Well, two weeks ago we delivered a Budget for every Australian. A tax cut for every single taxpayer, all 13.6 million of them, not just some. Support through energy relief of $300 for every household, not just some. Medicare strengthened in every single community and more homes for every part of Australia. Our $32 billion housing investment, homes for Australians is making a significant difference. And part of that $32 billion was the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator that we put in place last June. What we did was give flexibility to State and Territory Governments to get on with the business of making sure that homes were there for Australians. This place here is a great example. It is one of the 277 homes that have been refurbished with this funding, 100 per cent Commonwealth funded, but delivered here by the New South Wales Government. What we know is that places like this were derelict at a time where Australians don’t have enough homes, they were left essentially to waste. And this one here was up for sale, was to be flogged off to the private sector, rather than used for social housing. And we know as well that those public housing waiting lists have grown, and at the end of the previous Coalition Government here in New South Wales, there were less public housing dwellings than there were when they were elected more than a decade earlier. Now what we need is more public housing. We need more community housing. We need more private rentals, and we need more supply. That is the key to addressing housing issues, and that’s why my Government has a comprehensive plan, including incentives on Build to Rent for the private sector. I met with the Property Council of Australia in Canberra just this week at their national forum that was taking place, about how we can build in further incentives for that sector. But this place here is literally a bricks and mortar example of what we are doing to make a difference to people’s lives. A place that was derelict and overgrown, that was uninhabitable, converted into a fine family home where a family are about to move into this property in coming weeks, close to the school, just across the road, close to public transport, providing a good quality home. And importantly, as well, an example of a salt and pepper approach to social housing, where you have social housing next to privately owned dwellings, next to private rentals, next to owner occupied home. So that you have that social mix that’s so important here in Australia, this is a great example of what we’re doing. I’ve visited other places here in north western Sydney, in Northern Sydney, and in Riverwood in the southern suburbs. And here in the inner western suburbs, this is a great example of the practical difference my Government has made and will continue to make.
ROSE JACKSON, NSW MINISTER FOR HOUSING: It’s such a thrill to be here with the Prime Minister to show off what the New South Wales Government has been able to do with Commonwealth funding to deliver housing for those in need. This is just one of the 290 homes that were left derelict and up for sale by the previous Government here, that we’ve been able to turn into homes for people who need them thanks to the Social Housing Accelerator. Of course, there’s more to come. We’re going to be delivering more Aboriginal homes. We’ve got community housing partnerships, and we’re just going to build more social housing. But this is a really clear example of what you get when you have Commonwealth Governments and State Governments who are interested in confronting the housing crisis. This is practical. This is real. There is a woman and children who fled a violent relationship who are ready to move into this house in coming weeks. That wouldn’t have been possible without the work of the Commonwealth Government putting its money where its mouth is. It doesn’t just talk about confronting the housing crisis. It is providing the practical pathways for State Governments like New South Wales to deliver the housing that we so desperately need. And it’s really exciting to be a State Housing Minister at a time like this, where we have a Commonwealth that is so interested in partnering with us to find pathways for housing. So it’s an honour to be here with the Prime Minister to show off some of our handy work. There’s a lot more that we can do, but really, I think we should be so proud to have been at the forefront of ensuring the practical sensible work that is possible when State and Federal Governments work together, when they care about the housing crisis and when they are looking for solutions.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions on this firstly, then happy to open up.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER: The specific costing on this place, I’m not sure if the department have a rough cost on that. $80,000 is the precise amount. And if you think about that, right, $80,000 to house a family, compared with the cost of starting from scratch. That shows the waste that was here with leaving this extraordinary property located across the road from a local public school, a property with a great backyard, good front yard, the old federation-stained windows in it. This is quality housing for $80,000 making a difference, and that’s why, when we did the Social Housing Accelerator, we saw that this was the low hanging fruit that you could do. We said to State and Territory Governments, we got $2 billion, we’ll carve it up, so New South Wales got over half a billion dollars, and with their 290 homes, they will house more than 700 people in social housing. Now, on top of that, we in the Budget, had a billion dollars done through the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Cabinet process that we had for additional funding for women and children escaping domestic violence for emergency housing as well. So we need those shelters. We need that temporary accommodation, but we need to make sure that families like the family who are moving in here can have that security of a roof over their head. A roof over your head that is secure is the key to being able to engage in employment, for your kids to be able to know that they’re going to the local school, build those relationships that are so important. Social housing helped transform my life and that security that occurred and it is the case that for so many other Australians. And this place here, I’m really proud of what we are doing. There is certainly more to do, but that is a great example, when you can do that transformation for just $80,000 that represents really good value.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how does this house compare to the one that you had experienced?
PRIME MINISTER: There’s grass in this house, I just had concrete out the back. But it was a very comfortable place where I lived, and it was part of the community not too far from here in Camperdown. My mum was born in that house and died 65 years later, having lived just in that one house, and being a part of what was a very different community then surrounded by the Kids Hospital and industry. But it provided that security that was so important for my mum to be able to raise me, just the two of us in the end, her parents passed away, but her parents raised five children in the house. When I went back, the rooms in that house were a bit smaller than the homes here, they were quite small in those days, places when they were built. But it’s so important for making that difference to people’s lives, and that’s why, when I come to a place like this, it lifts me up.
JOURNALIST: There are numbers, and this is connected, in a sense, on housing, there are numbers today showing the desertion of people from cities to regional areas. And that’s a real thing now, isn’t it? That’s a phenomenon?
PRIME MINISTER: It certainly is because of affordability questions. And it can be a good thing, of course, the quality of life, but that people will make decisions for a range of reasons. And during COVID, a number of people found that living in less dense areas in our regions and in our smaller towns provided a pretty good lifestyle, and it certainly can do that as well. But we need to make sure that we have more houses in our cities, more houses in our regions, and that we do get growth. One of the things that my Government is doing is regional economic development, part of our Future Made in Australia plan is to make sure we grow manufacturing. The big winners of that will be regional communities like the Hunter Valley, like the Illawarra, like Central Queensland, they will be huge winners from the jobs growth that will come, and that’s important as well to take pressure off our major, particularly the East Coast cities.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER: What I know is, if you don’t have a target, you won’t meet it. We’ve got a target of 1.2 million homes. Is it ambitious? Yes, it is. Can it be achieved? Yes, it can. It can be achieved by governments having courage and foresight. It can be achieved by the different levels of government working together. In this case, I was doing an interview just outside there on radio, where a couple of local options here were raised for areas that could be converted to housing. We want to make sure that the different levels of government work together. The Minns Government is showing, I think, leadership on this area. I’ve given an example, you often have a debate about people not wanting development in their own suburbs. Well, I’ve lived in the Inner West, around the Grayndler electorate my whole life. I think Parramatta Road, if people think that Parramatta Road is still a terrific place, or has ever been, my whole life, it has had abandoned shops, it’s had no go zones for safety. Why can’t you have proper planning and development with medium density, the whole length, with shops and retail and restaurants and life beneath those. And I see in my own area of Marrickville, the old Marrickville Hospital site, to give credit to, I want to encourage good development, so I’ll give credit where it’s due. No commercial interests here, Mirvac’s development there has won architectural awards for what they have done with the library, with space that is open, coffee shop underneath, medium density with increased density allowed. So as the street, Livingstone Road goes down, the height goes up of the buildings, so it doesn’t have an impact on the eye line, quality place to live. You don’t need as much cars because people have access to public transport. The Revolution site on Marrickville Station is exactly the same as well. There are hundreds of quality units, now there are restaurants underneath. Marrickville, I’ve lived in Marrickville a long time. Marrickville Station used to be a no go zone 25 years ago, you would not go near there, there were assaults, it was a dangerous place for people to get off the train station. That’s the truth. With life and activity and restaurants and people, it’s increased quality. We can get this right. We can seize the opportunities which are there. And the developments that have occurred along Illawarra Road and Marrickville Road, are very familiar to me as a local MP, and it’s got better. It’s now a very desirable place to live. I moved to Marrickville because of where I could afford, you know, because it didn’t have the status that it has now, when I moved there, I could afford a place there. Now that’s had an impact. But the quality has come up. You can have increased density where appropriate and where development is appropriate. I think the New South Wales Government, Chris Minns, is showing leadership. Councils need to show leadership as well. We need to make sure that approvals happen faster, because that is the key, where it’s appropriate. Often you have a whole lot of red tape tied up. You know, the Greens Political Party talk about housing sometimes. I’ve never seen any housing that they supported, frankly. I await their support for any project. There’s one right near Taverners Hill at the moment, in my electorate, they’re opposing development there, they opposed the Revolution development that was right on Marrickville Station. We need to make sure that as cities grow, they grow in a way that’s sustainable, and we can do that.
PRIME MINISTER: Is it worth revising that figure down something more realistic? States like New South Wales admitting they are not on track to achieve it.
PRIME MINISTER: We think it can be achieved. We want to pursue it. We have a financial incentive for states and territories to do it, and we’re working constructively. And I think New South Wales and under Chris Minns’ leadership, and Rose as the Housing Minister is determined to make a difference here. But right throughout Australia, I have visited now housing developments in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Launceston a few weeks ago, Melbourne was the first place where we had announcements. I see progress, and we can get there. The issue of skill shortage, that’s one of the reasons why we addressed that as well in the Budget. We’ve increased 20,000, increased, apprenticeships in construction. So, we have a comprehensive plan and we’re working through this constructively.
REPORTER: Do you think these targets can be achieved? It looks as if the pain of this development is not being spread evenly, in the east for instance, is not propping it up.
JACKSON: I mean, the New South Wales Government does think that we can achieve our record targets. It is an ambitious target, as the Prime Minister said, and it’s going to be a lift. But you can’t have a goal of confronting the housing crisis without putting some numbers on what that’s going to look like. So, not only have we got the target from the Commonwealth, 377,000 homes in New South Wales, we’ve now broken that down to give local communities a sense of what that looks like for them. That’s real work, that’s the grunt and of course, there were projects in the pipeline. Projects in the pipeline approved under the previous government that heavily weighted Western Sydney with that burden of development. We’re not going to go cancelling DAs. We’ve got to deliver more housing. There’s no going back. But as we project forward, with over 50 per cent of the new homes under our revised target, are in the eastern city, less than 20 per cent in Western Sydney. So, everyone has to do more. We’re not going backwards, we’re not cancelling projects, we’re not removing DAs, but our forward plan does rebalance housing into central and eastern Sydney, as it should, so that everyone is doing their fair share.
JOURNALIST: Both Prime Minister and the Premier have said it’s important to have a goal to work to but you just said NSW Government can reach this goal. Why does it think that? Industry is saying this is going to be near impossible. It’s a record number of homes, we haven’t built this many homes since 2016. Why all of a sudden do you believe it is possible?
JACKSON: Because we have political will, because we’re determined, because we’ve set our overall target, we’ve now broken that down into local targets, and we are deeply engaged in conversations every single week with our industry partners about how we’re going to get that happening. We’ve changed the planning laws, delivered the infrastructure, we’re in conversations regularly, whether it’s in the finance sector, whether it’s with property development, whether it’s in the building industry. We know it’s going to be hard. We know it’s ambitious, but why do we think we can do it? Because we have the will to do it, and we know it’s so important. There’s no giving up here. There’s no walking away this. The housing crisis, is one of the most significant issues facing this country, New South Wales and Sydney, and it’s only responsible of a government to get serious about it and put our shoulders to the wheel.
JOURNALIST: Would a good place to start then be, I mean, it’s all very well for these new houses to be built but we’ve got hundreds say, Dundas Valley, for example, sitting there for years, boarded up. Isn’t that a good place to start?
JACKSON: Absolutely and we have a plan to deliver more housing in Dundas and Telopea. And we’ve actually put in submissions under the Housing Australia Future Fund, another fantastic Commonwealth initiative to get that moving. So yeah, we recognise that projects like that have been sitting there, homes vacant for a long, long time, and we do need to get accelerating. We do need to get moving. Some of that is a resourcing question, and it’s fantastic to have the Commonwealth partnering with us to open up those opportunities, but some of it is an energy and enthusiasm question. And we bring that to the table, and we are identifying individual sites, individual estates, projects right across Sydney to get that moving. And look understandably, the thing about targets is we will be accountable to them, we will be, we will have projects over the next few years that demonstrate whether or not we’re delivering on the promises that we’re making. And I have a lot of confidence when it comes to projects like that, that we have real plans and real pathways to get them moving.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I just make two points about other programs in this area, just as an indication. The Housing Australia Future Fund has had massive over subscription, if you like, demand is there, from social housing, community providers to pitch in. So, it’s one area where you can see it accelerate. With any infrastructure investment, it never goes in a straight line, it goes like that. And what we can do is to make sure that it accelerates over time as well. Because you don’t have a target of 1.2 million and that means you break down with over a six-year period, one sixth each year. That’s not the way it works. And so, for example, NHFIC the money that we put through another part of the plan, if you like, that provides an incentive for, through loans for private sector investment, we saw a great example just a week ago I think, I was there in Westmead, where you have 400 dwellings that began during our period in government, as a result of one of the first things that we did, that’s under well under construction, 200 of those will be for essential workers, working in that health precinct and research precinct around Westmead Hospital and around that area. Two hundred will be private dwellings, and that helps fund the affordable rentals for people as well. But you increase supply by 400, at effectively no bottom dollar cost to taxpayers. That’s an outstanding result, providing homes for 200 people who will be able to walk to work, doing that essential work, our nurses, our orderlies, the people working in that system. So, we won’t reach this target without working on each and every opportunity. And that’s what my Government is doing, and that’s what we’re doing with state government but also with the private sector.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when will you sack Andrew Giles?
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew Giles has the job of being the Immigration Minister. If Immigration Ministers, having a decision of either themselves or of their department, being overturned by an Administrative Appeals Tribunal, then there wouldn’t have been an Immigration Minister in office at any time for more than a fortnight. Now, section 501, has not changed. We have deported 4,200 people from immigration detention in our first year, almost double the number of people were deported from immigration detention as were deported in the previous year under the former government. Now, the directions that have been spoken about, that I doubt whether anyone here has ever looked at a direction of what it looks like, anyone got any idea of how many pages it is? All the journalists that will ask me questions about this. Anyone? No. It’s not a paragraph. It’s many, many pages because of the law and what occurs. Directions have, previous directions have had in them, to quote, a higher level of tolerance under Peter Dutton when he was the minister, under former ministers, for offenders with long ties to Australia. That has been there. Under Peter Dutton, when he was the minister, some 1,300 offenders were released. They were released with no curfews, no ankle bracelets, no monitoring. One hundred and two of those were sex offenders, 64 of those were child sex offenders, four were either murderers or people associated with murder. Now, we have replaced the AAT this week. We’ve gotten rid of it. Gotten rid it. The AAT has been stacked with, if you’re a former Liberal Councilor somewhere who’s lost pre-selections, chances are you could put your hand up and get a guernsey on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. We’ve abolished it, gotten rid of it and replaced it with the Administrative Review Tribunal, which will be more rigorous, which will be not full of former party political appointments. Now, the Coalition this week opposed the abolition of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. They voted against it in the House of Representatives this week. We have, as part of the new Tribunal, we will be doing a new, revised direction in which protection of the community outweighs other considerations and that’s appropriate.
JOURNALIST: Will Andrew Giles be the Immigration Minister at the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew Giles is the Immigration Minister, I’m the Prime Minister and I have no intentions of making changes imminent. I know that there’s a campaign being run by Peter Dutton. I say this, if Peter Dutton held himself to the same account that he wishes other ministers to be held, then he wouldn’t have lasted in that portfolio for a week.
JOURNALIST: Why did the Immigration Minister not go ahead with the planned direction on top of direction 99 on domestic violence?
PRIME MINISTER: With respect, I’m not here micro analysing each suggestion that’s made. Andrew Giles, as Immigration Minister, has overseen the immigration process. Immigration processes have, have you looked at the direction? What page is it on that you refer to, the change?
JOURNALIST: I don’t know.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well. If you have something specific, then happy to answer it. But the directions here are thick, it’s not a paragraph. And in spite of some of the simplistic reporting by the Coalition cheer squad, it is a complex document that’s subject to legal processes. And as I said, Administrative Appeals Tribunal have overturned decisions by ministers and by departments consistently, like it’s not a rare occasion. In social security, in migration, in all of these matters. And then the appeals go through to, one of the reasons why the directions are so thick is because they’re subject then to legal appeal. So, if you’ve got something specific about a clause, I’m happy to answer it. But if not, then I suggest that people actually go and have a read of what the directions are and have a look at the consistency which is there. The pretence which some of the Coalition’s actions are based on, suggests that there is something new, which is not in fact new. There is nothing new about the section 501. We’ve kept it there, completely. There’s nothing new about the AAT overturning decisions by ministers and by departments. We have a rule of law in this country and that is something that from time to time, I’m sure when Peter Dutton was a minister, he might have found it an inconvenience, but he had to comply with the law as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Luxon has expressed grave concerns with the decision to change direction 99, does this risk harming relationships?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. I’ve got a good relationship with Prime Minister Luxon. I’ll be hosting him here in a short period of time. We have the Australia, New Zealand Leaders Meeting to be held here, and he’ll be very welcome here. I had a chat with him yesterday. We talk regularly between Prime Ministers. I’ve known Prime Minister Luxon for a long period of time because he was a former CEO of Air New Zealand. So, we have a good relationship. We had a good chat yesterday. Australia makes our decisions in our national interest.
JOURNALIST: Can I get your reaction to news out of New York this morning?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this will be no doubt, the global story of the day. But it is important that the Prime Minister of Australia not comment. We’re not a party to this court proceeding. So, we regard that as a matter for the United States and their system, as we regard the election of the US President to be a matter for the people of the United States, as well. I obviously have, people might have observed, a close relationship with President Biden. We get on very well, but the relationship between Australia and the United States is a relationship between nations, not just between individuals. But I’m not about to comment on a court case over there that doesn’t involve Australians.
JOURNALIST: Should a convicted felon be about to run for President?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a matter for the United States. It’s not appropriate for an Australian Prime Minister, we would probably object to a New Zealand Prime Minister, or a US President, or a German Chancellor, or a French President, telling us how we should conduct our political system and I have no intention of telling the United States. I wish the United States well, they’re an important relationship that we have.
