HOUSING

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:19): I would like to ask a question of the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on what the government is doing to support the housing construction industry to ensure access to affordable housing?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:19): Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I know those opposite don't like occupational health and safety. They would like working people of this state exposed to harms in the workplace, and we will be reminding our colleagues in the workforce, who go to work and like to come home safe and sound, of the opposition's position on this matter.

Can I say that the housing sector activity, as all of us are aware, has been subdued for some time. That is why last year we sought to stimulate this sector through, amongst other things, the creation of an $8,500 Housing Construction Grant. More than 1,100 of those grants have been taken up since they became available just seven months ago, leading to $357 million worth of purchase or construction.

On Saturday, I was pleased to announce a new affordable housing stimulation package to continue our assistance to this important sector. As part of this package, we will extend the Housing Construction Grant to the end of the year. We will also deliver, as part of the whole of our public housing and community housing package, a boost of $220 million over the next 18 months, supporting more than 2,400 jobs, including a new investment of $50 million for new community and social housing.

Yesterday, I also convened a construction industry round table, along with the Deputy Premier and the Minister for Housing, where we announced that we would appoint a coordinator-general to oversee the delivery of this package and fast track these houses being put on the ground. I am pleased to report that at the round table there was unanimous support for the policy measures that we have proposed. It is widely acknowledged that these measures will increase activity levels. The round table also agreed to a joint communication strategy to ensure prospective homebuyers are fully aware of the grants and concessions available to them.

We also agreed, because of the difficulties being experienced by a number of enterprises in gathering finance and processing applications through banks that have their head offices interstate, to jointly approach the national banks to find ways to overcome some of these difficulties. We will not sit idly by while thousands of workers in the building industry have their livelihoods threatened. That is what this package is about: it is about ensuring that working people can have continuing, secure, well-paid and safe employment in their workplaces.

The affordable housing stimulation package and the work of the round table yesterday demonstrates our government's way of acting: a strong government working in partnership, seeking to make connections with the business community, sitting down and working with them to come up with fresh ideas.