HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Ms FOX (Bright) (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Housing. Will the minister update the house on the work the state government is doing with the Rudd Labor government to address housing affordability issues?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for her question. It is a timely one, obviously given today's interest rate announcement. Our work with the commonwealth government has never been more important, and I must say that it is a breath of fresh air to sit down with a federal minister who is prepared to actually work with us, rather than work against us. Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced another very important initiative, which was to extend the $50,000 national rental affordability scheme to 100,000 new rental homes. That will provide a pipeline of opportunities, which I think will give us a real prospect of creating a new asset class for investors, that is, the investment in affordable rental housing.

We have been working on the development of these initiatives for some period, including with the Labor Party in opposition federally, and this, together with its other initiatives—the Housing Affordability Fund, the Place to Call Home homelessness initiative, the National Housing Supply Research Council and the Land Audit initiative—is the subject of an enormous amount of work by state government officers, in conjunction with federal government officers. We look forward to continuing to play the leading role that we have played in shaping those policies.

I mentioned earlier in an answer to the Leader of the Opposition the success of our EquityStart loan with 798 new loans being written, but I also want to mention the success of the Breakthrough loan. That is the shared equity product which has now more than $32 million worth of loans: 151 Breakthrough loans have been settled with a further 125 applications either approved or in the pipeline.

It is about increasing the borrowing capacity for average South Australians to be able to get into home ownership: another very important product of HomeStart. I must say I welcome the support of the member for Finniss for that initiative, to be contrasted with the way in which it was opposed by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. His judgment has been vindicated and that of the deputy leader has been sadly not confirmed.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. I also want to talk about the latest round of initiatives which arise out of the Affordable Housing Innovations Program which come from the proceeds of the sale of the EquityStart homes. There will be 10 new projects which will involve another $15 million to be provided from partner organisations. That is the value of this initiative; it leverages contributions from our partner organisations.

The projects include: 29 two-bedroom units for elderly residents in three adjoining sites at Northfield through Laura and Alfred West Cottage Homes; 12 two-bedroom units and 10 one-bedroom dwellings on a redeveloped city site with Anglicare; redevelopment of the current James Brown Memorial Trust site at Mansfield Park to create 20 single bedroom dwellings; four specialist two-bedroom units and a three-bedroom home will be built for residents with spinal cord injuries through ParaQuad at Corriedale Park in Mount Gambier; a three-stage project to construct 12 new houses, upgrade 13 existing Housing SA houses and construct a further 13 homes on subdivided land with the Greek Orthodox community at Ridleyton.

In addition, 10 new two-bedroom units and 10 one-bedroom units through a collaboration of private investment with MACHA in Evans Place, Adelaide and five new houses for elderly women on existing Housing SA land at Noarlunga with the Women's Housing Association will be built. We are also funding the construction of two new houses for independent elderly living at the Kingston Retirement Village at Kingston in the South-East.

It is very clear now that all the stars are in alignment. We have state governments, all of the one persuasion, and the federal government of course now, and indeed local governments are also entering this consensus.