SHARON CLAYDON:
Good morning everyone. Beautiful day here in beautiful Waratah West for a brisk start to a Tuesday morning. Thanks for being here. My name is Sharon Claydon, federal member for Newcastle. I’m so proud to be joined here today by Minister for Housing, Julie Collins. Representing state government, the state member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery, and local government, Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Nuatali Nelmes and our Deputy Lord Mayor, councillor Declan Clausen. There’s a lot of us here today because, a), this is a really important celebratory moment, really, to be able to deliver important new housing stock for Newcastle, but also because this is a very collaborative effort to try and deal with what has been a growing crisis from many, many years of, let’s face it, neglect in ensuring that we’ve got an adequate housing supply.
I couldn’t be more excited to have Julie Collins here today, because this is a minister who brings a lot of lived experience to this portfolio in social and affordable housing. She knows first‑hand the benefits of having safe and secure housing and making sure that that is a priority for our government. Two years ago, we inherited a huge crisis on housing. As I said, that is after a decade of the former government saying, ‘not our problem, this is a state/local government issue we don’t deal in housing’. Well, the Albanese Labor government takes a very different approach, and that is because there’s probably no more serious question before government than to ensure the safe and secure housing of our citizens. So, I’m going to hand across to Julie Collins to talk about the investment from the Commonwealth today. Sonia Hornery will say a few words around the collaboration with the state and the importance of delivering additional public housing, and the Lord Mayor and about the coordinated efforts. This is really just the start of what I hope you will be seeing – a good, healthy pipeline of new housing stock in Newcastle and the Hunter region. So over to you, Julie.
JULIE COLLINS:
Thanks, Sharon. It’s terrific to be here in Newcastle with you, but also with state member Sonia and with the Lord Mayor here and the deputy mayor. This is an important announcement. What we’re doing here today is, of course, standing in front of this social housing here in Newcastle. Here we have 10, new one‑ and 2‑bedroom rooms and apartments for rent for people who are on social housing waiting lists. This is just the start of what we’re doing, working with local government and state governments right across the country. Here of course, in Newcastle, we’re talking about not just these apartments, but another 9 in Wallsend that will be starting construction soon and, indeed, expect to be finished around June 2025. We’re talking about refurbishments here in Newcastle, but also in the broader region around Lake Macquarie. We’re investing not just in our cities, but also in our regional cities around the country.
We want to build more homes for Australians through our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan. We need more homes for Australians to buy, more homes for Australians to rent, and more homes for Australians who are doing it tough. What you see here today is an example of a partnership and collaboration between 3 tiers of government; the local government, state government, and the federal government. This is primarily being funded through the Social Housing Accelerator, which is $610 million that we provided the New South Wales Government just over a year ago. Just 3 weeks ago, we provided the New South Wales Government with an additional $300 million. And of course, through our 5‑year housing agreement, we’ll be providing a New South Wales Government with more than $2.8 billion over the next 5 years for housing. This is about working together with other tiers of government, with the community housing sector, and indeed with the construction industry, so that we have more homes for Australians.
We don’t have enough homes in Australia. We haven’t had enough homes for a long time. We need to get on and build more homes. It’s terrific to see these homes being completed here today and, of course, with more homes under construction and the refurbishments that have already been done by the New South Wales Government putting more people in homes more quickly. I’ll hand over to Sonia, to put the state government’s perspective.
SONIA HORNERY:
Thanks Julie and welcome, I’m just speaking on behalf of Minister Rose Jackson. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, this is wonderful to be here. As a person who is proudly from Windale social housing, when I was born, it gave my mum and dad a start with a big family, and we hope to be able to give more people a start as well in our future. I’m really pleased to hear from the minister, and from Rose Jackson about the 10 other developments that are happening in the Wallsend area, it’s exactly what we need. From the very day I was elected in 2007, the most common question that we get in our office is, ‘how do I find a home?’, and the 10‑year waiting list that was occurring with our Liberal government was just too high for public housing. I know that Rose Jackson is determined to reduce that waiting list, and that’s why we’re here today. So I want to thank both my colleagues from the federal government, Julie and Sharon, and my colleagues from local government, Nuatali and Declan, for being up to work collaboratively about getting this project underway, because it’s very important for our community. I’ll hand over now to Nuatali.
NUATALI NELMES:
Thank you to Minister Collins for being in Newcastle today. Obviously, the women in the Labor party called each other and we’ve matched all our clothes – let’s get that out of the way to start with. In all seriousness, the very innovative collaborative effort that we’ve gone to the City of Newcastle dates back a number of years, and we’ve worked very closely with the New South Wales Government and Homes NSW to deliver what is a first for local government and the state government, in that the City is contributing around $2 million a year in this very novel memoranda of understanding we have with Homes NSW in order to speed up the delivery of new social housing homes in the City of Newcastle.
As Sonia said, on behalf of Minister Rose Jackson, this collaboration is not only seeing a building like this being delivered today, which is directly funded through the Social Housing Accelerator fund from the federal government, which has made a huge difference to speeding up the delivery of social housing, particularly in regional areas like Newcastle, but it also means that we’re breaking ground on another property this month in Wallsend for a very similar style of development with 9 new homes there. After that, the following year, next year, we’ll also be delivering another property in Wallsend and deliberately targeting social housing and the uplift of the housing stock here in Newcastle. This is creating many more new homes for Novocastrians that are looking for homes, that are struggling in this cost‑of‑living crisis, and you can see the speed of this delivery is actually quite quick. We haven’t had this level of collaboration until we’ve had a minister like Julie Collins and a minister like Rose Jackson working with us on the ground in local government to make sure that these houses are delivered for our residents and our population here in Newcastle. One of the single biggest issues we are facing, like every community around the country, is a housing crisis, and here in Newcastle, under this type of collaboration and this leadership from Minister Jackson and Minister Collins, we’re actually seeing the delivery of new social housing, which is truly fantastic for us here in Newcastle and for our residents here in Newcastle. Thank you.
COLLINS:
Questions?
JOURNALIST:
Here in New South Wales, the state government is scrambling to meet housing targets. There are tens of thousands of new homes earmarked for Broadmeadow, here in Newcastle, and some residential towers as well. Do you feel we’re heading for a new era of high‑rise housing in regional areas?
COLLINS:
What we need in Australia is more homes of every type. We don’t have enough homes and we haven’t had enough homes for a long time. We need homes of every type, and we need homes in our cities and in our regions. We know that the housing challenges in Australia have been widespread after a decade under the former Liberal‑National government. We’re about collaborating with other tiers of government on projects like you see here today under our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan. We want more homes for Australians to buy, more homes for Australians to rent, more homes, social homes, for Australians that need a safe place each night. That’s what our government has been busy getting on with. You see it right behind you today.
JOURNALIST:
Why this type of housing? You mentioned one‑ and 2‑bedrooms, and it would be similar at Wallsend. Why the need for that?
COLLINS:
Well, of course, what we’re building is the homes that people say they need. We’re talking about people that need homes, there are people that need one‑ or 2‑bedroom homes. But also, of course, what we’ve announced is an extra $1 billion dollars through Housing Australia that will be going to women and children, for instance, fleeing family and domestic violence and young people. We’re building the types of homes that people need.
JOURNALIST:
When will tenants actually be able to move into these houses?
COLLINS:
My understanding is very soon. In the coming weeks for behind us, and in terms of the Wallsend development that we’re talking about, we expect construction to be completed by the middle of next year. So, people will be moving into those in the second half of next year. In terms of the refurbishments that the New South Wales Government has already done, people are in those homes today, or moving into those homes today. So, we’re moving as quickly as we can for homes on every type right across the country.
JOURNALIST:
How will the changes forced upon the CFMEU impacts construction rates?
COLLINS:
Look, we’ve been busy getting on with homes. We’ve said when it comes to the CFMEU, there’s zero tolerance. Minister Burke has made announcements about an administrator going in. What we want to do is get on with building homes and that’s what we’ve focused on. We’re collaborating with other tiers of government, with the construction sector, and importantly, with community housing providers right across the country to get more homes of every type built right across the country.
JOURNALIST:
So, will those changes have an impact on what can be built and how much it costs?
COLLINS:
We’re getting on with the job of building homes, we want to see value for money for the Australian taxpayer, but we need homes of every type, right across the country.
JOURNALIST:
Obviously, this is about social housing today, but the average rent in Newcastle is over $600 a week. What do you say to working families and young people who are struggling to pay for rent, but they’re not eligible for social housing?
COLLINS:
What I would say is that we know we need homes of every type. We know that too many Australians are doing it tough and finding it difficult to have a safe, affordable place to call home, which is why we have our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan. That’s why we’re working with other tiers of government. That’s why we want to see homes of every type, whether they be homes for people to buy or homes for people to rent or social housing, like you see here behind us, or even transitional accommodation that I spoke about before for women and children fleeing family violence. We need homes of every type, right across the country,
JOURNALIST:
In the race to meet housing targets in regional Australia, is there a risk that access to transport infrastructure and green spaces could be an afterthought?
COLLINS:
No – what we’re doing it working with the states and territories. What you saw in the historic agreement last August in the National Cabinet was an agreement from states and territories to do serious planning reforms, working with local government to make sure that these are well located homes and that they are appropriate good quality homes for Australians. We want to make sure that we have homes right across the country, but they need to be the right homes in the right places. That is why we also, of course, provided $1 billion dollars just 3 weeks ago through my colleague, Minister Catherine King, to the states and territories for some of that community infrastructure.
JOURNALIST:
Will the government consider tax reforms around housing?
COLLINS:
Look, we know that the answer to most of the housing challenges that we’re talking about here is supply – supply, supply, supply is the answer. We don’t have enough homes and we haven’t had enough homes for a long time. When you look at the number of homes Australia has compared to the OECD average, we don’t have enough homes. We need to build more homes of every type, which is why we have a $32 billion Homes for Australia plan.
JOURNALIST:
What’s your message to families in this growing region who are struggling with housing and rents?
COLLINS:
What I would say is we’re working, at every available time, to add to our Homes for Australia plan. We have $32 billion in new money. We’re working with other tiers of government. We’ve provided immediate relief with increases to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance, the first back‑to‑back increase in more than thirty years. Our last Budget had an additional $6 billion in it, included in our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan. We now have $32 billion in new housing initiatives. We’re working with other tiers of government, and we’re getting the homes on the ground as fast as we can get them on the ground. And you see evidence of that here today.
JOURNALIST:
We know that supply chain demands has delayed developments across the country. What is the federal government doing to ensure there’s people in these houses as quickly as possible?
COLLINS:
Well, of course, we’ve been pretty clear that we don’t have enough tradies. We’re training more tradies to build more homes. We’re doing that as quickly as we can. We, of course, are doing that through Fee‑Free TAFE, we’re doing it through recognition of overseas skills of people who are already in Australia today who haven’t had their skills recognised. We’re doing it through our National Reconstruction Fund for our Future Made in Australia. We want to make sure that the components that go into homes are available here in Australia. We want to build as many homes as quickly as we can, and we’re doing that working with other tiers of government and with the sectors.
JOURNALIST:
Talking about other housing projects like this coming up in places like Wallsend – where are the next set going to go? What’s beyond this one? Going outwards towards places like Glendale, or where, I suppose, housing stock is needed?
COLLINS:
Well, we will of course be working with the other tiers of government about making sure that they are well‑located homes in the right places. We have, of course, gone to tender for the first round through Housing Australia for the Housing Australia Future Fund and the National Housing Accord. I look forward to making announcements in late August around the Housing Australia Future Fund’s first round. Of course, that funding was delayed by more than 6 months, because the Greens and the Liberals worked together in the Senate to delay that Fund. We would already have homes under construction today through the Housing Australia Future Fund, if it wasn’t for the Greens and the Liberal party blocking it in the Senate.
JOURNALIST:
Sonia, can I ask you a question?
HORNERY:
Sure.
JOURNALIST:
Just in regards to housing out at Minmi – there’s obviously a disagreement happening between some local people and decisions made by the state government. What’s your stance on that development out there?
HORNERY:
Well, the latest I’m aware of is that the Hunter Regional Development Planning panel approved that development. It was approved in 2013 by CBP Castle Council, and so that’s where we’re at. Now, I have made representation to the Minister on behalf of the community and their concerns. And I’m happy to continue to make representation on behalf of the community about their concerns.
JOURNALIST:
In regards to that, there’s always some kind of disagreements between people and where housing is going based on environmental concerns. How do we find that balance and get the housing stock that we’re hearing about that we need?
HORNERY:
Well, it’s certainly not easy and some of that’s council and state government and federal government really about making those decisions. I think it’s about good planning for the future.