JOURNALIST:
This state of housing report painted quite a dire picture of where we currently are, don't you think?
JULIE COLLINS:
What the report does is show the very significant challenges we have in Australia's housing system. What it also is, though, is an opportunity for us to change. We've started that change already, we know there's more to do. We know we need to be ambitious, and we are ambitious. We want to turn around Australia's housing system, and we've already started that work. We have now committed to more than $25 billion in new investments over the next decade since we came to office. We're working, importantly, with other tiers of government and with the sector to turn this around. This is something every Australian needs to put their shoulder to the wheel on. We all need to be working together to turn this around.
JOURNALIST:
Does the government concede the target you set for housing supply is never going to be reached?
COLLINS:
We're not frightened of ambition. We need to be ambitious. If we're going to turn around the challenges in our housing system, we need to be ambitious. We had a million homes target, we’ve stretched it to 1.2 million. We have incentives on the table for states and territories and local governments to do the reforms that are necessary to meet the targets. We are backing up our changes that we're asking the states and territories to do and their changes for them with money on the table. We're investing more in social and affordable housing. We have, as I've said, more than $25 billion in new housing investments since we've come to office, being invested over the next decade. This is a significant contribution from the federal government. And after a wasted decade, we know we need to hurry. We want to get more homes on the ground as quickly as we can get them on the ground. But they need to be the right homes in the right places.
JOURNALIST:
One other area that is impacting housing supply is immigration. If the 2 are so closely linked, why don't you roll the 2 portfolios in together?
COLLINS:
We're working right across government when it comes to addressing the housing challenges, whether it be in terms of migration and getting the people with the right skills into the country. Whether it be with skills and training, to make sure we train more Australians with the skills we need right across the housing system. Whether it be in education with university reform, to again make sure we've got the right people in the housing system with the skills we need. Whether it be an industry where the industry minister, where we're looking at alternative methods of construction – modular homes, new technologies. Whether it be working through the National Construction Code. Whether it be the Minister for Energy and Climate Change with making sure that the homes are appropriate in terms of energy efficiency, to put downward pressure on bills and help us meet our targets. Right across government, we're working to deliver to turn around the housing challenges.
JOURNALIST:
But is there merit in combining those portfolios or linking them more closely, considering they're so strongly aligned moving forward?
COLLINS:
Well what we heard today is there's not one single reason for our housing challenges, but this has been the case for decades. We are not building enough homes. We don't have enough homes, and we haven't built enough homes for a very long time. We have less homes than the OECD average. We need to lift the number of homes in Australia. The issue here is supply, and we're getting on with delivering that working with the states and territories and with the sector.
JOURNALIST:
Apart from what you've mentioned with the sort of modular homes, are there any specific government plans to increase supply and reach the goal of 1.2 million? And what is the new funding for housing in the next federal Budget, not just overall since you've been in office?
COLLINS:
We're obviously, as I said, delivering in terms of working with other tiers of government and with the sector. What we have seen out of National Cabinet last August was historic reforms agreed to by states and territories in terms of the blueprint planning reforms that are required. We've seen some states and territories already do some important work. We've seen announcements from others, the states and territories are lifting too. We all need to lift, we all need to be working together. And that is what you're seeing from states and territories and from the Commonwealth government. This is not the time to actually go around blaming each other. This is the time to be working together. We need collaboration. We need politicians of all persuasions working together to turn around these challenges. With our Housing Australia Future Fund, we saw that delayed by politics. What I would say to other political parties at the moment is now is not the time for politics. This should be about people. We should all be working together to turn this around.
JOURNALIST:
Is the dream of owning, for young people, that dream of owning their own home – is that dead now?
COLLINS:
Well, since we’ve come to office, we've already helped now more than 110,000 Australians into home ownership. We want to do more with our Help to Buy shared equity scheme, that would assist another 40,000 Australians into home ownership. What we know though when it comes to homes is this we need more homes to put downward pressure on prices, to put downward pressure on rents. And we're focused on that supply issue.
JOURNALIST:
What about the statistics, the average median household income could only afford to buy 10 per cent or 13 per cent of the homes sold last year. That is horrific.
COLLINS:
And that's why we need homes of every type. That's why we need more social homes, more affordable rental homes, more homes to rent and more homes to buy. And that is why we're working right across the housing system. But it's also importantly why our shared equity Help to Buy scheme will be so important for 40,000 Australians, because it would get them into home ownership when they otherwise might not be able to, even though they could service a mortgage. What I would say to the Liberals, to the Nationals and to the Greens is that they should support our Help to Buy legislation when it comes up in the Senate.
JOURNALIST:
So women fleeing violent partners, they're sort of telling us that they've got nowhere to go. Shelters are full, services stretched. What is the government doing to increase emergency accommodation? And sort of in this vein, during COVID unhoused people were rapidly sort of put into hotels – would it be feasible for a response like that on the issue of fleeing from someone who might be trying to kill them?
COLLINS:
Yeah, we of course understand that in those situations where women and children are fleeing family and domestic violence, it is one of the leading causes of homelessness. It's also critical that people have a safe place to stay. Which is why our Housing Australia Future Fund is actually targeting emergency and transitional accommodation. It's why we have already invested more money when it comes to transitional emergency accommodation to the point where we now have around 1500 new emergency and transitional accommodation places. Since we've come to office in terms of our investments through Safe Places and what we're doing through the Housing Australia Future Fund. In terms of the 30,000 social and affordable homes from the Housing Australia Future Fund, around 4,000 of those are particularly earmarked for women and children fleeing family and domestic violence, and indeed for older women at risk of homelessness. What we want to do and will continue to do is to work with the states and territories who are the primary delivers of the services on the ground. We have already put more money into homelessness services since we've come to office. We'll continue to have those conversations with the states and territories. We want to make sure that when people are fleeing family and domestic violence there is somewhere safe to stay.