Housing Supply

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (14:33): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier broken his promise to fast-track his government's land releases, including the commitment that construction on the first homes would begin in 2024? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TELFER: In February 2023, official material promoting the government's fast-tracked land release outlined that construction would begin the following year. Nearly two years on, no homes have been built on the four sites, with SA Water evidence showing three of the four sites lacked funded water and sewer infrastructure until after 2028, and industry bodies warn South Australia is entering a 'valley of death' in housing supply.

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (14:34): The opposition keeps on referring to press releases and other things that occurred prior to the Housing Roadmap. As we have said before, you only have to look in the Housing Roadmap to get the updated timelines and everything else. The main point I would make to you is that your previous leader—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Do you want to listen? The opposition's previous leader—who is no longer in this parliament—admitted on ABC radio that they didn't release enough land. We have not made that mistake because we have done the code amendments and the planning—

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders, you asked the question. How about listening to it instead of yelling out.

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —and the infrastructure on Onkaparinga Heights, on Concordia, probably the biggest amounts of land to hit the market since Golden Grove, the biggest amounts of land to hit the market in a generation, and with the funds for infrastructure attached to them. That's what we are doing.

If you go to the north, you will see the implementation of infrastructure—wastewater and water infrastructure—the likes of which this state has hardly ever seen. One of the things we have done as a result of that is being able to sign agreements with developers for 8,400 allotments in greenfield sites. All of that will mean that development-ready land—not just land, but land ready for market—will come online, and you can see that in the civil works.

Those opposite choked land supply in this state, they added to demand. Their federal colleagues added HomeBuilder, zero per cent interest rates, and what we saw was a flurry of construction followed by a whole lot of homes delayed, a whole lot of completions delayed. That is just the reality of what those opposite preside over.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders can leave until the end of question time.

The honourable member for Flinders having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: What we are presiding over is record land releases, record infrastructure and record completions. This year there are a record number of completions for South Australia, and they are just the statistics which belie the sort of narrative that the opposition wants to build and talk about.

They insist on something that is palpably not true because you can see it everywhere—construction. It doesn't matter if you go to Southwark, it doesn't matter if you go to Playford Alive, it doesn't matter if you go to Seaton, it doesn't matter if you go to Noarlunga: what you see is government projects, government land, government infrastructure pouring into the building industry and pouring into the residential construction industry and the industry itself is responding, which is why we got number 1 on the HIA scorecard, because our policy settings are right.

That is why those opposite can't quote any industry association in this house because they all say that the government's got the policy settings right, and that is what we are doing. We are not, as the opposition did, just pouring kero onto the bonfire of demand, in the same way you wanted to do federally where you wanted to let people raid their super accounts. We are now seeing you give a stamp duty cut to existing and established homes. All that will do is transfer that money to the vendor's pocket—not to the first-home buyer's pocket, to the vendor's pocket, and it will cook the market and it will not add one jot to supply; whereas what we want to do is give a tax cut to encourage supply.