Housing Supply

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Will South Australia meet its housing targets this quarter and, if not, why not? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The Urban Development Institute of Australia, otherwise known as the UDIA, has reported that South Australia's housing supply will fall short of the National Housing Accord target by 34 per cent.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:15): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. He is right to refer to the UDIA as being a contributor to thoughtful policy in housing reform in our state, and I thank Liam Golding and the UDIA for the representations they made, amongst others: the Property Council of Australia, the Housing Industry Association of Australia and, of course, Master Builders Australia.

In South Australia, each of those organisations, we believe, are well led. As a government, we have sat down and worked with each and every one of them to calibrate our policy agenda to address their concerns where we can, and they have offered pragmatic solutions. Of course we haven't agreed 100 per cent of the time—the size of garages might be an example of that—but by and large they have helped formulate the agenda that we have rolled out.

When you look at these organisations, which are national organisations, what are they saying about the South Australian policy agenda on the housing crisis? The Business Council of Australia says if you are going to build anywhere, you are going to do it in South Australia, number one in the country. The Housing Industry Association gives every jurisdiction a score out of 10. What did South Australia get? We got nine out of 10, the best in the country.

When you add that up, what does that mean? What does that mean for young South Australians trying to buy a home? Again, if you look at the State of the States report, which the Leader of the Opposition referred to yesterday, it rates South Australia as one of the best performing jurisdictions in the country in terms of new dwelling starts—new dwelling starts.

Whether it be tax reform, whether it be land reform around where it is released, whether it be infrastructure investments, whether it be public housing reform and investments around that, you name it, this is a government that is working with industry to develop an agenda to roll activity out in the housing sector, and we are outperforming the rest of the country.

Not for a moment do we rest on our laurels. We believe that this is mission critical, because it is not just important in terms of a growing economy; it is actually important to a social pact that has existed from one generation to the next in this country to actually make sure that young people have the opportunity of home ownership, which means this government is not going to be caught sitting on its hands.

This government is not going to be caught short on not doing code amendments, on not doing water infrastructure, not doing serious planning reform, not cutting public housing stock. Now, if I think about a government that might be guilty of all those sins, we don't have to look too far back—we don't have to look too far back. We will take—

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order: it's standing order 98a. The Premier has fallen into that same old familiar trap of debating, contrary to the standing orders. He needs to answer the question.

The SPEAKER: I disagree with you, deputy leader. The question was about the views of an industry group, and the Premier is giving an historic context which transposes both the present government and governments that have gone before this government. That's what the Premier is doing.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. We are witnessing a housing shortage, a housing supply crisis that hasn't developed overnight. It has developed over a sustained period of time. I acknowledge that former Labor governments could have done more, but do you acknowledge that you could have done more? You haven't shown any contrition, any contrition whatsoever, which is why you are incapable of developing a policy agenda of your own. We have acknowledged the mistakes of the past. That's why we are getting on and doing something about it, and we are mightily proud of it, because we will not, this government will not—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left will come to order. The member for Flinders, the member for Unley and the member for Morphett are on your final warnings.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The member for Bragg sits there with a smirk on his face. He opposes every single medium-density development in his electorate that he can come across. Every time someone wants to build a new development at Glenside, you are out there trying to arrange a protest—right?—you are out there worrying about your primary vote. Well, we are worried about building homes while you are worrying about politics.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Okay everyone, we will have silence on both sides. The Leader of the Opposition.