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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-08-31 Daily Xml
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Housing Affordability

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Planning. Can the minister inform the house on South Australia's home building activity?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Planning) (14:50): I thank the member for Playford for his question. There is no doubt that we are in a housing crisis, and it does not matter which community you go to, which country town you go to, whether you go to street-corner meetings or shopping centres, or whether you talk to employers or people generally in the community that a housing crisis is really being felt out there.

What it stems from—and this might seem to be obvious—is a chronic undersupply for many, many years of housing. This state government is taking action in response to this chronic undersupply, and that action has lead South Australia to top this year's HIA National Housing Scorecard. South Australia is leading the nation across a number of building activity indicators, and it has led the HIA chief economist Tim Reardon to say:

SA's position is supported by state government policies that aim to increase the supply of housing.

That is a strong endorsement by the HIA of this government's position after so many years of seeing undersupply and so many years seeing inaction. We are now seeing the HIA at a national level endorsing this government's policy.

And, of course, they are endorsing things like the Treasurer's abolition of stamp duty for first-home buyers. They are endorsing the largest land release in South Australia's history: Onkaparinga Heights, Dry Creek, Noarlunga, Sellicks Beach, Aldinga and Concordia, all of these being released in just our first 18 months or so of government.

We have initiated or determined council and private proponent code amendments, including Golden Grove, Murray Bridge, Goolwa, Barunga West, Kidman Park and many, many more. We have put in place a new Housing Infrastructure Planning and Development Unit to make sure that communities and houses and all of that new greenfield housing that we want to put in place has appropriate infrastructure. We do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, and we have appointed Elinor Walker—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —a resident of Lyndoch, and of course a constituent of the member for Schubert—as the director of that unit. We are backing in affordable and social housing on Greenhill Road, Playford Alive, Bowden and Prospect. These projects include 96 affordable rental apartments at Bowden and 72 new affordable rentals in Prospect. Franklin Street has been announced. There are 392 apartments for the city aiming for a 35 per cent affordable rate on that site.

We are partnering with Sentinel to produce the state's first institutional build-to-rent community. We have put in place the Office of Regional Housing, which includes the Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme delivering homes for government workers in the Copper Coast, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta, Ceduna and the Riverland. We are investing in public housing under Minister Cook adding an additional 564 Housing Trust homes and stopping the scheduled sale under the previous government of 580 trust homes.

Let us just understand this. The HIA is predicting for the rest of the country a crash as the pipeline of COVID and homebuilder work ends. We want to build in a pipeline of supply. We know the previous government released just 185 hectares of land in its time in government—less than Hackham. They sold off Housing Trust stock, they ignored build-to-rent, they ignored CHP investments, they ignored the 30 per cent of people in this state who rent. They basically sat on their hands for four years while housing supply got worse and worse and worse. Most shamefully, you ignored the regions.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Most shamefully, you ignored the regions.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Point of order?

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: I think he's finished now.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister's finished his answer?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: I haven't, Mr Deputy Speaker, but am happy to conclude. This government is backing in housing supply for South Australians.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has completed his answer.

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