Housing Construction

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (14:29): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house of recent figures released by the ABS on South Australia's housing commencements and how they have been achieved?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:29): I want to thank the member for Adelaide for her question. She lives in a community that I get the strong sense has significant components that care about this issue. A lot of renters live in the seat of Adelaide. The member for Adelaide is well attuned to some of the challenges that exist around that and understands that the only thing that matters here is increasing housing supply, as I referenced in my former answers to the Leader of the Opposition.

Last month, only in recent days, the Bureau of Statistics released some important data regarding housing commencements around Australia. The national average for dwelling commencements in Australia was a reduction of 4.4 per cent—a reduction of 4.4 per cent in commencements of new dwellings. In South Australia over that same period, it went up by 13 per cent. In fact, year on year we are up by 36 per cent.

During the December quarter there were 3,000 new dwellings completed in South Australia. The number of dwellings in South Australia that have been approved but not yet commenced also increased, rising by 8.8 per cent. In terms of March data for building approvals, for the month of March total new dwellings rose by 2.1 per cent in trend terms.

How does this compare to the rest of the country? In the national figures, new dwelling approvals fell by 0.5 per cent; in South Australia, up by 2.1 per cent. This is a great credit to absolutely everybody who is working so hard in South Australia, particularly within the private sector as well, to see the type of growth that is being experienced.

There is no way to address the housing crisis or housing shortage in South Australia without more supply. This is a set of numbers that this government is paying a lot of attention to, and it is not just us: it is the Housing Industry Association, it is the Master Builders Association, it is the Commonwealth Bank—all organisations that are independently verifying that the policy work that we have undertaken over the last couple of years is actually making a difference on the ground.

I would like these numbers to be higher again, we would like them to be higher again, and we will continue to work as hard as we can to make a difference where we can. When it comes to housing supply, you've got to not just have a plan for what is happening immediately now but you've got to be doing everything you can over the medium to long-term. The water infrastructure that is going in the ground, that $1.5 billion investment, can only be rolled out at such a pace.

As a government, I don't mind saying that we are also turning our mind to what happens next, because when governments genuinely apply their effort to not just thinking about now but thinking about the medium and long-term, it can make the decision more efficient, more cost-effective and more productive in terms of real policy impact on the ground. That is what we are determined to do with respect to this issue.

But these are not our numbers; these are numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. They verify that if you are a young person living in this country and you want the prospect of owning a new home, then you had better be moving to South Australia, because this is where the homes are being built. They are being built because we are doing the hard work of making the tough decisions because we are serious about the challenge.