Transcript - doorstop - Mernda, Melbourne

ROB MITCHELL [FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MCEWEN]: Well, we'll start off this morning by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to Elders past and present. It's an exciting day to be here in Mernda again, an area that the Albanese Labor Government has been delivering for the past two years, so strongly on. I'm here with [indistinct]; our Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King; and Councillor Jarrod Lappin, our local councillor, who are all working together to build better communities. We're actually about building Australia's future and today's announcement, which the Minister will make in a second, is something that is so important about helping unlock the housing crisis that we inherited when we came to government. So, I'll pass now to you. 

CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Well, Rob and Jarrod, it's terrific to be here in Mernda. It's a little while since I've been here. I, of course, went to uni down the road at the old Phillip Institute of Technology, and this was a little country town when I- a long, time ago when I did my university degree - I won't say how many years - and it's extraordinary to see the growth. 

The announcement we're making today is, of course, about part of the Albanese Labor Government's commitment to build 1.2 million homes. And in order to unlock land for those homes, we're partnering with local councils to invest in infrastructure. And here in Mernda, we're investing over $7.1 million that will go to the Whittlesea Council to enable the establishment of 35 new housing lots through our new road and civil infrastructure. Situated, of course, along this fantastic public transport corridor, it is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the amenities that are here in this district. 

The project will also include the urbanisation of Johnson's Road and the establishment of shared paths, public space, and protection of the existing mature trees. It's a really substantial investment in bringing more housing lots to market. The money goes towards that enabling infrastructure that, otherwise, council and the private developer would be paying for. And what's happening across the country, we’ve found, is that because of the costs of some of this infrastructure that housing, those lots, are just not being released for housing at all. People are land-banking or sitting on them waiting for some of those costs to be defrayed, and they're not coming to market. So, this will bring those 35 lots to market very quickly.

It's part of $35.8 million we're allocating to five projects across the state of Victoria to build 3149 homes as part of the Housing Support Program. And some of the other projects not of interest to the local media but of interest, more broadly, is the $11.3 million to upgrade sewer pump stations along the Calder Highway in Marong to enable more than 2,300 new homes , $7.9 million to unlock houses in Morwell in the Latrobe Valley, as well as projects in Ararat and in Beaufort, both in the Ararat Council areas and the Pyrenees Shire local government areas. Again, to really work with local government to bring housing lots on.

It comes off the back of over $250 million that went to the state government, again, for infrastructure for housing and that priority work stream that they're undertaking, and also money to actually bring planning reforms here into Victoria to speed up the planning process. 

Might see if Jarrod from council wants to say a few words and then we're happy to take some questions. 

JARROD LAPPIN [MERNDA WARD COUNCILLOR - CITY OF WHITTLESEA]: So, these projects here are very, very important for these areas, especially Mernda being a growth area. It's established but it is growing, new estates coming in. So, having that support from Minister King, and Rob Mitchell and then Anthony Albanese Labor Government really does show that they support the area and they are looking toward the future of the area. So, having a close relationship with council and the government is something we're really striving for and something we have.

CATHERINE KING: Great. Happy to take some questions. 

JOURNALIST: Yeah. How will that actually serve the Mernda community in terms of, you know, there's so much housing here already. But yeah, how would it actually serve them? 

CATHERINE KING: Well, we know there's a lot of demand for housing and one of the things that has been really a big issue across the country is lack of supply. It's great that you've got, you know, if you've got plenty of houses here in Mernda, I suspect there are lots of people who do want to move here. And so what that does is it provides the opportunity for council to begin construction on the pathways, shared cycleways, and bring those lots to market.

What we have been at pains to do is also as part of this is a competitive grants program, so the Whittlesea Council has done very well - a highly competitive grants program What it does allow is that then, you know, some of those lots can be available for social and affordable housing as well. 

JOURNALIST: Yeah. Cool. Thank you. 

JOURNALIST: My question is more west focused. 

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: Can we see more of this funding coming towards Melbourne's west? 

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. Well I think, you know, Rob will talk a bit about the investments that we have been making, but certainly these are really competitive grants. And what we're interested in, particularly when it comes to the Housing Support Program and increasing housing supply, is to ensure that we are building housing on already well-established public transport corridors and well established, you know, where there are schools, where there are shopping centres, where there are amenities, because we want to be able to have that accessibility for people. 

We’ll be continuing to make announcements, whether it's through our Urban Precincts program - certainly, I know there are a couple of projects in the west in relation to that - as well as our Thriving Suburbs program which we recently made some announcements about as well. But I'll let Rob answer. 

ROB MITCHELL: I think if we look at the last two years of the Albanese Government, we’ve seen investment in every area of our community - whether it's in health, whether it's in childcare, whether it's in infrastructure, through roads and services and these sorts of things that can help. But what's been important with us is, housing has been growing exponentially but the services haven't been there. So, we've come, we've picked up that slack. We had nine years of no investment by the former government. There was nothing funded in these areas to actually help community building infrastructure that's needed. 

Now, since our government's been elected we've got the Mernda Sports precinct going underway, we've got the splash park. We've now got these things, these infrastructure programs happening, which delivers housing. It's okay for the Opposition to talk about housing, but they've never actually done anything about it. You hear the Opposition talking about they want to invest in this infrastructure - we're already doing it. You know, Peter Dutton is way behind what we've been doing. 

And what we've seen is the first lots of investment in our areas from the west and the north that we haven’t seen in over a decade. And the last time significant investment was done in our communities was under the Gillard and Rudd Governments. So, this is so important and that's why it's fantastic to see a government that actually cares about these things and doing the infrastructure that was being left lacking because Victoria was off the market under the former Morrison, Turnbull and other governments.

JOURNALIST: And when can we see the projects here completed?

CATHERINE KING: Well, that’ll be a matter for council – they’ll be the delivery partner. So, they’ll have a contract with the state government in relation to this program and as soon as they are ready to go, they will be ready to go. So, this has been, again- these are projects that are meant to be shovel-ready, that’s why we’ve invested in them. Because we want to get those 1.2 million homes built. And, very much, these new lots that are coming on here, hopefully, we’ll see people in them as soon as we possibly can.

ROB MITCHELL: Absolutely.

JOURNALIST: Wonderful. Thank you very much.

CATHERINE KING: You’re most welcome.