❓ Ms Lai asks about the positive outcomes of the Cook Labor government's housing supply measures and if the Minister is aware of anyone seeking to derail this progress. The Minister responds by outlining investments, initiatives, and positive HIA scorecard results, contrasting their efforts with the opposition's stance.
AnsweredQoN 153Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Housing—Supply
153. Ms Sook Yee Lai to the Minister for
Housing and Works:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's efforts to deliver more housing opportunities for
Western Australians .
(1) Can the minister outline how
measures by this government to increase housing supply are seeing positive
outcomes in the community?
(2) Can the minister advise whether he is aware of
anyone who seeks to derail this progress?
153. Ms Sook Yee Lai to the Minister for
Housing and Works:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's efforts to deliver more housing opportunities for
Western Australians .
(1) Can the minister outline how
measures by this government to increase housing supply are seeing positive
outcomes in the community?
(2) Can the minister advise whether he is aware of
anyone who seeks to derail this progress?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I thank the
member for her question. As I have said many times in this house, since 2021 we
have invested more than $5 billion—$5.1 billion—in housing
initiatives, social, affordable and homelessness measures. Just last week, the
member will remember, we had delivered 3,028 social homes with another 1,000
under contract and construction. Of course, that is not the only thing we are
doing. We are leading the nation by cutting red tape. We have accelerated the
delivery of land supply. We have boosted the construction workforce for the
housing industry, and there has been a vast number of other initiatives.
I am pleased to see the HIA
scorecard that came out last week. I might read from it. It states:
Western Australia is the new
player in town! …
Western Australia has had a
remarkable surge up the rankings to take out second place this time, overtaking
Queensland. Western Australia's score of 79 is higher than it's been in over a
decade …
It goes on:
It also has the
second strongest detached housing market, behind only South Australia —
That does grate
on me a little bit —
and has seen a
marked improvement in multi-units activity entering the pipeline.
It is very
clear that Western Australia's hard work and the reforms that we introduced are
now paying and having effect. The HIA scorecard, which gives us second only to
South Australia, builds on the concept data that says that we are leading the
nation. It builds on ABS data; it builds on all that data that shows that we
are leading the nation—or very high up there—in relation to
completions and approvals. We are doing that because we also have a federal
partner, through the Housing Australia Future Fund, that is accelerating the
delivery of social and affordable housing. We contrast that with the opposite
side, where the Liberals and Nationals at a federal level promise to gut, in
total, all funding for social and affordable housing programs in Australia.
That was their election commitment, and did we hear anything from the state
Liberals or Nationals? Did we hear anything about the loss of direct funding or
other HAFF funding to get significant projects over the line? It was crickets.
It was zero. This is the point that I always make. There is only one side of
politics in Western Australia that is absolutely committed to boosting housing
supply, to boosting social housing and boosting affordable housing, and the
statistics from independent, credible authorities like the Housing Industry
Association show that our plan is working.
member for her question. As I have said many times in this house, since 2021 we
have invested more than $5 billion—$5.1 billion—in housing
initiatives, social, affordable and homelessness measures. Just last week, the
member will remember, we had delivered 3,028 social homes with another 1,000
under contract and construction. Of course, that is not the only thing we are
doing. We are leading the nation by cutting red tape. We have accelerated the
delivery of land supply. We have boosted the construction workforce for the
housing industry, and there has been a vast number of other initiatives.
I am pleased to see the HIA
scorecard that came out last week. I might read from it. It states:
Western Australia is the new
player in town! …
Western Australia has had a
remarkable surge up the rankings to take out second place this time, overtaking
Queensland. Western Australia's score of 79 is higher than it's been in over a
decade …
It goes on:
It also has the
second strongest detached housing market, behind only South Australia —
That does grate
on me a little bit —
and has seen a
marked improvement in multi-units activity entering the pipeline.
It is very
clear that Western Australia's hard work and the reforms that we introduced are
now paying and having effect. The HIA scorecard, which gives us second only to
South Australia, builds on the concept data that says that we are leading the
nation. It builds on ABS data; it builds on all that data that shows that we
are leading the nation—or very high up there—in relation to
completions and approvals. We are doing that because we also have a federal
partner, through the Housing Australia Future Fund, that is accelerating the
delivery of social and affordable housing. We contrast that with the opposite
side, where the Liberals and Nationals at a federal level promise to gut, in
total, all funding for social and affordable housing programs in Australia.
That was their election commitment, and did we hear anything from the state
Liberals or Nationals? Did we hear anything about the loss of direct funding or
other HAFF funding to get significant projects over the line? It was crickets.
It was zero. This is the point that I always make. There is only one side of
politics in Western Australia that is absolutely committed to boosting housing
supply, to boosting social housing and boosting affordable housing, and the
statistics from independent, credible authorities like the Housing Industry
Association show that our plan is working.
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