Housing Supply

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (15:07): My question is also to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. Can the minister inform the house of the government's plan to address housing supply issues by unlocking land and investing in critical infrastructure?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (15:08): I thank the member for Elizabeth for his question. Of course, he sees much of the work that the state government is doing with SA Water and its contractors in his own electorate, in places like Craigmore Road, Elizabeth North and a range of other areas. Of course, what the government is absolutely committed to doing is building a pipeline of housing supply to help the community.

We know that the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan identified the fact that we need 315,000 houses over the next 30 years. We are committed to building the pipeline of housing projects, the injections of supply and the injections of critical infrastructure that will set our state up for success. That is one of the reasons why we committed to the record land release of 26,000 allotments at Concordia, Dry Creek, Onkaparinga Heights and Sellicks Beach.

We have already rezoned 530 hectares of land, much more than the previous government. We have unlocked 8,800 new allotments. We have reformed most recently the boundaries on the EFPA. Ultimately, that releases into the system 61,000 new allotments being available for development in key areas like Two Wells, Roseworthy, Goolwa and Murray Bridge. Most importantly, it aligns the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan with the boundaries of the EFPA so that we get a clear 30-year horizon for housing, because we know we need both private and public sector investment to achieve development in those areas.

That is one of the reasons why we have the State Planning Commission and my department looking into all the infrastructure to support those new developments, and others, in water and sewer, in social infrastructure, in roads and other government services that might be needed. We are not just trying to deliver houses; we are trying to deliver whole communities and, indeed, whole suburbs in many instances. We want to make sure there is a good land reservation policy so that we provide for schools in these growing and expanding suburbs.

We can see the $1.5 billion investment, which is overseen by a government oversight committee with the UDIA and the Property Council and HIA and the civil contractors to make sure there is a level of transparency over the timelines and what we are doing. We can see that work, as I said before, on Craigmore Road or in Elizabeth North or on Supple Road in Angle Vale. Indeed, you can see it supporting land release in Onkaparinga Heights, which is very important, and in Aldinga as well, and indeed at the Southwark development.

So there is a whole range of investments right across the state, particularly in the Greater Adelaide regional area, which are being supported by that investment. That is one of the reasons why we are number one on the HIA's scorecard, which is a good place to be.

You hear the odd interjection from those opposite, and of course we know that by their own admission they didn't release enough land—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Before—it was a bit of a time lapse, but I knew you would bite. You bite every time. We know that there were some propositions put for further excisions out of the EFPA, including areas like Dublin. SA Water's advice about Dublin—which is low lying, flood prone, adjacent to an international wildlife and birdlife sanctuary—is that the infrastructure for water alone would be $450 million and sewerage would be $270 million, so a total cost in excess of $700 million. Of course, that is just the starting price. Because it is a low-lying area you can't use gravity-fed mains, and because you can't use gravity-fed mains we know that that makes those unachievable.

The SPEAKER: The minister did come close to misleading the house then. All I could hear from up here was a Simon and Garfunkel album, Sounds of Silence.