ANDREW CLENNELL:
Joining me live is the Minister for Housing, Julie Collins, from Tasmania. And can I ask, Julie Collins, for your reaction to the result? It certainly took Helen Polley on our panel by surprise. She was saying all night Labor wouldn't do a deal with the Greens. Yet it looks like that is what Bec White is going to try to do.
JULIE COLLINS:
Andrew, I think the big outtake from last night and from yesterday's election is that people are very unhappy with the direction Tasmania is going under the Liberal government. I mean, the government suffered an almost 12 per cent swing against it and certainly there are messages to be heard from the Tasmanian people about the election result. Certainly, the Labor result was a slight increase on our vote last time, as was the Greens, a slight increase. And obviously Jacqui Lambie had a significant increase because she was running in the state election. This is, I guess, an outcome that was not surprising to me at all. I'm not surprised by this outcome. But what I would say is that the Premier's triumphant speech last night was out of touch with Tasmanians and the result that we saw last night. There's still eight seats in doubt. It's too early, I think, for people to be saying who the next government of Tasmania will be. Clearly the Liberals are in the strong seat, they're going to get the most seats. But this result is one that we should all be listening to. The issues around cost of living, around health and housing were clearly critical in the election campaign and Tasmanians are clearly unhappy with the direction of the state.
CLENNELL:
Yeah, interesting you use that phrase ‘we should all be listening to’ because, okay, Labor might have been half a per cent up, but they were coming off a COVID election last time where the Liberals had a higher vote than would be expected. So, it was kind of a pretty disappointing result for Labor, wasn't it? Do you have any federal fears out of that?
COLLINS:
Well, Tasmanians are pretty clever. They know the difference between a state and federal election. And certainly I think that our vote across the state was a slight increase. But the real takeout, as I've said, is that there was a 12 per cent, almost 12 per cent swing against the government of the day. Jeremy Rockliff's speech last night, our Premier’s speech, was out of touch with that result. Clearly Tasmanians are unhappy. They're unhappy about what is happening around cost of living, they're unhappy around health and housing and the state government – the next state government, whoever that might be – needs to do much, much better.
CLENNELL:
If Labor do form government with the Greens and say another independent, could the AFL team be lost because that sort of government would oppose a stadium?
COLLINS:
What I know is that Tasmanians are very supportive of our AFL team. We've waited a very long time for this, and you saw that last week with more than 150,000 Tasmanians now joined up with foundation membership. I think that shows how excited Tasmanians are. I'm a proud member of the Tassie Devils, and I look forward to having our AFL team and certainly the Albanese Labor government has been supportive of the revitalisation of Macquarie Point, which includes a stadium but also importantly includes housing and also includes of course the redevelopment so that we can have our Antarctic vessel berth there.
CLENNELL:
BuildSkills Australia are warning this morning that there simply aren't enough tradies to meet the government's housing target. What's your reaction to that?
COLLINS:
We know we've got a lot of work to do. We know we've got an ambitious housing target, which is why we're getting on with the job. We're working right across government. I know the Skills Ministers had a meeting just over two weeks ago, where they talked about the skills required to meet the housing demand in Australia and the challenges we currently have. Obviously in terms of the Building Ministers, they had a meeting just Friday where they talked about alternative methods of construction such as modular homes and the like. We're working right across government, and importantly with states and territories. The historic National Cabinet decision in August last year was about states and territories working together with local government and with the federal government to get more homes on the ground as quickly as we can. They agreed to do 17 blueprint planning and zoning reforms, local reforms to get more homes on the ground. We want to progress that with them. We've got three and a half billion dollars on the table for states and territories to deliver on those. We want to continually work with the states, with local government and importantly with the construction sector to get more homes on the ground more quickly. Obviously having the Liberals voting against more housing in the parliament is very unhelpful, and what I would say to the Liberals is they should be supporting housing measures in the parliament instead of voting against them at every opportunity. And, of course, our Housing Australia Future Fund is now up and running. The first round of tenders closed on Friday. So I look forward in coming weeks and months to seeing the result of those tenders. We're getting on with the job of building homes right across the country. I opened 434 new homes in Prahan in Victoria just on Friday. These are new homes, social homes – half social, half affordable.
CLENNELL:
But Minister. Sure, talk of modular homes, sort of temporary homes. 700,000 people coming into the country in 15 months when we have a housing shortage – is this immigration going to slow down, and do we have a housing emergency in this country?
COLLINS:
We are busy cleaning up the mess we were left both in housing and in migration. Clearly, the migration system was in a mess. We had the Nixon and the Richardson reviews –
CLENNELL:
But you've let more in, Minister.
COLLINS:
– to look at that. And we have been working, and I know that the Home Affairs Minister and the Minister for Immigration have been working to slow that down and that is what you will see. We are busy cleaning up the mess, but importantly on housing, we're working with our partners in the states to deliver more housing. The former Liberal government used to say housing was an issue for the states. We now have over $25 billion in new investments over the next decade in housing. We're working right across the board, from homelessness all the way through to home ownership, and what I'd say to the Liberals is the housing challenges in this country are serious. They should be working with us, and they should stop voting against measures in the parliament.
CLENNELL:
How much of a factor is Airbnb in the housing shortage, and are you in favour of levies on these sorts of short stays? Could they even be applied at a federal level?
COLLINS:
Certainly we know that short stay accommodation is impacting, particularly on rents, particularly in areas of high tourism. I know Hobart in my home state, I know certainly in Byron Bay and in other areas across the country, short stay accommodation is playing a big role. It was one of the outcomes of the National Cabinet last August that every state and territory would look at short stay accommodation and what is required. We know that local and state governments across the country are doing various interventions. What we need more of, I think, is evidence about whether or not those interventions are working and the impact they're having elsewhere in the housing spectrum. But certainly, I do think we do need to do something about short stay accommodation. And obviously, local and state governments have most of the levers there.
CLENNELL:
Alright. Just finally, given the sharp rise in rents in Australia at the moment, is an increase in rental assistance on the cards in the Budget?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously what you saw from us in the last Budget was a historic increase in the Commonwealth Rent Assistance, the biggest increase in more than 30 years, a 15 per cent increase at the maximum rate. And, of course, we saw through National Cabinet better rights for renters, of which one of those measures around short stay accommodation is just one. But we want to work with the states and territories. We want to add to supply to put downward pressure on rents. And importantly, we are working across governments, state and territory governments, to provide a better deal and some national consistency for renters.
CLENNELL:
Could there be another rise in rental assistance, though?
COLLINS:
Look, Andrew, I know you'd like me to tell you what's in the Budget. We're still going through the processes of our Budget preparation. What I would say to you is that we're always looking at about how we can improve cost of living for Australians. We need to do it in a way that doesn't add to inflation. We need to do it in a measured way. What you saw from us last time was targeted support through an increase in the Commonwealth Rent Assistance, that I know that many Australians are saying was of enormous assistance. And indeed, the RBA said it helped put downward pressure on inflation.
CLENNELL:
Housing Minister Julie Collins, thanks so much for your time this morning.
COLLINS:
Thanks, Andrew.