Doorstop interview, Victoria

Subjects: $145 million investment into crisis and transitional housing in Victoria, Australia’s housing crisis, tax changes in the 2026 federal Budget Clare O’Neil: Thanks, everyone, for being here this morning on what is a massively important day for housing in Victoria, with a big new partnership being agreed to between the Albanese government and the Carroll Labor government here in Victoria.

I’ve got with me, of course, our wonderful state Housing Minister, Nick Staikos. I’ve got Ryan Batchelor from the upper house, and I’ve got Josh Burns, who supports me on social and affordable housing for Australians. We’ve got a housing crisis affecting our country which has been building for 40 years.

The most fundamental issue we have is that for this entire period our nation hasn’t been building enough homes. We have a shortage of every kind of housing, but the one our government is most concerned about is the shortage of crisis housing for Australians who are facing homelessness in that toughest moment of their lives. Women and children fleeing family violence, young people who don’t have a safe place to sleep – there are far too many of them who tonight will not be able to have stable housing.

That should not be happening in a country like Australia. We shouldn’t have a situation where Australian women tell us that one of the main reasons they cannot leave a violent relationship is because they have no safe home to go to. That is a failure of every government in our country, and you’ve got 2 governments here stepping up and doing something about it.

Today we’re announcing a $145 million investment right here in Victoria which will build crisis housing for Victorians at those most critical moments of their lives. Over time, this investment is going to support almost 10,000 Australians – Victorians who are fleeing unsafe environments, who are unable to find stable accommodation. Now, we’ve been really lucky this morning to meet 2 incredible people who have benefited from similar investments.

We talked to Stephen, who’s a single dad who’s moved into an apartment here in Hampton East that was built through a collaboration between our 2 governments. He’s talked to us about his son Braxton, about how he’s got a beautiful, safe place to bring his kid back, and to give that child the life and stability that he deserves. We talked to Mira just before, who said, ‘I want you to know that this home saved my life.’ What an amazing thing to hear.

I know Australians really watch carefully when our governments make big investments like this one. But I also know that every single person in our country wants us to tackle the homelessness crisis, they want us to tackle the issue of domestic violence, and they don’t want to see young people sleeping rough on our streets. And that’s what today’s announcement is about: over time, 10,000 Victorians getting the help and the security that they deserve.

I want Australians, too, to know that this is part of a much bigger and broader agenda that our government has around housing. We are, without question, the boldest and most ambitious Australian Government that our country has had since the Second World War. We have now a $47 billion effort that is about building more homes, getting renters a better deal, and getting more Australians into home ownership.

Now, I’ll invite Minister Staikos and my other friends here to say a few words, and then I’ll come back and manage questions. Nick Staikos: Well, thank you, Clare O’Neil, Minister O’Neil, and the Albanese Labor government for this continued strong partnership with the Carroll Labor government in one fundamental thing: that is, to ensure that all Australians and all Victorians have the dignity of a roof over their head.

Why are we doing this? Because we believe that all Victorians, all Australians, deserve a decent standard of living. And Hampton East Bluff Road Estate is proof positive of this.

This was 146 old 1950s walk‑up style homes, now 285 beautiful modern homes on this beautiful estate. It was a pleasure to meet Stephen and Mira and other tenants who have just moved into this wonderful estate. It is out of a strong partnership with the Albanese Labor government that has actually resulted in Victoria now surpassing 92,000 social homes across our state, in every corner of our state – in the inner city, in the suburbs like Hampton East, in regional and rural Victoria; a partnership that has seen $8 billion invested in our state in new social and affordable housing.

Today we have 8 per cent more social homes on our list than we did in 2020. By 2028 it will be 10 per cent more social homes than we had in 2020, and that could not be done without this strong partnership with the federal government. And I thank the federal government very, very much for stepping in and working with the state government to provide housing for Victorians.

I also thank Minister O’Neil for this very, very important announcement of more crisis and transitional housing, because we need to make homelessness rare, brief and non‑recurring. As Victoria’s first‑ever Minister for Homelessness, that is my singular aim. And we need to ensure that we have enough housing – not just social housing; we need to ensure that we’ve also got housing for people in crisis.

We need to ensure that whether you’re someone fleeing domestic violence, whether you are a young person experiencing homelessness or couch surfing, or whether you are a rough sleeper, that we can work with you, that we can attend to your complex needs, that we can get you housed immediately, and then at the end of that we can get you to sustain a tenancy in social housing.

That is what it means to give people the dignity that they deserve, the human dignity that comes first with having a roof over your head. So thank you, Clare O’Neil. Great, thanks, Nick.

Do you want to go ahead? Josh Burns: Two tough acts to follow, but it’s such a great day here, and it’s such an amazing project that we’re visiting here, and the best bit has been meeting Stephen and Mira, 2 outstanding people whose lives are completely transformed by the project that we are here today. And it happens because state and federal Labor governments are working together, focused on actually delivering and investing in the housing that Victorians and Australians need.

But the announcement today that my good friend Clare O’Neil just spoke about – $145 million directly to crisis and transitional housing. Now, what this means is that if you are a young person who would otherwise be experiencing homelessness because you either don’t have a home or your home is not safe, then this investment will go directly to specialised housing for those young Victorians right here in our state.

Because the most important time to break the ongoing cycle of homelessness for a young person is when they are young, because otherwise we see people just get trapped in the system and going through this ongoing cycle of housing insecurity. But we also know that if you invest in a young person and give them the stability and safety to help build their life, then they can do incredible things, and what we get back as a state and as a country far outweighs the investment that we make at that time.

And the other big group of people that we know is just so important to invest in, where this $145 million will go to, is for women and children fleeing a violent home. No‑one, no‑one should ever have to face that wicked, wicked problem of: do I stay in a violent home, or do I go and face homelessness, the uncertainty, the dangers and all of the other insecurities that that brings with it.

We want women and children to be safe in their home. And if it’s not, then there needs to be options and places for people to go. So I want to thank every single person who helped make this project possible – the builders, all of the staff, the team who are making this into a community.

But I also want to thank the partnerships that we are building as part of the investment we’re announcing today – all of the staff and the specialist homelessness services, all of the people who are going to be there to support people in the most difficult moments of their life. And that’s why we’re making this investment, why we’re continuing to build the homes that Victorians and Australians need, and that’s why we need to continue to work together across different levels of government to support people having a safe and secure place.

Thank you. Well said, Josh. Ryan Batchelor: Well, it’s been remarkable to watch the redevelopment of this estate over the last 3 and a half years, and today to talk with Stephen, a resident who’d lived here for 10 years prior, returning to this wonderful new home he’s sharing with his son, the community facilities that are out here for everyone to enjoy.

That’s the real difference that Labor’s investments in housing make. And I’m really proud to be part of a government that’s delivering more homes like this to more Victorians. Thanks, Ryan.

Okay, we’ll come to questions. Journalist: Minister, how long is it going to take to build those 200 [inaudible]? Who wants to take that?

Is it that Nick or Josh? Yeah. To build the crisis and transitional homes?

Journalist: Yeah, the [inaudible]? By 2029, but we are, as a government, building homes every single day. I was just at Noble Park yesterday with Josh, opening 97 brand new homes.

So we are working around the clock to build as many homes as we possibly can. Since 2020, Nick, we’ve actually completed more than 13,000 homes. That just gives you a sense of the speed in which we are building these homes.

And we will ensure that we build these homes as quickly as possible because we are in desperate need for more crisis and transitional housing. Because as the minister said, we do have a housing crisis in this country, and both governments – the Albanese Labor government and the Carroll Labor government – have committed to addressing that crisis with real partnerships, real funding, real support.

You go ahead, go ahead. Nick, there’s a combination of different houses that are going to be either acquired and renovated and to be purpose‑built, so they can obviously be done quicker. And there will be some new builds as well.

So, for example, if you’ve got a youth housing estate where you might have some common rooms or some supervision rooms or rooms for staff to be there involved on site 24 hours as well, so depending on the different types of housing, depending on how long it will take, but these are all grants in order to be completed by 2029. Journalist: Minister, can I ask you, the head of NAB yesterday said she anticipated it could take a generation – 20, 30 years – to fix up that housing supply problem.

Is she right? Yeah. Look, we’ve got a housing crisis that’s been cooking in our country for 40 years now, and I don’t think any Australian reasonably believes that that can be completely resolved in a short space of time.

What they want is governments who recognise the pain that this is causing to people and have housing agendas that match the size of the problem. And that’s what you’re seeing both at the state level here and federally. That’s why we’ve got a $47 billion agenda to build more homes, to help renters get a better deal, and to get more Australians into home ownership.

There is a real sense of urgency to what’s going on with housing in our country, and we are making a heap of progress here. But I don’t deny that we have got a long way to go here. The urgent thing that we have to do is see massive political resolve right around the country, and at the moment you’re getting that from your state government and us federally.

Journalist: But a generation, that’s 20, 30 years. Do you think it will take that long? Look, I’m not going to put an exact number of years on it.

What I can be really clear about is that it took more than one generation to build this problem. You know, in the year that I was born, a low‑income young Australian couple was twice as likely to own their own home as they are today. And that happened piece by piece, year by year, while governments looked on and saw a housing market breaking before their eyes and chose to do nothing.

What’s important is that our government takes a different view. We accept, and we see the pain this is causing to Australians, and that’s why we’re actually stepping up and doing something about it. Now, if you don’t mind me saying something political here, we see a very different approach to this on the other side of politics.

The Liberal Party of Australia are the last man standing defending the broken housing market in this country. They are the last people in the room who are saying everything’s fine and we’re not going to do anything about this. We take a totally different view.

The housing market in our country is broken in every way possible, and that’s why you’re seeing the level of government coordinate with our government to try to fix this bit by bit. Now, it requires lots of different things. It requires planning reform at the state level that the states have stepped up and started to do.

It requires big investments in crisis housing like the one you’re seeing today. But what I can tell you is that we are only partway through this exercise. I will never think we are doing enough about housing until we’re returned to a country where it is a perfectly reasonable aspiration for a low‑income young couple to own their own home, just as it was in the year that I was born.

Journalist: But that’s very depressing for young people to hear – that it could take a generation to fix this problem. Can you understand obviously how depressing that is for young people? Look, I don’t think young people are surprised at all to hear economists talking about pain in the housing market.

Young people have been screaming at governments to do more about this for decades now. And it’s only recently that governments have stood up and said, ‘We hear you, and we’re actually doing something about it.’ And if there’s one frustration I have about this debate, it is that it took so long for politicians to actually listen to the agony that this is causing to young people around the country.

I mean, there’s cities in this country where I visit, young people I talk to, to a person, housing is the biggest issue in their lives. And it took so long for the politicians of this country to stand up and realise this. But what I want young people to feel optimism about is for the first time since the post‑war period, we’ve actually got 3 levels of government who have put this at the centre of the agenda and said we are going to invest, we are going to reform, and we are going to, over time, make a difference to this system.

And we are getting wins. Don’t forget, our government has already got 270,000 Australians into their first home through the 5% deposit program. The tax changes that we’ve put in place will get 75,000 households that would otherwise be stuck in a rent trap into their own home.

So we’re making really important progress here, but, by God, we’ve got a long way still to go. Journalist: The head of NAB said it wasn’t the only factor, but she did say that your tax changes were contributing to the crisis. Yeah.

So, I’d invite people to come back and have a look at the Budget papers, which lay out very clearly the impact of the tax changes on what’s going on in the housing market at the moment. The Budget papers clearly showed that the impact of the tax changes will be to slightly slow growth that would otherwise occur in the market of around a 2 percentage points difference.

The main thing that drives what happens to house prices in our country over the short term is interest rates. And I’d just perhaps refresh people’s memory that there were actually signs of softening in housing right across the country before the federal Budget. Journalist: So she’s wrong in terms of the impact of your tax changes?

Well, again, I’d just bring you back to the discussion in the Budget. What the Budget shows us is 2 things: first, that these changes will get 75,000 rental households into their first home, and that’s something that we’re really proud to be helping on. And the second is that these changes will lead to a slight cooling in the housing market of around 2 percentage points slower growth than we would otherwise see.

Journalist: Minister, what can you then say to young people who are sitting at home reading about what the NAB chief said – a generation to fix. Journalist: What can you say to them that will give them hope in the short term? Yeah, yeah.

What I want young people to understand is that after decades of governments standing back and doing pretty much nothing about the housing crisis that was unfolding before their very eyes, we’ve finally got government standing up and recognising that this is a massive problem and putting it right at the heart of our agenda. Now, we have gone from a situation where the Commonwealth government didn’t even have a housing minister for most of the time the Abbott‑Turnbull‑Morrison government were in power, to us having the biggest and most ambitious agenda an Australian Government has had in 70 years.

We’ve gone from nothing to the most ambitious Australian Government in 70 years, and that is having an effect. We are starting to see some really important movement in housing, but this is a big problem that’s been cooking for decades, and that’s why it will take some time to unwind.