Public Housing

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Can the minister update the house on the new public housing investment by the Malinauskas Labor government?

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:44): Thank you to the local member for her keen interest. We are building a better housing future for South Australia, and this month the Housing Authority released the biggest tender package for new homes that we have seen in years. It's certainly bigger than anything seen under the previous government. This process will result in the construction of 167 new homes across metropolitan and regional South Australia, providing homes for those in need and supporting local industry.

Dependent on the bids from builders, which have now closed I understand, this will be between $50 million and $60 million worth of work, and our election commitment to prioritise local materials and labour means much of this will stay in South Australia, supporting our economy. The only reason we are in a position to go out to tender on such a large number of homes is because we have committed an extra $232.7 million in this term of government to public housing. All of the additional funding was confirmed in our first budget and first Mid-Year Budget Review.

Before the election we committed extra funds to build 400 new homes and do many upgrades but, after coming to government, we have revised that, obviously, and, as I said before, we now have that additional $232.7 million. But even with our commitment of extra funds we did face the prospect of public housing going backwards, and that further commitment will ensure that this does not happen. We are not committing just to build 400 new homes, but we are now expanding our public housing portfolio system by at least 400 homes.

To achieve this, we have had to stop the sale of 580 homes as well as actually increasing the building amount to 564. We will not go backwards, we are funding the replacement of worn-out homes, while adding more homes to the system. We have been joined in that commitment, as stated before in this place, by a federal Labor government providing $135.8 million to social housing under the community housing and public housing banner, on top of that $232.7 million.

At a time when many builders have been struggling, this kind of government investment helps to keep highly-skilled people in the industry and, through apprenticeships, build the workforce we are going to need for years and decades to come. The three things we need to boost are supply, supply, and supply, but targeted government investment means that we can also focus on the right kind of supply. This means housing for people who need it most because they are in no position to buy a home or even compete in a private rental market. This remains very tight. It also means that housing in regional areas, where we have seen towns and communities that were incredibly affordable previously are now also becoming places with limited availability and much higher prices.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our team at the SA Housing Authority on their success last night at the UDIA national awards. Our development team does a terrific job improving the amenity and the availability of homes across the neighbourhoods in our state. Yesterday they became the only South Australian winner of the top gong for diversity in development. I would also like to congratulate Sharyn Chadwick who is a senior project manager in Urban Renewal who was nominated for the Women in Leadership Award and just missed out to another highly qualified candidate from interstate. Our Housing Authority is in a good place, and I look forward to sharing many, many good pieces of news in the months and years to come.