Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) (14:32:18) — It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of the matter of public importance because, quite frankly, the Andrews government is instituting a real change to make housing more affordable for first home buyers and also to make renting fair. Importantly, one in four Victorians, as we hear, may not be able to call the house that they live in the home that they own, but it is most definitely their home in every material respect, so looking after renters and making sure they get a fair deal is critically important.

Housing affordability is important and it is also a very complex issue. It is easy to commentate from the sidelines and suggest that introducing change will have a positive impact for first home buyers and renters, but it is no easy task when you actually have to get down and do it, and that is what this government is about: getting on and doing it and delivering for those people who actually need a government that is committed to making substantial and real change.

This year we have implemented a raft of measures that seek to provide every Victorian with the opportunity for a safe and secure home. There is recognition across Australia that we have taken the lead whilst the commonwealth has done what the commonwealth does best: sit around and deliver bloviating lectures to everybody else about what everybody else should do and why it is not really their problem; it is somebody else’s problem.

In the lead‑up to this year’s federal budget, we were repeatedly told that the federal Treasurer’s housing affordability package would be a game changer. Unfortunately, of course, like so many other things, the federal government and this federal Treasurer squibbed it, and what little they did offer is now unlikely to get through the Senate. We estimated our package would contribute more than $3.7 billion to the Victorian economy and create 50 000 new construction jobs over a four‑year period. Now, that is not the sort of thing that you imagine would earn the ire of the opposition, but they have lived up to their title — they are opposing everything that comes before them despite the clear and obvious merit of it.

But the benefits extend well beyond mere numbers. This encompasses many issues, from shifting the balance back to first home buyers rather than investors to also shoring up Victoria’s housing stock for future generations. So this is a big play. It is not about what might happen in the next 5 minutes. This is about the future, and it is about where our kids and their kids get the opportunity to live proximate to their families and communities that they have grown up in.

We abolished stamp duty for first home buyers on homes valued up to $600 000, and we provided discounts on homes valued up to $750 000. We have doubled the first home owner grants in regional Victoria, and we have added zoned land for another 100 000 lots in the state’s growth corridors. We supported long‑term leases. Out of our review of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 we are also introducing huge reforms to make renting fair. All of these initiatives are decisive moves, really aimed at unlocking the housing market to deliver affordability, access and, importantly, choice. We are not being judgemental about where people choose to make their homes, but our number one and abiding priority is to give them the opportunity to have a place they can call home and have the security, safety and hopefully, as time progresses, affordability not only to live in that home but also to have their kids and their kids’ kids live near them in their own homes.

So with median house prices in Melbourne up around 60 per cent since 2012, it is essential that we shift some of this balance back to first home buyers. Our abolition of stamp duty for first home purchases under $600 000, and discounts up to $750 000, will help level the playing field. Between 1 July and 12 October almost 4300 first home buyers benefitted. More than 3700 of them paid no stamp duty at all, saving a total of $76.3 million. It is forgone revenue to the state, but a choice that this government made. We gave up taxation revenue to look after those most in need and those most deserving, and that is those people starting out in life looking for a home that they can call their own. This is more, as I say, than double the number of beneficiaries compared with the same time last year.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data released last week confirmed a 2.1 per cent increase in owner‑occupier home loan approvals in Victoria, while the rest of the country went backwards to the tune of 2.3 per cent, so clearly something is happening to the market. Some interventions that the government has put in place have had a distinct and profound effect upon the way the market operates. Victoria is heading one way in positive territory, while the nation is going the other way. Indeed the ABS — no lesser authority than the Australian Bureau of Statistics — stated that:

The increase has been driven mainly by changes to first home buyer incentives made in July by the New South Wales and Victorian governments.

The outrage in that sentence is that they actually suggested that the New South Wales government were in the lead. They copied us. As soon as we did it, they went out and they copied our policy almost word for word. We have not seen so many first home buyers seeking finance since before the last government. Isn’t that coincidental! It begs the question of what the Baillieu‑Napthine governments did to help first home buyers during their time in government. Well, the answer to that is simple: not a lot. Beyond criticising this government, which they are very good at, and having been inactive for four years in government themselves, they woke up out of their stupor when they were introduced to opposition and they grew a voice, although I think sometimes silence is the best policy, particularly when all that you have done is such an abject embarrassment and a demonstration that you failed the people of Victoria. You should let somebody who actually has a plan to help give the home owners a chance.

In regional Victoria I would have thought there would have been massive support for what this government has done, doubling the first home owners grant in regional Victoria to $20 000. That not only ensures that young Victorians have a bigger deposit and the opportunity to remain in their local community, but it also has positive spin‑off effects in terms of regional jobs and economic growth. Three hundred and nineteen first home buyers have already received grants this year to 12 October. That compares to about 66 buyers at the same time last year. That is almost five times the amount.

I do want to turn to an issue of grave concern, and that is the planning supply issue. Given that the housing approvals are now at near record levels and Victoria’s population continues to grow, it is essential this not be undermined by planning delays and red tape. We are speeding up development approvals in the inner and middle suburbs. Developers are positive about the initiatives. Stockland CEO Mark Steinert noted that the government’s 100 000 additional lots were a very positive thing. And in short, we are going to continue that work with developers in the industry as a whole.

We are developing plans for former industrial lands such as Fishermans Bend and Arden. That compares to those opposite, who do not really seem to comprehend the importance of certainty and transparency in planning. They did not when they were in government, and today they have shown it again. Earlier this year the government of course completed the planning for a residential tower adjacent to Ormond station, and what have we seen? Working in alignment with the Greens, the Liberal‑Green coalition sought to knock off the planning scheme approval for this.

Mr Wynne — They have knocked it off.

Mr PALLAS — They have done it? Craven. And of course we know the Leader of the Opposition used to lecture us about how this is important. Quite frankly, this is more than just a political stunt. These have serious implications in terms of financing and sovereign risk, and you will wear it.

Debate interrupted.