AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about affordable housing in regional South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: A report released on Monday 7 November by Australians for Affordable Housing stated that they are urging South Australians to campaign for more affordable housing. The report titled 'Housing Costs Through the Roof' states that over 46,000 households in South Australia are in housing stress. After paying for housing costs, they are at risk of financial hardship and poverty. The campaign manager, Sarah Toohey, said that people in regional South Australia are struggling to cope with rent and mortgages. The Hon. Mark Parnell in this house also spoke about this important issue in his matters of interest speech yesterday.

Australians for Affordable Housing say research shows that Port Lincoln, Coober Pedy and Mallala are among the hardest-hit places, with nearly 16 per cent of the population facing housing stress. Other centres in the top 20 hardest hit include the Copper Coast, Peterborough, Port Pirie, Light and Wakefield. My questions to the minister are:

1. With regional South Australia facing increasing housing stress, what is being done to assist regional communities with the lack of affordable housing?

2. With the rising costs of living and regional families facing financial hardship and poverty, how will the government protect regional communities from this burden?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:15): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions. Indeed, there are many challenges faced by those communities living in regional areas, and the more remote they are, the greater the challenges, particularly around issues such as housing and the increased costs of housing associated with the tyranny of distance. It is very difficult to get goods delivered and it is very difficult to get tradespeople to do the work that is needed. Overall, this adds to a significant cost burden.

We have seen some examples of regional communities that have gone about some very innovative and creative ways of working on and addressing these sorts of issues. Previously in this place I have talked about one of the projects in Mount Gambier where they converted what was part of the hospital, the old nurses' home, into a set of apartments. That is one example and there are many others. It is important that local communities do work with their local councils and with the state housing department to work through these challenges to ensure that we do have adequate affordable housing in country areas.

One of the things that we are working very hard on at the moment—one element around affordable housing—is the issue of making sure that people have jobs. That single factor alone has a huge impact on how affordable housing might be. I have spoken in this place on many occasions about how one of the main priorities as part of my regional development portfolio is to ensure that the regions are able to maximise advantage and opportunity from the mining and resources expansion in South Australia.

I have talked in this place before about ensuring that we do not rely on some sort of trickle-down benefits effect from mining and resources development, that we work to enter into real partnerships, we enter into an engagement process that can involve real partnerships with local communities so that they can really derive some of those financial benefits in a long-term and sustainable way, because that is what it is about.

We know that subsidies are a short-term, short-lived thing. It is about forming real partnerships where local communities have maximum opportunity to take advantage of some of these developments.