Debra Pearce:
We have the Federal Housing Minister, Michael Sukkar, with us along with Member for Mallee, Anne Webster. Good morning to you both.
Minister Sukkar:
Good morning, Debra.
Debra Pearce:
It’s lovely to have you here, we love it when people come and visit the region. What brings you to Mildura, Michael?
Minister Sukkar:
Well Anne has been doing some outstanding work in Canberra and she’s been chatting to me about a range of issues here in the area. I wear a few hats, I’m the Assistant Treasurer, I’m the Minister for Housing and today we’re going to be visiting Verdi Estate amongst other places, to check out a new estate where there’s been significant growth in new homes and, Debra to recall, the reason that we put in place the HomeBuilder program was that this time last year when the pandemic hit, there was a serious nervousness about the jobs in the residential construction industry. So we put in place the grant and now what we’ve seen is that not only did we maintain the purchases of new homes and therefore the building of new homes, we’ve seen a 32.5 per cent increase. If you look here in Mallee, we’ve got a pipeline of $80 million worth of local homes that have been approved in Mildura alone which is great news for the building industry up here. So I’m here to, amongst other things, check that out, see it on the ground, speak to some business owners and just get a sense of some of the enthusiasm but also the issues that Anne speaks about to me and other Ministers on a regular basis in Canberra.
Debra Pearce:
So obviously the uptake of the HomeBuilder scheme has been good. How does it compare to other parts of Australia?
Minister Sukkar:
It’s fair to say that in regional areas of Australia, it’s exceeded expectations. I suppose that it makes sense because a $25,000 grant - as it was prior to the 31st December - goes a bit further in regional Australia than it does in the major capital cities. So we’ve seen higher growth in regional areas and particularly in the Mildura area we’ve seen some really significant growth and I think I’d be surprised if you don’t hear from your local tradies and builders that they are flat out and that’s great news for the economy and great news for the people who are ultimately going to be settling in a new home. 40 per cent of all HomeBuilder applicants are new home buyers so we’ve helped people get into their first home as well and I think that is something that everybody is pleased about.
Debra Pearce:
Well every scheme has its critics of course. Critics of HomeBuilder argued that it might have been a better investment to put the funds into social housing to help invigorate the construction industry. Mildura has been desperate for more affordable housing. Is this a need that you recognise?
Minister Sukkar:
Well I think that you’ve got to do both. We invest over $8 billion a year in social and affordable housing as a Commonwealth Government but you’ve definitely got to do both. We’ve put in place in recent years, a new entity called the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation which helps community housing providers build more local stock of social and affordable housing. That has seen some 2,500 new houses being built. We want to build on that but you’ve got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Yes, we need to be building social and affordable housing but at the same time, we’ve got 1 million Australians employed in the residential construction industry, such an important part of our economy and the HomeBuilder program ensured that the predictions of 500,000 people losing their jobs when the pandemic hit, didn’t eventuate. Not only did we maintain those jobs, it’s now actually a growing industry and we’ve got so many stories of builders taking on more apprentices, giving more people an opportunity because the pipeline is there now. In fact some builders, and I’ll be interested when we catch up with Lockstar Homes at Verdi Estate to find out whether the pipeline of work extends out to two years which is what I’m hearing around the country when I travel.
Debra Pearce:
Here on the ground though, we’ve got services here reporting that there just simply aren’t homes to put people into. They’re handing out swags and tents and we’re heading into winter, there are people that just don’t have anywhere to live. Is this something that you really think needs to be addressed more urgently?
Minister Sukkar:
Well this is why we invest so much money and the way that our partnership agreements work is we provide that money to the State Government who has primary responsibility for these things, they are the delivery agent, they have constitutional responsibility for homelessness and affordable housing but we give them a truckload of money to utilise. I’d be hopeful that the State Government is ensuring that that assistance is finding its way into really important regions in Victoria like this.
Debra Pearce:
I had Leah Calnan from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria here in the studio sitting where you are, yesterday. I asked her about the housing shortage in the region and this is what she said.
Leah Calnan (recording) - Real Estate Institute of Victoria:
There is definitely a shortage. I think that Mildura’s vacancy rate sits at about 1.2 per cent so it’s really low. Anything under 3 per cent is deemed critical so it’s really important. Agencies are always going to be looking for accommodation but the State Government and the Federal Government are going to need to put some money into regional centres to be able to build and develop more affordable social housing because this is probably not going to change for a little while. There are cohorts of tenants who, as those rents increase or as you mentioned before, Melbournians move in or are looking at a different investment opportunities, those properties will disappear form the market. They’re going to need to add some additional properties and location is going to be an issue. Where are they going to build them? Because if you’ve got to build a dozen, two dozen or 100 properties, that’s a large amount of work so that’s probably 12 or 18 months of planning and then getting the construction through. So again it’s not a simple fix but it is something that we’ve been raising for at least the last eight months since we started to see such an increase of people moving to regional Victoria.
Debra Pearce:
What’s your response to that? Are you at all concerned about people moving from metro areas and possibly squeezing locals out of affordable housing and out of the market?
Minister Sukkar:
Clearly the region will be partly a victim of its own success. The economy here is booming and obviously there are great lifestyle benefits in the area as well and Leah is right, when you’ve got vacancy rates below 3 per cent, clearly that gets to a point where things start creaking at the edges. The local government has a really big role to play here in approving projects, whether it’s multi-tenure projects that include social and affordable housing included with private homes as well, which tends to be the sorts of projects that we’re funding as a Federal Government, those mixed tenure projects that have social and affordable housing salt and peppered throughout them. The biggest stumbling block that we tend to find, tends to be at the local government area, how we get those sorts of projects approved. But there’s a lot of capital being invested by the Federal Government in delivering those sorts of projects and again, it’s a problem that is bread form success, people wanting to be here. To go back to the HomeBuilder program, could you imagine how much worse the position would be if instead of the 247 new homes that we’ve got in the Mildura area alone, that those weren’t built because HomeBuilder didn’t exist. So we’ve kept the pipeline and the supply of new housing going but clearly, if we’ve got significant population growth because the economy is doing well, then everyone’s got to pitch in - local government, state government and federal government - to get those multi-tenure projects happening in regional centres like this.
Anne Webster MP:
And I might just add in there too, Deb, that it’s not just Mildura - I think Mildura if you just drive around, and we will be taking the Minister around today and looking at new estates that are popping up - but there are other centres such as Swan Hill and Robinvale, even Donald down south where I’ve got communities that have been talking about affordable housing but also professional housing. It is one of the barriers to professionals coming to a regional centres such as Swan Hill because they literally can’t get a house. So there’s a lot of work to be done and as the Minister said, we’ve got local government responsibility here and state government responsibility and together we can achieve amazing things.
Debra Pearce:
What’s on the top of your agenda, Anne Webster, when you’re spending time with the Minister?
Anne Webster MP:
Well we’ve actually got a full tour for him to look at the HomeBuilder estate down at Verdi with Garraway Homes. Lockstar, we’re going to be meeting with home builders who are about to move into their home - that’s Nicholas Irving and Jordan Fraser - which is fantastic and I’m looking forward to meeting them. Then we’re going to Mallee Accommodation & Support Program and talking about social housing. Michael has a huge portfolio - I’m not quite sure how he manages from one spectrum to the other but it’s all incredibly important - and then we’re going to the Oasis Auto Centre because, I might let the Minister talk about the data sharing agreement that has been now made.
Minister Sukkar:
Well thanks Anne and as I said I wear a few hats and as Assistant Treasurer, we’ve made some important competition reforms. I introduced legislation which mean that independent mechanics and automotive repairers now can get access to all the information that they need to repair your car. Now that might seem pretty logical to most people but increasingly with newer model vehicles, independent repairers who aren’t involved in a dealer network, don’t get access to the sorts of tools and technical data that they need to repair your car. If you’re someone like me, I’ve had the same mechanic for 25 years, I want to take all my cars to him. I don’t want to be forced to take it anywhere else. So now, every single small business around the country who is involved in automotive repairs will, as a right, be entitled to the technical data and information they need to repair the cars of their customers which means that, in the end, customers gets the choice of where they get their car repaired. I think that we’ve all had frustrations in our own life, not just with cars, but with things like an iPhone and other things that are very difficult to get fixed because of the way that the manufactures place restrictions. This is a small way that we’re levelling the playing field for independent repairers and mechanics around the country. So I think that we’re visiting the Oasis Auto Centre and it will be good to chat to them about what it means for their business.
Debra Pearce:
Well enjoy your stay, I’m sure you will. There’s plenty to see around the region and thanks very much for joining us this morning.
Minister Sukkar:
Thanks so much.
Anne Webster MP:
Thanks Deb.