HIA Housing Scorecard

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. Can the minister provide the house with an update on South Australia's housing performance?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (15:02): I thank the member for Playford for his interest in the government's initiatives in tackling what is a national housing crisis. This has been a government that has always put housing at the forefront of our agenda and so it is really pleasing to see that our policies are working.

Last week, the Housing Industry Association released its annual Housing Scorecard and this scorecard ranks each of the states and territories jurisdictions based on their performance on 13 key residential building indicators. I am pleased to report that, for the second consecutive year, South Australia once again tops this list. It tops this list. And what did the HIA South Australian executive director, Mr Stephen Knight proclaim? What did he proclaim when he announced South Australia as a clear winner of this scorecard? He said, the HIA said:

…a government who have shown a clear understanding of the housing crisis…and a determination to do something about it.

That just proves that this government and South Australia has topped the scorecard because unlike those opposite we actually have a housing policy and it is this: we believe in expanding supply. We believe in expanding supply. We are committed to providing the infrastructure, land and policy leadership to tackle the crisis head on. We've got an ambitious agenda based around, in part, meeting the workforce needs of our very ambitious economic agenda. We know that we are a leader in renewable energy and hydrogen, and we know that we have a broader State Prosperity Project. We know that we are the nation's defence state. All of the delivery of those projects won't be realised without the required workforce, and a workforce needs to be housed.

That means that housing has to be provided across the market to every segment and level of that market, because the housing market is crucial for the future prosperity of this state. That is one of the reasons that the government has established the new portfolio supported by a new department reporting to one minister, tasked with tackling the housing crisis head-on towards one goal: more homes, building more homes for South Australians. Since this election—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Well, you might find out if you just listen.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: You might just find out. Since the election of this government, we have proudly delivered a substantial pipeline of projects that are all aimed at delivering on housing supply: greenfield land rezoning, city-defining projects like the West End Brewery and Franklin Street sites, investments in regional housing—investment in regional housing, which did not occur under the previous government—projects on our urban fringes, infill projects like Prospect and Bowden and, of course, the government's commitment to deliver the first substantial increase in public housing in a generation. So we've got a very positive story to tell.

We have a very positive story to tell because what we are doing is driving the delivery of homes that this state needs. Again, what does the HIA say? They say that recent efforts to increase higher-density developments in areas that are well serviced by transport will change the direction of the housing crisis and deliver more houses for South Australians. We have projects like Keswick, Smithfield and Noarlunga all primed for strategic infill in transport-oriented developments.

We all know that houses aren't built overnight. The opposition knows that because they didn't rezone much land and they didn't put much in the pipeline; in fact, they clogged the pipeline up. That is why we've got this problem. We are committed to action.