❓ Minister addresses housing reforms aimed at cutting red tape and increasing housing supply, highlighting positive industry response and contrasting with the opposition's NIMBY tactics.
AnsweredQoN 140Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Housing—Reforms
140. Mr Frank Paolino to
the Minister for Housing and Works:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's reforms to cut red tape to deliver more homes for Western
Australians.
(1) Can the minister advise the house how these
reforms are enabling more homes to be built across the state?
(2) Can the minister advise the house what the
response to these sensible reforms has been?
140. Mr Frank Paolino to
the Minister for Housing and Works:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's reforms to cut red tape to deliver more homes for Western
Australians.
(1) Can the minister advise the house how these
reforms are enabling more homes to be built across the state?
(2) Can the minister advise the house what the
response to these sensible reforms has been?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I thank the member for his
question. As members will be aware, given the challenges we face in the housing
market, National Cabinet agreed to significant planning reforms. Across the
country, every state, regardless of being blue or red, is working to streamline
and cut planning processes to enable housing development, because we know that
any delay in the planning process adds to the holding costs, which either makes
or breaks a project. I am really pleased that in our ongoing report to National
Cabinet, we are leading the nation. We have a new permanent significant
development pathway for major housing projects. We have consolidated development
assessment panels, removed mandatory thresholds, enabled community housing
providers to opt in and cut duplication in the system by modernising the Metropolitan
Region Scheme. We have had reforms so that the minister is not making the
decision, but there is an independent and credible WA Planning Commission. We
have cut red tape and streamlined for single homes and also for granny flats.
It was evident today that these
reforms have been embraced. In fact, on the panel with the Deputy Premier was Link
Property Group, which was asked about its views on our planning reforms. It strongly
welcomed them in enabling projects to get across the line. As I have said, we
have more to do. We will be announcing this year more reforms about cutting red
tape in our residential codes and streamlining and about major changes around
our train station precincts.
We contrast that with the Liberals
and, in particular, the WA Liberal leader. He has, without a doubt, grabbed the
NIMBY 101 book and is following its tactics and strategies. I will give members
an example. The first strategy is to attack the decision-maker, and he did that
in his first week as a member of Parliament. He went before the WA Planning
Commission and labelled it as simply a rubberstamping exercise. This is despite
the fact that it has independent members, including a large number of
independent directors of local governments who have expertise. In social media,
of course, as The West Australian reported,
he also liked a comment about Labor perpetuating a corrupt planning regime. The
first classic way is to attack the decision-maker.
The second way is to say, "I
support density, but", and that is what he did before the WA Planning
Commission. He went before it in the first week, when we had housing challenges,
and said that the height does not cut it. Anyone who understands the viability
of development projects will know that it is height that makes a project. It is
height that helps subsidise apartments at the bottom through sales of
apartments at the top and that enables the development to proceed. So when he says
that a project should be completely changed and the height should be removed,
he is saying that the project should not proceed.
The third classic part of the NIMBY
handbook is to perpetuate fear. How does someone do that? They generate false,
misleading and fake images to scare the community. That is what the Liberal
leader did. He created an AI image of a fake
building over a school. We remember the previous Liberals. David Honey
talked about paedophiles in apartments. We now have them overlooking schools. We
have a Liberal leader who says that this is acceptable—fake AI images about
housing effects.
That is not leadership, and it is
not just me who is saying that it is not leadership. Today at the press
conference, the head of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, who has
been quoted by the member for Cottesloe numerous times in this house, when
asked directly whether the WA Liberals were guilty of politicising planning and
housing development, resolutely said yes. The Property Council of Australia and
the UDIA are directly criticising the Liberals and Nationals for a failure of
leadership. She said that now is not the time for the politicisation of
planning and that we must have bipartisanship.
What we are seeing from not only
the WA Liberals but the leader himself is a failure of leadership. He is a
leader who spreads fear and uses any tactics he can, including AI, to encourage
the community to think the worst about apartment living and density in Western
Australia. We have a choice in this incredible time when we need housing. We can
take the community on a journey with us. That is real leadership, not the
leadership of the Liberal leader, who spreads fear, spreads fake AI, says the
worst about our planning and enables other members of his party to do it.
question. As members will be aware, given the challenges we face in the housing
market, National Cabinet agreed to significant planning reforms. Across the
country, every state, regardless of being blue or red, is working to streamline
and cut planning processes to enable housing development, because we know that
any delay in the planning process adds to the holding costs, which either makes
or breaks a project. I am really pleased that in our ongoing report to National
Cabinet, we are leading the nation. We have a new permanent significant
development pathway for major housing projects. We have consolidated development
assessment panels, removed mandatory thresholds, enabled community housing
providers to opt in and cut duplication in the system by modernising the Metropolitan
Region Scheme. We have had reforms so that the minister is not making the
decision, but there is an independent and credible WA Planning Commission. We
have cut red tape and streamlined for single homes and also for granny flats.
It was evident today that these
reforms have been embraced. In fact, on the panel with the Deputy Premier was Link
Property Group, which was asked about its views on our planning reforms. It strongly
welcomed them in enabling projects to get across the line. As I have said, we
have more to do. We will be announcing this year more reforms about cutting red
tape in our residential codes and streamlining and about major changes around
our train station precincts.
We contrast that with the Liberals
and, in particular, the WA Liberal leader. He has, without a doubt, grabbed the
NIMBY 101 book and is following its tactics and strategies. I will give members
an example. The first strategy is to attack the decision-maker, and he did that
in his first week as a member of Parliament. He went before the WA Planning
Commission and labelled it as simply a rubberstamping exercise. This is despite
the fact that it has independent members, including a large number of
independent directors of local governments who have expertise. In social media,
of course, as The West Australian reported,
he also liked a comment about Labor perpetuating a corrupt planning regime. The
first classic way is to attack the decision-maker.
The second way is to say, "I
support density, but", and that is what he did before the WA Planning
Commission. He went before it in the first week, when we had housing challenges,
and said that the height does not cut it. Anyone who understands the viability
of development projects will know that it is height that makes a project. It is
height that helps subsidise apartments at the bottom through sales of
apartments at the top and that enables the development to proceed. So when he says
that a project should be completely changed and the height should be removed,
he is saying that the project should not proceed.
The third classic part of the NIMBY
handbook is to perpetuate fear. How does someone do that? They generate false,
misleading and fake images to scare the community. That is what the Liberal
leader did. He created an AI image of a fake
building over a school. We remember the previous Liberals. David Honey
talked about paedophiles in apartments. We now have them overlooking schools. We
have a Liberal leader who says that this is acceptable—fake AI images about
housing effects.
That is not leadership, and it is
not just me who is saying that it is not leadership. Today at the press
conference, the head of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, who has
been quoted by the member for Cottesloe numerous times in this house, when
asked directly whether the WA Liberals were guilty of politicising planning and
housing development, resolutely said yes. The Property Council of Australia and
the UDIA are directly criticising the Liberals and Nationals for a failure of
leadership. She said that now is not the time for the politicisation of
planning and that we must have bipartisanship.
What we are seeing from not only
the WA Liberals but the leader himself is a failure of leadership. He is a
leader who spreads fear and uses any tactics he can, including AI, to encourage
the community to think the worst about apartment living and density in Western
Australia. We have a choice in this incredible time when we need housing. We can
take the community on a journey with us. That is real leadership, not the
leadership of the Liberal leader, who spreads fear, spreads fake AI, says the
worst about our planning and enables other members of his party to do it.
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