MR PALLAS (Werribee—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (13:15):

It gives me great pleasure to update the house on how the government is helping more Victorians to buy their own homes, with the launch of the Victorian Homebuyer Fund. This is an outstanding innovation, and it is one that will ensure that many Victorians realise the dream of home ownership. It will ensure that they are able to buy a safe and secure place to call their own.

The Victorian Homebuyer Fund is a shared equity arrangement where the government contributes up to 25 per cent of the purchase price, reducing the deposit requirements for eligible participants down to 3.5 per cent for Aboriginal Victorians and 5 per cent for all other Victorians. The fund also will relieve Victorian homebuyers from that extra financial burden associated with lenders mortgage insurance. This half-a-billion-dollar fund will support more than 3000 Victorians to become home owners, expanding on our successful trial of the HomesVic pilot scheme.

We on this side of the chamber understand how important it is to Victorians that they get support in saving for a home. Unlike those opposite—the member for Brighton, for example, campaigned to close emergency housing—we are doing the hard yards to help Victorians reach their home ownership dreams. I am pleased to say that the eligibility criteria under the fund has been broadened, as has the capacity for properties right across various parts of the state to now be included. As a result, our banking partners are reporting that they are being inundated with inquiries about this fund. This government knows that Victorians want good, safe places to secure as their homes. That is why we have given stamp duty-free purchases to eligible first home owners and first home owner grants. (Time expired)