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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-27 Daily Xml
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30-YEAR PLAN FOR GREATER ADELAIDE

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question relating to the draft 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: A BIS Shrapnel and AV Jennings report released earlier this month shows that new South Australian homes are smaller than homes interstate and that homes interstate are increasing while South Australian homes are getting smaller in size. According to the report, the average size of a new home in South Australia is 129.3 square metres compared to the national average of 253 square metres. The national average has increased by 12 per cent in the Past 10 years, while South Australian homes have reduced in size by 11 per cent.

In an Advertiser article on the report, the General Manager of AV Jennings Homes, South Australia attributes shrinking house sizes to the availability of land and the resulting decrease in block sizes. The government's draft 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide could promote the trend to smaller block sizes, particularly in areas of urban infill. However, smaller house sizes present unique challenges with regard to accessibility for both residents of and visitors to smaller homes. Houses can be made smaller by reducing door widths and transit spaces which are vital to accessibility.

In spite of our ageing population and the state having a relatively high proportion of people living with disability, the 30-year plan, as I can see, makes no reference to these planning and design issues. My questions to the minister are:

1. What steps is the government taking to engage the disability and ageing communities to understand the implications of the 30-year plan?

2. What action will the government take to ensure that planning laws require accessibility to be enhanced in spite of decreasing house sizes, given the increasing prevalence of both disability and ageing in our community?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:47): First, in relation to those statistics, I would like to check them to see whether or not, in fact, they give an accurate picture. Certainly, because South Australia has the oldest population in the country, it probably is likely that the average size of houses is more likely to decline here compared with other parts of the country, simply because we have a larger number of single person households and smaller family sizes, reflecting the older population that we have in this state. Whether, in fact, the average size of a house is half that nationally is something that, as I said, I would like to check before I actually concede that that is the case.

Regardless of what those figures are, the honourable member is correct: there would be a significant impact on the future growth of Adelaide because of the ageing of our population. In fact, the ageing factor, in particular, has been right at the heart of the 30-year plan. I have made the point in this parliament on a number of occasions when we have talked about planning issues and the 30-year plan, in particular, that the ageing of the population will have as big—and perhaps bigger—an impact as population growth itself.

Indeed, while the projection that we have for the next 30 years is an extra 560,000 or so people within this state, if one looks at the numbers on ageing, the number of people aged over 65 will grow much more rapidly than the increase in population overall, and that will have a huge impact on the demand for housing. I suggest that fits in very much with the 30-year plan; that is, we need to accommodate people in housing that is perhaps higher density because of the ageing population, obviously. I think the same will go for people with a disability. They will be less likely to need the large gardens which have been there in the past. It would also be to the advantage of those two groups to be closer to public transport in walkable communities.

I believe that the needs of both the ageing population and the disability sector will generally align with the broad goals of the 30-year plan. Whist those needs have been taken into account broadly in the 30-year plan, obviously a lot more specific planning is needed for particular needs, and it is important that, in the final form of our 30-year plan, we ensure that all issues have been addressed—that is, that the changes in the make-up of our population are adequately catered for.

I do not think that anyone would suggest that the 30-year plan itself can get down to the level of detail the member suggests in relation to the individual design of dwellings, although that is an important part. To address the general issue raised by the honourable member, the average block size is declining; nonetheless, if we move to more medium density—that is, dwellings of more than one storey (and, perhaps in some of the transit oriented developments, they might be four or five storeys high)—the land taken up by dwellings will be less.

When we refer to medium density, we are talking about the population per square metre. We know that, in relation to the cities to which the honourable member referred (if it is, in fact, twice the size in Sydney, for example, than it is here), Sydney is a much denser city than Adelaide. In a sense, that answers the honourable member's question: if you move to a higher level of density—in other words, high-rise buildings—you can have larger individual dwellings within the same footprint. Clearly, that will be a factor in Adelaide's growth.

I make the point that the ageing population and the factors of ageing are at least as important as population growth (and maybe more so) in determining the make-up and type of housing that will be required over the next 30 years. Similarly, the disability sector is a factor that tends towards a different type of accommodation than we have had in the past.

I stress that they are key parts of the 30-year plan and, in relation to the general direction of the plan, the medium density plan and the proximity to public transport are all factors that take into account and are very compatible with the increased needs of the ageing and disabled populations.

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