Minister Collins doorstop interview in Hobart

E&OE Transcript

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR HOUSING: It’s great to be out here in Rokeby with Mission Australia to talk about an investment from the federal government. We’re talking about a loan of $3.75 million here from the National Finance Investment Corporation. That’ll mean that we have 47 lots become available here in Rokeby, and they will be a mixture of private, affordable and social houses developed by Mission Australia and some going back to Homes Tasmania.

What I have also done this week is I have signed an investment mandate to make sure that the National Housing Finance Investment Corporation will have available an additional $2 billion in financing from 1 July. What we’re doing as a government is moving as quickly as we can to get as many homes on the ground as quickly as we can. Of course, we would be able to do more and we want to do more if we could get our Housing Australia Future Fund bill through the Senate. In coming weeks, that bill will be in the Senate for a vote. What I would say to Liberal senators and to Greens senators is the time for delays are over. We have far too many Tasmanians and far too many Australians who are finding it difficult to find somewhere safe and affordable to live. It is by partnerships, working with other tiers of government and working with community housing providers such as Mission Australia, that we’ll be able to get more homes on the ground more quickly – particularly if we pass a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund with returns each and every year being invested in more social and affordable rental homes right across the country, including here in Tassie.

As Housing Minister, Federal Housing Minister, what I want to do is work with other tiers of government, work with the sector. We want people in homes. We want as many homes on the ground as quickly as we can, and we need to make sure that the right homes are in the right places.

JOURNALIST: How willing are you to compromise with the Greens in order to get their support on your Housing Australia Future Fund?

COLLINS: We’re of course working with people right across the Parliament. We had a letter of eight concerns from the crossbench in the Senate, of which we have addressed all eight concerns. We’re continuing in good faith discussions. I think though that the time for delays are over. I think that Tasmanians and Australians have had enough of people using this as campaigning tools. They want to see homes on the ground more quickly. We’re talking about $500 million from the fund every year in social and affordable housing, on top of everything else we’re doing. I just spoke earlier about the $2 billion in extra financing from 1 July. We’ve unlocked $575 million immediately. We have more funding in the National Housing Accord – another $350 million for 10,000 more affordable homes that the states and territories are going to match with another 10,000. We are moving at every opportunity as quickly as we can to get more homes on the ground. What Tasmanians and Australians don’t want are more delays, which mean delays to homes on the ground.

JOURNALIST: Are you prepared to withdraw the bill if you can’t secure votes in the Senate?

COLLINS: We want to see the bill come to a vote. We want the Greens and the Liberal senators to actually say what they want in terms of whether they want 30,000 more social and affordable homes on the ground from the first five years of this bill or not. We are doing a whole range of other things on top of the Housing Australia Future Fund bill, but the Housing Australia Future Fund is about leveraging additional investment. It’s about working with local governments, state governments, institutional investors and leveraging investment. It’s about making sure that there is a pipeline of certainty of funding, to allow the community housing sector to grow, to have certainty so that they too can make investments knowing that that money is there for the long term. That’s the whole point of the fund.

JOURNALIST: Are you willing to amend the bill to secure support?

COLLINS: We’re happy to work with people right across the Parliament. When the bill passed the House of Representatives, it was supported by every crossbencher except the Greens. We even had a Liberal member across the floor and support the bill, because they understood how critical it was. We did make some amendments to the bill in the House of Representatives. We continue to have conversations in good faith and discussions right across the parliament. We want to see the bill supported in the Parliament in coming weeks.

JOURNALIST: Do you regret that the negotiations with the Greens have soured now?

COLLINS: We’re talking in good faith with everybody right across the parliament, and we’ll continue to do so.

JOURNALIST: What conversations did you have with protesters outside your office the other day?

COLLINS: I was talking to some people who are having a really tough time. Obviously as a Housing Minister, I really welcome the opportunity and I talk to people all the time who are having a really tough time. My first priority is to make sure that they’re getting the services and the support that they need in what are very difficult times. And then, of course, to talk about our role as the federal government and what we’re doing to get more homes on the ground as quickly as we can.

JOURNALIST: They were calling for a rental cap or a freeze. Is that something that you’d look to doing?

COLLINS: That’s not something that the federal government has the power to do. That is a lever for states and territories. We are working with states and territories at the National Cabinet and Housing Ministers and at the Treasurers level on housing. We’re talking about renters’ rights at the National Cabinet and in the Housing Ministers meetings. We’re talking about having some consistency around renters’ rights. I just outlined to you a whole range of measures that we’re doing to get more rental homes on the ground.

The big issue in terms of rents, and in terms of housing in Australia today is supply. We need more supply. We have less homes per 1000 people than the OECD average. We need more homes and we need them as quickly as we can, which is why the Liberal senators and the Green senators should support our bill in the Senate in coming weeks.

JOURNALIST: The protesters said that they felt gaslit and that you are condescending. Is that a fair characterisation of the conversation that you had with him?

COLLINS: I was having conversations with people. I don’t promise people things that I can’t deliver. I was having honest and frank discussions with people, making sure that they’re getting the services they need immediately and letting them know that I’m working as quickly as I can to get as many homes on the ground as quickly as possible.

JOURNALIST: Does Labor have a problem in communicating what you’re doing into the community, given there does seem to be so much concern about housing issues and doesn’t seem to be resonating with homeless people or people within rental stress?

COLLINS: I think it’s really difficult when you’re making really tough decisions. This is not an easy thing to turn around. We are working with other tiers of government, with the construction sector, with community housing providers all of the time. We are delivering. We have houses on the ground today, being built because of decisions that we have taken as a government. I think people understand there’s no silver bullet here, and turning this around is really difficult. But what I would say to people is it’s also really difficult when you have really tough decisions to make, and I absolutely get that, and I’m doing everything I can. I’ve also put more funding into homelessness services. As you know, as a federal government we added to that at every opportunity. We have provided $1.7 billion in one year from 1 July to states and territories for homelessness services and for additional housing.

JOURNALIST: Have you had to deal with a lot of convincing people you can have a stadium built while also investing in housing?

COLLINS: What we’re talking about with our investment in Macquarie Point is about revitalising the precinct. What we’re talking about there is a federal government working with the state government to invest in a precinct. What we’ve been able to do, of course, is we’ve been able to get some key worker accommodation also as part of that redevelopment. What we’ve also been able to do is get an upgrade to Macquarie Wharf, so that we can be maintaining our position as the Antarctic gateway and keep the Nuyina there at Macquarie Point. I’m happy to have conversations with Tasmanians each and every day, and I’m happy to explain that we’re moving as quickly as we can at every opportunity.

JOURNALIST: How much do you think the sharing economy, Airbnb, how much of an impact do you think that’s having on rents, particularly in Hobart?

COLLINS: Look, there is some evidence from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute that says that particularly in tourist areas there is some impact from short stay accommodation, like AirBnB, like Stayz and others. That is obviously an issue that the states and territories have all the levers for. We are working with other tiers of government, and we’re doing everything that we can do as a federal government. We want to invest in more houses as quickly as we can.

JOURNALIST: Do you think the State Government should do something more about AirBnB?

COLLINS: That would be a question for them. I am working with them on the things that we are involved with as the federal government. We have certain levers available to us as a federal government, and what one of them is is investing in more houses and that’s what we want to do more of.

JOURNALIST: For a young person in Hobart who can’t afford the rent in their own city, what measures are you actually putting in place now? What would you say to them now that you’re doing that would make their life easier and would actually help them?

COLLINS: What I’m doing is doing things like I am here today, announcing federal government investment to get more homes on the ground quickly. When we talk about social and affordable homes, we’re talking about more rental homes. The more rental homes we can get into the market, the more downward pressure that will put on rents.