Regional Housing

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. Can the minister outline how the Malinauskas Labor government is continuing its commitment to deliver housing in regional South Australia?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (15:02): Since becoming the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, we have changed the focus of Renewal SA away from being a suburban-based development agency to being an agency that operates across the state and, most importantly, in regional South Australia. Part of changing that mission, of course, was putting someone from the regions on the board. We placed Anne Moroney, formerly of the Barossa RDA, a person who has had a long time lobbying both sides of this house on behalf of the Barossa and has had a particular interest in housing over that time in the regional setting.

In February 2023, we established the Office for Regional Housing. In the same month, we announced 30 homes in those key regional areas, but for government workers, and basically trying to stand up a model that we thought could stand the test of time. There are 30 homes in the Copper Coast, the Riverland, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta and Ceduna.

Later that year, with the member for MacKillop and the Tatiara council, we expanded what we call the Bordertown model, where we, as part of a partnership with the council, bought five out of the first 15 blocks in an area that will eventually have 60 allotments not just for government workers but for private industry and the residents of those towns. Of course, that then led us to sod turning, with the member for Stuart in Port Augusta and the member for Giles, for that really important project that houses two policemen and two nurses—a really important contribution to the project.

We also made $10 million available for the Regional Housing Initiatives Program. What that allowed us to do was put out there to local government that we wanted to partner with them in the same way we did with Bordertown and make that part of the feature of going forward.

We have seen milestones for those 30 homes, from flat frames to slabs to site activations. We have projects in Port Augusta and Mount Gambier running three months and two months ahead of schedule, respectively, and other projects on budget and on track. There are six in Ceduna with early works on site, and pre-fab occurring in Adelaide.

Budget day was a good day for regional housing. Another $20 million was announced as part of regional housing initiatives, a really important sign of this government's commitment to regional South Australia. Of course, those four homes in Port Augusta are now reaching their final stages of completion, and we are just about to hand over keys next week to the tenant—signs of real progress.

The next exciting announcement is that the Renewal SA board has endorsed proposals for the expenditure of that $10 million that I mentioned before, subject to commercial agreements. That has the potential to see the development of over 400 housing outcomes across 12 separate projects and across five different regions over the next three years, a real partnership with local government, and an important partnership with local government who have the local knowledge and often skin in the game, and want to get skin in the game, in terms of providing housing for their communities.

That's all following out of the experience that was pioneered by Tatiara council, and they deserve great credit for their policy initiative. I would like to thank Dean Johnson. I would like to thank the LGA. Obviously, housing is a big issue in the regions and we want to make sure we are a good partner with the local governments in those towns.