ANNE URQUHART:
I’m really happy to be here today. I’m here with Kim from Housing Choices, our wonderful Minister for Housing Julie Collins, and Simon Behrakis from the Liberal Party in Tasmania. So we’re here today to talk about the 48 houses that have been built here – right here in Ulverston – which will provide lots of opportunities for people who are on a waiting list for homes. And I think they’ll be very, very pleased to move into these fabulous homes just a little bit later in the year. So, I’ll now hand over to Kim. Thank you.
KIM BOMFORD:
Thanks, and thank you for being here today. I know you’re not only a passionate Senator for Tasmania, but a very passionate advocate for the local community here, and that’s fabulous to have someone that knows the community and knows the connections. So also again, welcome to the Honourable Julie Collins, federal Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Small Business and a number of other things. And again, Simon Behrakis, who has joined us here today on behalf of Felix Ellis, who’s our Housing Minister with the state government. And thank you, everyone, for joining us too. I’d just like to acknowledge also the land on which we’re standing here today and the traditional owners, our Aboriginal people, and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging. I’d also like to acknowledge too our fabulous construction partner in Oliver Kelly Constructions. Matthew Kelly has been working with us on a number of our developments across the state. So, it’s great to have Matthew and his crew, a continued valued partner – understanding what we need to deliver, understanding our budget constraints, understanding the tenants that we need to house. Also too, we’ve got Todd Henderson today, who’s joined us on behalf of Cumulus Studios. So, Cumulus is one of the architectural firms that we’ve been using in a lot of our developments, including this one here today. So we really thank them for that continued support and again that same level of understanding and partnership.
With that, I just really wanted to say obviously – 48 units, a mix of 2‑and‑3‑bedroom dwellings on a fabulous site, with fabulous open spaces for people. We know we’ve got a housing crisis and we know that there’s a lot of commitment, from both the federal government and our own local state government, to do our utmost to actually ease that crisis. But even with that, we still have close to 5,000 applicants on our waitlist in Tasmania, and every little bit that we can do to actually ease the pressure on those people is something that we as an organisation – Housing Choices Tasmania, as an organisation – is desperate to do. We’ve got further developments underway in the Northwest, and also a couple of developments in the South. Excitingly, we’re awaiting fantastic, hopefully, outcomes – we put a number of projects up through the Housing Australia Future Fund, and hoping to have a good outcome from that in the not‑too‑distant future. So with that, I’ll hand over to Julie Collins.
JULIE COLLINS:
Thanks, Kim. It’s great to be here with Senator Urquhart and Simon Behrakis. This is a great site and I want to congratulate Housing Choices and Cumulus and, indeed, Oliver Kelly and the construction workers here on site. I also want to thank them for their patience as we wandered around today. We have of course, a plan – Homes for Australia. We want to see more homes like this, right across the country. More homes here in Northwest Tasmania, more homes in Tasmania, and more homes in more places right across the country. What you saw in last week’s Budget was an additional $6 billion in new housing initiatives. That takes it to $32 billion in new housing initiatives since we’ve come to office. We want to invest in homes, we want to invest in more tradies to build more homes, and we want to make sure we get homes out of the ground as quickly as we can. In talking to Kim from Housing Choices today, we understand how important these homes are on the ground. We also, of course, are really thrilled that we’ll be getting tenants in these homes around late August–September this year. But we need a lot more homes and a lot more places right across the country. Our investments are doing that. But it’s not one tier of government alone that’s going to solve this. It’s all tiers of government working together, and working with the community sector and indeed with the construction sector that will get these homes built. We have a national aspirational target to build 1.2 million homes right across the country from 1 July over 5 years. We need everybody to put their shoulder to the wheel to meet that target. We’re ambitious because we need to be ambitious, because far too many Australians don’t have a safe, affordable place to call home. We’re getting on with the work each and every day with developments like this here in Tasmania and right across the country. I’ll hand over to Simon on behalf of the state government.
SIMON BEHRAKIS:
Thanks. It’s great to be here as Parliamentary Secretary for Housing and Planning with Minister Collins, Senator Urquhart, and Housing Choices Tasmania. This is such an exciting development – 48 new units, some 2‑bedroom, some 3‑bedroom, for Northern Tasmania. We know that the answer to the housing stresses that people face is for us to build more housing, and that’s why we’re so excited to be working with the federal government and with local councils together, as Minister Collins said, to get those homes built. It’s really exciting to see this come online very shortly, it’s good to hear that they’ll be ready for people to move into by late August. And we’re so glad and so happy to be contributing close to $9 million to get this development on the road, equal to the federal government. This is just one part of our strong plan, our commitment to build 10,000 homes by 2032 and 2,000 by 2027. As has been said, this isn’t a one responsibility. It’s a team effort by the federal, the state and local councils to work together with the community and get the houses built, not just the supply, but the houses that we need. And it was really good to get around this site and see the great work done by Oliver Kelly Construction and Cumulus Studios, to design what isn’t just a block of houses that we can stick people in off the social housing list, but what really looks like what would be a fantastic community. Designed well, the sort of place that anybody would want to live and the sort of place that feels like a community. That’s how, that’s how we really address this issue for the future. It’s not just about giving somebody a house, but giving somebody a home for their family. What we have here is 48 units, that’s 48 homes for 48 households and we are committed to continuing this, continuing to work with the federal government to get those houses built for Tasmanians that need them.
COLLINS:
Questions?
JOURNALIST:
Minister, can you tell us what kinds of families are going to live here and also whether the spots have all been filled yet?
COLLINS:
Well, I understand from Housing Choices they’ll be filling them off the social housing priority waitlist. There’ll be 2‑and‑3‑bedroom homes, so they’ll be taking a mix of residents off that waitlist, the priority waitlist. As I said, this is just the start. We want to see a lot more of these right across Tasmania and, indeed right across the country. That’s why we’re investing new money on top of the investments that were already in the system – $32 billion in new money since we’ve come to office, with over $6 billion in last Tuesday night’s Budget in new housing initiatives. As Simon said, here on this site, there was investment from the state government of around $9 million and around $9 million in loans and grants from the federal government, as well as equity investments from Housing Choices. That’s what a true partnership looks like – everybody working together, all of us trying to get more homes on the ground as fast as we can.
JOURNALIST:
I have a question for Simon. It’s just about the state government’s commitment to deliver those 10,000 by 2030. How many have been delivered since then, that are being lived in now?
BEHRAKIS:
Since then, I’ll have to double check the exact answer. I’m not 100 per cent sure but, like I said, we are 100 per cent committed to delivering on that. We’re well on track to deliver on that. It’s all shoulders to the wheel to get those homes delivered. We can get back to you on the actual number, I don’t have that in my head right now, but absolutely, we remain committed to that and we are working as hard as we can to get those homes built, the homes that Tasmanians need.
JOURNALIST:
You said before, 2,000 by 2027 and then 10,000 by 2032. How are you going to scale up in that sort of time? And, if you’re only able to build a couple thousand homes in the next 3 years, how are you going to then build 1,000 in a 5 year period after that?
BEHRAKIS:
It wasn’t that long ago that we were really happy to be building a house a day and we’re now building well in excess of that. It’s about ramping up that production and upskilling our construction workforce and increasing that pipeline over time and as we go, we’ll be building more and more and more faster and faster and faster. So it’s about ramping up that pipeline.
JOURNALIST:
How, specifically, are you ramping up that pipeline?
BEHRAKIS:
You’ll have to speak to the Minister on that one – I haven’t sort of been briefed outside of this project, but I’m happy to get back to you on that.
JOURNALIST:
Last week, I was reporting on a story I did last year – a young student, Indian student, who was assaulted and now is living life as a paraplegic from that assault. What was your first reaction when you heard that story, when you saw that on the news?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously, you know this is a tragic incident. And I don’t think it’s something that anybody wants to see happen here in Tasmania, and I think everybody has empathy for the situation and the outcome of that incident.
JOURNALIST:
What, if anything, can the federal government do – whether financially or otherwise – to provide support to Dev and his family?
COLLINS:
Without being personally aware of the details of his personal situation, it’s a bit hard to comment specifically. But more generally, obviously, we have a long‑standing convention here in Australia, obviously, where most of our supports – such as Centrelink support and the NDIS – are targeted at Australian citizens. Australian taxpayers fund them. I guess what I would say is, I probably need a bit more information about his personal circumstances. I understand that he had insurance, and his insurances has been paying some of his bills to this point in time. But it would depend a lot on his personal circumstances, and I’d be happy to look into it to see what else can be done.
JOURNALIST:
He is coming to Australia though, paying exorbitant fees for university and contributing to society and the economy in Australia. Would you like to see services such as the NDIS be made available to people in his position?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously, I can’t comment on personal circumstances without knowing them all but, as I’ve said, I’d be happy to have a look at these personal circumstances and see what else can be done.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think it reflects poorly, essentially, on other international students who may want to come to Australia? Do you think it may turn them off the idea? Things like this happening, they’re left out in the dark and unable to access supports.
COLLINS:
Well, certainly, I don’t think anybody wants to see incidents like this occur. What happened was dreadful and we don’t want to incidents like this occur anywhere, I don’t think, around the country, let alone here in Tasmania. I think we should all be concerned about that. More generally and broadly, you know, when international students come to Australia as a condition on their visa, they’re required to have a range of things in place, including insurances – which, clearly, they do – in terms of accident or injury while they’re overseas, same as Australian citizens are when we’re in other countries.
JOURNALIST:
Staying on international students and talking about the international student cap. Are you seeing that that cap, or international students generally, are actually having much of an issue on the supply of housing in Tasmania?
COLLINS:
Well, look, what we know is we’ve had a shortage of homes and we’ve had a shortage of homes for a long time. This is not new. We haven’t been building enough homes for quite some time. When you look at the OECD average of the number of homes, Australia certainly hasn’t kept up. What we want to do is we want to build more homes. All the experts tell us the answer here is supply, supply, supply when it comes to our housing challenges. That is what we’re focused on, and we’re laser focussed on it with significant investments since we’ve come to office. We are doing everything we can do as a federal government – incentivising states and territories, incentivising local governments to build more homes as fast as we can. But they need to be well‑located, good homes in the right places, like we’re seeing here today in Ulverston. These are terrific examples of the types of homes we want to see right across the country.
JOURNALIST:
Is it fair, though, to target institutions like UTAS, in trying to address the housing problem by imposing international student caps?
COLLINS:
We’re talking to the higher education sector about how that will work. What we know is, we need more homes of every type across the country, as I’ve said. We’ve had a housing shortage for some time, we need to get on and we need to build more homes right across the country, and that’s what we’re focused on.
JOURNALIST:
Is there an opportunity for the federal government to target housing towards, potentially, university students or anything of the sort?
COLLINS:
What we want to do is encourage some of the higher education institutions in Australia to build more of their own accommodation, particularly for domestic as well as international students, for students more generally. What we want, of course, is more homes of every type right across the country – more homes to rent, more homes to buy, getting more Australians into homeownership. We are focused on getting as many homes right across this housing spectrum as we can right across the country.
JOURNALIST:
But the government isn’t specifically working with universities to build homes for international students, or even Australian students, to help ease that?
COLLINS:
We’re in discussions with the higher education sector about making sure that if they are taking large numbers, there is accommodation available, particularly for domestic as well as international students.
JOURNALIST:
Just on another topic. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wants to significantly cut the number of migrants coming to the country, insisting it will ease pressures in areas such as housing. What do you make of the opposition’s potential plan?
COLLINS:
Well, what we know is we saw more negativity from Peter Dutton on Thursday night. We saw not one new dollar for not one new house. We’re getting on with the job of building homes. We’ve put $6 billion in the Budget on Tuesday night in additional housing initiatives. That is not what you saw from Peter Dutton. What you saw from Peter Dutton was no detail of this plan and more negativity, instead of getting on and building homes.
JOURNALIST:
You’ve got to work with the Liberal Party in Tasmania on those sorts of issues, though – does it concern you that the leader of the federal Opposition would make such comments when you want to work with the Tasmanian Liberals to deliver housing here?
COLLINS:
We’re going to get on and work with state governments right across the country, regardless of their colour, because we’re focused on building homes. We’re focused on building homes for Tasmanians, and for Australians. That is what we were elected to do. That is what we will do. I’m happy to leave members of the Liberal Party to comment on their leader Peter Dutton.
JOURNALIST:
Just have one question for the Senator. We’re in the countdown to a federal election now. Does Labor have its potential candidates, for Bass and Braddon particularly, lined up for the next year’s federal election and when will it be able to share those?
URQUHART:
Well, I can’t comment on that. My focus is on Braddon, I’m the duty Senator for Braddon. The answer is no – we don’t have candidates pre‑selected yet, but obviously there is going to be an election and we’ll do that in due course.
JOURNALIST:
Braddon, you’ll be fighting particularly hard though, I imagine you want to get someone out and show their face to the public pretty soon?
URQUHART:
I fight for Braddon every day that I stand up and wake up and get out of bed. So, absolutely.
JOURNALIST:
Will it potentially be someone that we may have seen before though?
URQUHART:
I can’t comment on who the pre‑selected candidate might end up being. There are processes to go through, and that will be revealed when that person has been pre‑selected.
JOURNALIST:
In Braddon though, it’s obviously a newly, strongly held seat for the Liberal Party after Gavin Pearce took it at the last election, taking the margin or removing the margin effectively. How do you feel about Labor’s chances going into the next election?
URQUHART:
Look, I always approach the chance of winning an election positively. I get in there and I fight. I talk to people about our policies, about the things that we put we are providing, such as fantastic new homes like these here today. I talk to people in the community every single day and I’ll continue to do that, and I’ll talk to them about the benefits of the Labor Party.
JOURNALIST:
I have a question for Anne as well. My understanding of drought and flood mitigation project plans is that they’re no longer suitable for the grant that was granted to them by the federal government. What options are available to them now to deliver that project and provide that protection to the community?
URQUHART:
That’s probably a question you need to ask Brian Mitchell, because that is actually in Lyons. I’m sorry, but I just operate within the Braddon boundary, so it’s probably something for Brian Mitchell.