our entire nation should be proud of. This is the example for mixed use tenancy and high density living – close to a train station, close to jobs, close to facilities. And it's so great to see state and federal government work together to deliver that, and to bring deserving tenants like Tanya to have their own home. It's just really wonderful. I'll pass on to Tanya, who's going to share a little bit about her story.
TANYA:
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And thank you for having me today. I'm actually delighted to say a few words, because I have been delighted by this whole process. I was one of the first tenants to move in, in that first tranche of residents or tenants taking occupation of their spaces, and I've had a goofy smile on my face ever since. Because being here has brought me so much joy. I lost my home several years ago to, you know, to a lender, and terribly unjust circumstances, and I really struggled to get myself back to any sort of functioning level where I could support myself in, you know, permanent work and, and I was really at a loss as to where I should go. When I first became homeless and I was, you know, reefed from my home by some sheriffs, I spent some time living in a storage facility. I lived in my car for several weeks. And I also lived in a – there was a derelict commercial building on Falcon Street, and I spent some time living there. And none of it was ideal, none of it was ideal. And to be somewhere now that is safe and beautiful – I mean, I don't know if you've seen the units, but they are absolutely beautiful. The finishes are all, you know, very high quality. Everything is perfect. There's not a thing that I could fault about the build, or the environment. And the vision that I think Anthony Boyd had all those years ago, you know, along with Members of Parliament and housing executives who are involved. The vision that he had is coming to fruition. And I see that every day, as tenants engage with each other, and slowly get to know each other and develop bonds that I hope are going to last forever. And so now, you know, I think we have a duty now as the beneficiaries of this beautiful space to make the contribution – to step up, become involved and, and do our part to build this community and make it a beautiful community because it has such, you know, such great bones to begin with. And I think it's a sure thing. So I'm very excited about the future and what it means to be here.
JULIE COLLINS:
Thanks, Tanya. That is I think what opening new homes is all about and, I say as a Federal Minister, it's terrific to be here with Jerome Laxale our Member for Bennelong. He’s been a very passionate advocate of not just more homes in his community, but more homes for Australians and interested in housing. Since we've come to office now we've invested over $25 billion in new housing investments. Here, what we're talking about is collaboration between tiers of government, the private sector and the community sector. What we have are social homes, affordable rental homes and private homes, in mixed tenure buildings. This is what the new housing of Australia should look like. This is what we want to see more of. This is what our investments are about. They're making sure that more Australians like Tanya have a safe, affordable place to call home. We know it's life changing. We know that without a home, it makes it harder to participate in your community. It makes it harder to get a job. It makes it harder to skill up and to study. What we want is more homes for Australians that need it most. We’ll continue to invest and partner with states and territories, with local governments, and with the community sector and, of course, with the private sector to get more homes for Australians that need them most.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
COLLINS:
It was terrific to be with the Prime Minister this morning at the Council of Small Business Summit, the National Summit to talk to small businesses about some of the opportunities they have and also some of the challenges. What we heard today from the Australian Tax Office is, of course, that they are working with small businesses in terms of the amount of debt that small businesses owe the Australian taxpayers. What we want to do is make sure that businesses right across the country are playing on a level playing field. We, of course, have increased support through our Small Business Debt Helpline and indeed through financial counselling to support small businesses that are having a tough time. We've, through our last Budget, provided targeted relief to small businesses. Things like direct Energy Bill Relief to more than 1 million small businesses. We’ve legislated unfair contracts, and making sure small businesses get a greater share of Commonwealth procurement. We have, of course, announced our small business cyber plan to work with small businesses in terms of the threats. But also the opportunities of digitisation and technology. We want to continue to partner with small businesses was the loud and clear message from the Prime Minister and the Albanese Labor government this morning. We want to work with them, because we understand they are the engine room of our nation. Our small businesses employ more than 5 million Australians, and they contribute more than half a trillion dollars to the Australian economy each and every year. We want to work with them, and we want to continue to have that close engagement.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
COLLINS:
What we want to do is work with small businesses, particularly in terms of debts to the Australian taxpayer. We want to work with them. We know that the Australian Tax Office are referring businesses that they think are in trouble to the small business debt counselling and hotline, so that we can provide support to them, so that we can provide them with an understanding of where the businesses are at. As I've said, we want to work with businesses. We want to make sure we have a level playing field and we want to see Australian businesses, small businesses particularly, continue to grow and employ Australians.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] the May Budget is there going to be targeted relief for small business?
COLLINS:
What we heard from the Prime Minister today is, of course, that small businesses and families will continue to be at the heart of our thinking as we go about putting our Budget together. Last year's Budget, as I said, had a strong focus on small business. We had our energy efficiency additional tax deduction and Instant Asset Write Off. We've announced since, of course, our cyber security plan to support small businesses, and as I've said direct Energy Bill Relief. And we've also had energy grants, energy efficiency grants, direct grants for small businesses as part of supporting small businesses in a targeted way that doesn't add to inflation. That's what we did in our last Budget. And we'll be making sure that small businesses and families are a central part of our thinking as we construct the Budget coming up in May.